14 big fall books to watch out for

We’ve had our fun with summer books, but now that it’s starting to get too cold for the beach, it’s time to break out some of the biggest-name authors in publishing. From popular non-fiction (Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath) to huge sequels (Stephen King’s Dr. Sleep and Helen Fielding’s next Bridget Jones novel) to heavy fiction (Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch) to award contenders (Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland), we’re giving you a sneak peek at the books we’re most looking forward to.

FIRST UP: The Secret History author’s first book in 12 years

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

In a world where one author can publish 10 books in one year, it’s big news when Tartt finishes one novel in 10 years. The Secret History devotees, be ready for this 770-page doorstop. (Oct. 22)

NEXT: Bridget Jones meets social media

Bridget Jones: Mad for the Boy

Helen Fielding

Bridget’s back — and still detailing her life, this time with the help of Twitter. (Oct. 15)

NEXT: Malcolm Gladwell’s next mind-blower

David and Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell

He singlehandedly created a nonfiction genre that spawned more copycats than we can count — and now Gladwell comes out with another one of his social-science behemoths, this one about underdogs and misfits. (Oct. 1)

NEXT: From the writers who brought you Game Change

Double Down: Game Change 2012

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann

Here’s hoping this exposé about the 2012 election is as much fun as the authors’ Game Change. (Nov. 5)

NEXT: A memoir from a National Book Award winner

Men We Reaped

Jesmyn Ward

Ward, who won a National Book Award for fiction for 2011’s Salvage the Bones, ponders the Southern legacy of poverty and racism in this memoir. (Sept. 17)

NEXT: A short story collection from Tom Perrotta

Nine InchesTom Perrotta

The writer dubbed an American Chekhov for 2004’s Little Children delivers a short-story collection. (Sept. 10)

NEXT: A behind-the-scenes account of making Broadway’s most expensive and controversial show

Song of Spider-Man

Glen Berger

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall as the web of drama (injuries, terrible reviews, a skyrocketing budget, creative disputes) surrounding Broadway’s Spider-Man got ever more tangled. Perhaps a tell-all by the show’s co-writer will be the next best thing. (Nov. 5)

NEXT: The latest novel from a Pulitzer-winner

The Lowland

Jhumpa Lahiri

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies returns with a saga that chronicles the fates of two very different brothers. (Sept. 24)

NEXT: A perfect giftable

The Most of Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron

An anthology of the late Ephron’s work proves how much the journalist-novelist-essayist-director-screenwriter-playwright-cook deserved her hyphenates. It includes her novel Heartburn as well as essays from out-of-print collections. (Oct. 29)

NEXT: A sensational debut from overseas

The Rosie Project

Graeme Simsion

This screwball comedy, already a huge hit in the United Kingdom and Australia, features the romantic foibles of an endearing genetics professor — who’s never had a second date — as he searches for the perfect wife. (Oct. 1)

NEXT: The author of Eat, Pray, Love goes back to her fiction roots

The Signature of All Things

Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love mania peaked circa 2007, but long before that, Gilbert was writing award-winning fiction. Signature is her first novel since 2000’s Stern Men.

NEXT: A new novel from a master of tearjerkers

We Are Water

Wally Lamb

The author of She’s Come Undone has penned a perspective-shifting novel about a mom and wife who falls in love with her female Manhattan art dealer. (Oct. 22)

NEXT: A new inter-generational saga

The Valley of Amazement

Amy Tan

Tan’s first novel in eight years follows a treasured painting as it passes through three generations of one family. (Nov. 5)