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20 new books to read in September

20 new books to read in September

By Seija Rankin and David Canfield

September 01, 2020 at 01:36 PM EDT

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The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld

Pantheon

In this study of abuse and trauma, Wyld works between three timelines — present day, post–World War II, and circa 1700 — but sticks to one location, around a tiny island off the coast of Scotland. The women in each section suffer and mourn; the narratives bleed into each other with richness and surprising payoff. (Sept. 1)

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Evening by Nessa Rapoport

Rapoport's sophomore novel follows a family sitting shiva after the death of their daughter — as secrets about the late Tam, and a massive fight she had with the still-living Eve, begin to emerge. (Sept. 1)

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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Admirers of Homegoing will find plenty to dig into in Gyasi's follow-up — Kingdom is just as sweeping in its themes. This time the story is about addiction, neuroscience, depression, and, just as the title suggests, religion. (Sept. 1)

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The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

Europa

This isn't part of the Neapolitan collection, but it takes place in Naples and traces the adolescence of a female protagonist just like Ferrante's beloved previous tomes. (Sept. 1)

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Daddy by Emma Cline

Random House

A tart, at times devastating collection from the blockbuster name behind The Girls, Cline's latest features dark slices of life that come together as portraits of young women seeking liberation, and of older men doing wrong. (Sept. 1)

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When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

HarperCollins

Combining the voyeuristic paranoia of Rear Window with the searing social commentary of Get Out, this thriller from Alyssa Cole turns gentrification into fodder for a horror movie. Brooklyn born and raised, Sydney Green is perturbed by her rapidly changing neighborhood. But when she teams up with new neighbor Theo to dig deeper, will they find something far more sinister afoot? (Sept. 1)

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What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

Random House

Nunez’s latest novel reads like an answer to her 2018 National Book Award winner The Friend: Whereas the earlier book dealt with the impact of a sudden death, What Are You Going Through follows a woman tasked with keeping an acquaintance company as she nears the end of a battle with terminal cancer. (Sept. 8)

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Monogamy by Sue Miller

Harper

(Sept. 8)

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Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

Little, Brown and Company

As elastic in shape as it is dazzling in execution, Akhtar's searing work of autofiction features essayistic asides on national politics and economics, a deeply felt family portrait, and the creation of a Donald Trump character who only enhances this deeply personal examination of the American dream. (Sept. 15)

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Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Bloomsbury Publishing

We won't give too much about the latest sprawling fantasy from the best-selling Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell author, except to say that its echoes to this present moment will creep up on you until they start sticking like glue. (Sept. 15)

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The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah

William Morrow

Ahead of the upcoming 100th anniversary of Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, comes a brand new Hercule Poirot tale from her estate. This time the murder takes place on a luxury coach making the journey from London to the eponymous Kingfisher Hill. (Sept. 15)

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Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Katherine Tegen Books

This YA tome uses a ripped-from-the-headlines narrative — an aspiring singer gets caught up in the dark web of a controlling legendary R&B artist — to explore the Me Too movement and Black girlhood. (Sept. 15)

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Can't Even by Anne Helen Petersen

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The journalist takes her internet-breaking essay on millennial burnout and expands it into 300 pages of exploration about unrealistic expectations in the workplace — and so much more. (Sept. 22)

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Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami

Pantheon

Lalami's last few novels have earned nominations for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; while we wait for her next work of fiction, this sharp essay collection asks what it means to be American, through a survey both of her own journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, and a rich exploration of the many stories around hers. (Sept. 22)

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White Fox by Sara Faring

This ghost story, about two sisters who uncover their long-missing mother's screenplay about the spooky goings-on of a remote island from their childhood, is technically YA — but it's scary enough for any adult. (Sept. 22)

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The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey

Andy Cohen Books

The singer teams with activist and writer Michaela Angela Davis to pen her first-ever memoir, which she touts as the first time her story will be told in a completely unfiltered manner. (Sept. 29)

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Just Like You by Nick Hornby

Riverhead

Unlikely romance is old hat for Hornby, but the Juliet, Naked author’s latest imagines his most surprising courtship yet: the budding connection between a 41-year-old teacher and mother of two and the 22-year-old man she hires to babysit. (Sept. 29)

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The End of the Day by Bill Clegg

Gallery/Scout Press

A declining heiress returns home for the first time in decades, but can’t remember why. Her former maid’s daughter runs a taxi company in Hawaii. Her aunt is left with a baby whose parents have vanished. Leave it to Clegg to brilliantly bind these threads. (Sept. 29)

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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Viking

This supernatural novel centers around a library where each book represents a different life you could have lived — protagonist Nora finds herself faced with all the different possibilities. Think of it as one part Arrival, and one part Matthew McConaughey's weird bookshelf in Interstellar. (Sept. 29)

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Jack by Marilynne Robinson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The veteran author's Gilead novels have won her a Pulitzer prize (and more) and she returns with a fourth book — this one follows the son of the mythical city's minister and his forbidden romance. (Sept. 29)

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By Seija Rankin @@seijawrites
By David Canfield @davidcanfield97

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20 new books to read in September

1 of 20

The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld

1 of 20

2 of 20

Evening by Nessa Rapoport

2 of 20

3 of 20

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

3 of 20

4 of 20

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

4 of 20

5 of 20

Daddy by Emma Cline

5 of 20

6 of 20

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

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7 of 20

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez

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Monogamy by Sue Miller

8 of 20

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Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

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10 of 20

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

10 of 20

11 of 20

The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah

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12 of 20

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Can't Even by Anne Helen Petersen

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14 of 20

Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami

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White Fox by Sara Faring

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The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey

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Just Like You by Nick Hornby

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The End of the Day by Bill Clegg

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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Jack by Marilynne Robinson

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