13 September releases worth reading
“Children of the Land: A
Memoir,” by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo: At age 5, Castillo’s parents spirited him across the border from Mexico into the United States to begin a new life. Using lyricism honed as a poet, Castillo describes the agonizing realities of life as an undocumented immigrant, particularly after his father was deported.
“Fly Already,” by Etgar Keret: Keret, a master of the short story, finds humor in the darkest places. His most recent collection is an absurdist delight that doubles as a gut-punch when characters, thrown into outlandish scenarios, confront existential woes.
“Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,” by Casey Cep: Cep revisits a writing project that Harper Lee never published: a true-crime book in the vein of “In Cold Blood” about a man whose wives and relatives kept turning up dead.
“The Institute,” by Stephen King: Paranormally gifted children are stolen from their parents and taken to a remote lab in the woods of Maine in King’s terrifying (and topical) novel.
“Life Undercover: Coming
of Age in the CIA,” by Amaryllis Fox: Fox spent her 20s working for the CIA, eventually becoming an operative, undercover overseas, trying to thwart terrorist networks. Her memoir reveals some of the shocking scenarios she found herself in.
“Nothing to See Here,” by Kevin Wilson: An underemployed young woman agrees to help an
estranged friend, who’s also the wife of a rising star politician, handle an uncommon problem: Her twin stepchildren burst into flames when agitated. “The Only Plane in the Sky,”
by Garrett M. Graff: Weaving together hundreds of first-person accounts, Graff crafts a visceral oral history of the events of 9/11.
“Red at the Bone,” by Jac
queline Woodson: The National Book Award winner’s third novel for adults is a multigenerational saga that explores the lives of two families linked by a teenage pregnancy.
“The Shadow King,” by Maaza Mengiste: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize (the winner will be announced Nov. 17), Mengiste’s second novel, set in 1935 Ethiopia, gives voice to a variety of characters who wind up on a collision course when the Italian army invades.
“The Testaments,” by Margaret Atwood: Speaking of the Booker Prize, Atwood took home last year’s award — which she shared with Bernardine Evaristo’s “Girl, Woman, Other” — for this sequel to her 1985 novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
“The Topeka School,” by Ben Lerner: One of The Washington Post’s 10 best books of 2019, Lerner’s novel captures the roots of America’s uncivil discourse through the story of a debate team-loving high-schooler and his psychotherapist parents in the 1990s.
“The Undying,” by Anne Boyer: Boyer’s memoir, which shared the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, is many things: a chronicle of her fight against cancer; a repudiation of the pharmaceutical industry; and a meditation on women who have written about life and death.
“Year of the Monkey,” by Patti Smith: The celebrated musician and author looks back on her emotional 70th year — and the loss of close friends Sandy Pearlman and Sam Shepard — with poetic wisdom.