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)
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)
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