Fall is always an exciting time for books, book lovers, and book shelves. I thought it would be fun for us to build a list of books we’re all looking forward to reading. I’ll go first:
I still get so sad thinking about Michael K. Williams being taken from us. It might be a little while before I'm ready to read SCENES FROM MY LIFE but I'm grateful his experiences/perspective will be there for me to cherish when the time comes.
Oh, there's a ton of good stuff on my TBR for this fall!
Just got ARCs of Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's debut novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, which I know is going to blow me and every reader away, (go check out his debut short story collection, Friday Black, if you haven't yet!). AND I have Kelly Link's new short story collection, White Cat, Black Dog, arriving soon, too.
I've started Sofia Samatar's memoir/travelogue The White Mosque and it's brilliant so far. Also, have George Saunders's new collection, Liberation Day waiting for me after!
Eagerly awaiting N. K. Jemisin's The World We Make in November, too; she's a teacher and friend, and everything she does is just incredible.
And as a publicist, I'd be remiss not to shout out Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura and Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister, coming from Erewhon Books this Fall. Both brilliant in their own ways <3
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske was the most fun I had reading last year, and I'm SO excited for the second book of the planned trilogy, A Restless Truth, to come out in November. CANNOT WAIT.
Apologies in advance for being a downer -- but I can’t think of a better group to ask for recommendations from -- my mother passed away this weekend after a short, intense battle with cancer. I’m looking for books about grief that aren’t about grief, if that makes sense. Thank you so much in advance!
Dawn, I'm so so sorry for your loss. One book that came to mind immediately for me is Meghan O'Rourke's memoir THE LONG GOODBYE. She writes both about her own experience w/ grief as well about the science and culture of grief.
You are so kind and generous. Thank you so much for the recommendation. And because my brain is not a brain right now, I forgot to add that Ive started rereading How We Fight for Our Lives. You are a beautiful writer and I am deeply grateful to and for you.
I'm so sorry Dawn. My dad died 10 years ago and it was the hardest thing. If you are open to poetry, Ocean Vuong's collection Time is a Mother is beautiful.
Dawn, I really love Maggie Smith’s Keep Moving as a way of thinking about grief and finding light in dark days. I’m so sorry for your loss. Sending you warm thoughts. ❤️
When my dad died almost exactly 3 years ago, I was given the book, No Happy Endings: A Memoir by Nora McInerny Purmort, and I loved it. It was a quick read and different than any other grief book I had come across. If you are into poetry, I recommend a new book by the Poet Laureate in my town, "More God than Dead" by Angelo Geter. He lost his wife to a car accident a few years ago and his poetry is wonderful. He comes from the world of spoken word and slam, which I think you can feel in the emotions of what he writes. In fact, he and I have been discussing doing an article/conversational feature that talks about how we don't have to "get over" grief, we don't have to choose flight or fight or freeze... we can integrate grief into this new version of who we are and what our life is. Grief can become part of us - and not in a way that paralyzes us, but in a way that preserves us.
Hi Dawn, I am so sorry for your loss. These are a vibe shift from the other suggestions, but the books that got me through some hard cancer days of my own were: Let's Pretend This Never Happened (memoir, so funny but emotional, I don't know why it worked so well at the time but my sister, my husband and I passed it around in the hospital), Half of a Yellow Sun (a devastating read, but something about the family stories within a war story just...sucked me in?), Their Eyes Were Watching God (just, the beauty, I can't even give a good explanation on all the things it sparked), Jenny Han's To All the Boys I Loved Before (comfort, delicious, but also I wept? IDK!), and some YA: Keeper of the Lost Cities (elves?) and You Should See Me in a Crown (queer, prom theme, and also a young girl balancing grief and responsibility for big things with the joy of falling in love/being a kid. None of these are Grief Books, but somehow they all touched on different bits of the grief I was feeling in illness. Again, I am so sorry for your loss. OH and a gorgeous, more obviously about grief mini book: About Alice, by Calvin Trillin. An incredible, short read that lightly touches on the anger of grief as well. I can't recommend that last one enough.
I'm just about to finish Suleika Jaouad's book Between Two Kingdoms, and it might be a good fit for you. And maybe the new Emma Straub, which might be my favorite of hers so far - This Time Tomorrow? I'm so sorry for your loss!
I’m so sorry for your loss… when my boyfriends mom passed a few years ago I gave him the small book The Five People You Meet in Heaven by I think his name is Mitch Allbom or something like that. It was referred to me by mom when I was sexually assaulted.
I found Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul to be unexpectedly comforting and helpful and all of Mary Oliver's poetry collected in "Devotions." You can pick each of these books and put them down and start in a completely new place which fit the rhythms of grief for me at least. I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. I wish you peace and many moments of comfort in the days ahead.
I am currently reading "tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin and "Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals" by Saidiya Hartman
- My Government Means to Kill me by Rasheed Newson
- If I Survive You by Johnathan Escoffery
- What the Fireflies Know by Kai Harris
- And I'm in the middle of Dirtbag, Massachusetts, which I was so excited for and cannot get into even a little bit... so I'm not sure if I'll finish it.
My just finished:
- Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow (WHICH I LOVED SO MUCH)
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (WHICH I ALSO LOVED SO MUCH.)
- Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans (poetry) (I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE SO BEAUTIFUL.)
- To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (WHICH I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT AND SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE IT WAS NONFICTION...)
You might like my new book, 'The Ultimate Relationship... the one with yourself' (available online). Author is me, Fiona Price. My story from the inside out and really about claiming our innate power to take charge of ourselves and our lives!
Please consider featuring the upcoming “White Women” by Regina Jackson & Saira Rao. The documentary companion “Deconstructing Karen” premieres on CBC next week. Anti-racist work for nice white ladies!
4. Mason J. Crossbones of My Life (Nomadic Press-Lambda Literary award, trans poetry)
5. Mohammed El-Kurd. RIFQA. ( Haymarket Press)
6. Cris Turienzo. La alquimia en tiempos de quimera. (de España)
7. Violeta Orozco The Broken Woman Diaries (Andante Books). prize winner--International Latinx Poet in English
8. Solmaz Sharif. CUSTOMS.
9. Anthology: When There Are Nine: Poems Celebrating the Life and Achievements of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Edited by Rebecca Evans, Shaneen A. Harris, and Ashley Kunsa; MOON TIDE PRESS
I have Bliss Montage on my list! And just got Alive at the End of the World in the mail :)
Two great books just finished:
- Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen
- Dirtbag, Massachusetts by Isaac Fitzgerald
Other books, mostly preordered so far:
- Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang (tr. by Ken Liu)
- Tell Us When To Go: A Novel by Emil Deandreis [describes recent San Francisco in vivid ways] (Sept 20 release)
- Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders (Oct 18 release)
- The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi (Nov 1 release)
- The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin [for fans of sci-fi where gentrification is the enemy, this is the second book in her The Great Cities series] (Nov 1 release)
I think I'm about to start Mercury Picture Presents, by Anthony Marra, and I'm also really excited about Bliss Montage, A Dangerous Business, The Furrows, Seven Empty Houses, and Signal Fires, too!
Year of the Tiger: An Activists Life--Alice Wong
I just started this earlier this week. I am just reveling in her sense of humor, and am learning so much from it already...
Ross Gay has a new book of essays coming out! Inciting Joy. I think Oct release
Very much on board with Bliss Montage!
Also...
How Not To Drown In A Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros
Lucy By The Sea by Elizabeth Strout
A Visible Man by Edward Enninful
And because of my nostalgic love for Geek Love I’m going to read Toad by Katherine Dunn.
Thank you for starting and sharing this Fall 2022 Book List!
Shrines of Gaiety- Kate Atkinson
Demon Copperhead- Barbara Kingsolver
Scenes From My Life- Michael K Williams
I expect some tears during Michael's memoir.
I still get so sad thinking about Michael K. Williams being taken from us. It might be a little while before I'm ready to read SCENES FROM MY LIFE but I'm grateful his experiences/perspective will be there for me to cherish when the time comes.
Oh, there's a ton of good stuff on my TBR for this fall!
Just got ARCs of Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's debut novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, which I know is going to blow me and every reader away, (go check out his debut short story collection, Friday Black, if you haven't yet!). AND I have Kelly Link's new short story collection, White Cat, Black Dog, arriving soon, too.
I've started Sofia Samatar's memoir/travelogue The White Mosque and it's brilliant so far. Also, have George Saunders's new collection, Liberation Day waiting for me after!
Eagerly awaiting N. K. Jemisin's The World We Make in November, too; she's a teacher and friend, and everything she does is just incredible.
And as a publicist, I'd be remiss not to shout out Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura and Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister, coming from Erewhon Books this Fall. Both brilliant in their own ways <3
ahhhh this isn't complete, but off the top of my head:
Vanessa A. Bee's HOME BOUND (NF, memoir)
Sabrina Imbler's HOW FAR THE LIGHT REACHES (NF, memoir)
Ashley Herring Blake's ASTRID PARKER DOESN'T FAIL (F, wlw romance)
N.K. Jemisin's THE WORLD WE MAKE (F, sci-fi)
Kylie Yamashiro's THE EMPRESS OF TIME (YA, fantasy)
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske was the most fun I had reading last year, and I'm SO excited for the second book of the planned trilogy, A Restless Truth, to come out in November. CANNOT WAIT.
Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson
How We Heal: Uncover Your Power and Set Yourself Free by Alexandra Elle
Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday
Lighter: Let Go of the Past, Connect with the Present, and Expand the Future by Yung Pueblo
Victoria said "WE ARE GONNA HEAL THIS AUTUMN, DAMN IT!" And I love that for us.
We all could use some healing, and if anyone can help us, it's Alexandra Elle <3
Apologies in advance for being a downer -- but I can’t think of a better group to ask for recommendations from -- my mother passed away this weekend after a short, intense battle with cancer. I’m looking for books about grief that aren’t about grief, if that makes sense. Thank you so much in advance!
Dawn, I'm so so sorry for your loss. One book that came to mind immediately for me is Meghan O'Rourke's memoir THE LONG GOODBYE. She writes both about her own experience w/ grief as well about the science and culture of grief.
You are so kind and generous. Thank you so much for the recommendation. And because my brain is not a brain right now, I forgot to add that Ive started rereading How We Fight for Our Lives. You are a beautiful writer and I am deeply grateful to and for you.
Dawn, I’m sorry this is happening. I loved The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.
I'm so sorry Dawn. My dad died 10 years ago and it was the hardest thing. If you are open to poetry, Ocean Vuong's collection Time is a Mother is beautiful.
Dawn, I really love Maggie Smith’s Keep Moving as a way of thinking about grief and finding light in dark days. I’m so sorry for your loss. Sending you warm thoughts. ❤️
When my dad died almost exactly 3 years ago, I was given the book, No Happy Endings: A Memoir by Nora McInerny Purmort, and I loved it. It was a quick read and different than any other grief book I had come across. If you are into poetry, I recommend a new book by the Poet Laureate in my town, "More God than Dead" by Angelo Geter. He lost his wife to a car accident a few years ago and his poetry is wonderful. He comes from the world of spoken word and slam, which I think you can feel in the emotions of what he writes. In fact, he and I have been discussing doing an article/conversational feature that talks about how we don't have to "get over" grief, we don't have to choose flight or fight or freeze... we can integrate grief into this new version of who we are and what our life is. Grief can become part of us - and not in a way that paralyzes us, but in a way that preserves us.
Nora's books were the first ones i could read after a huge loss six years ago. Love her.
Hi Dawn, I am so sorry for your loss. These are a vibe shift from the other suggestions, but the books that got me through some hard cancer days of my own were: Let's Pretend This Never Happened (memoir, so funny but emotional, I don't know why it worked so well at the time but my sister, my husband and I passed it around in the hospital), Half of a Yellow Sun (a devastating read, but something about the family stories within a war story just...sucked me in?), Their Eyes Were Watching God (just, the beauty, I can't even give a good explanation on all the things it sparked), Jenny Han's To All the Boys I Loved Before (comfort, delicious, but also I wept? IDK!), and some YA: Keeper of the Lost Cities (elves?) and You Should See Me in a Crown (queer, prom theme, and also a young girl balancing grief and responsibility for big things with the joy of falling in love/being a kid. None of these are Grief Books, but somehow they all touched on different bits of the grief I was feeling in illness. Again, I am so sorry for your loss. OH and a gorgeous, more obviously about grief mini book: About Alice, by Calvin Trillin. An incredible, short read that lightly touches on the anger of grief as well. I can't recommend that last one enough.
I'm just about to finish Suleika Jaouad's book Between Two Kingdoms, and it might be a good fit for you. And maybe the new Emma Straub, which might be my favorite of hers so far - This Time Tomorrow? I'm so sorry for your loss!
I’m so sorry for your loss… when my boyfriends mom passed a few years ago I gave him the small book The Five People You Meet in Heaven by I think his name is Mitch Allbom or something like that. It was referred to me by mom when I was sexually assaulted.
I found Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul to be unexpectedly comforting and helpful and all of Mary Oliver's poetry collected in "Devotions." You can pick each of these books and put them down and start in a completely new place which fit the rhythms of grief for me at least. I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. I wish you peace and many moments of comfort in the days ahead.
Small Game - Blair Braverman
These are not all new, but I am making my way through the Renaissance reading list posted by the New York Public Library:
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2022/08/08/born-free-renaissance-reading-list
I am currently reading "tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin and "Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals" by Saidiya Hartman
Saidiya Hartman is The TRUTH. And that book, in particular, is a great.
My currently reading:
- My Government Means to Kill me by Rasheed Newson
- If I Survive You by Johnathan Escoffery
- What the Fireflies Know by Kai Harris
- And I'm in the middle of Dirtbag, Massachusetts, which I was so excited for and cannot get into even a little bit... so I'm not sure if I'll finish it.
My just finished:
- Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow (WHICH I LOVED SO MUCH)
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (WHICH I ALSO LOVED SO MUCH.)
- Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans (poetry) (I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE SO BEAUTIFUL.)
- To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (WHICH I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT AND SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE IT WAS NONFICTION...)
My up next:
- Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
- Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers by Adam Zmith
- Inciting Joy by Ross Gay
- Black Cake by Charmaine Wiklerson
Woman without Shame- Sandra Cisneros
Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender- Kit Heyam
What My Bones Know- Stephanie Foo
Invisible Child- Andrea Elliot
After Roe- Mary Ziegler
A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing- DeMaris B Hill
Memorial Drive- Natasha Trethewey
I loved Memorial Drive - I did the audio and it was just fantastic!
Memorial Drive is amazing, I loved it so much.
Just finished (and loved): MY GOVERNMENT MEANS TO KILL ME, by Rasheed Newson
Currently reading (and loving): LUSTER, by Raven Leilani
Up Next (and looking forward to): DISORIENTATION, by Elaine Hsieh Chou
So many good books this fall!
Queer Little Nightmares, a monster anthology by David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli
Heretic by Jeanna Kadlec (a memoir about leaving evangelicalism)
How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy (queer YA fantasy)
On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg (one of the great thinkers and most important problems of our time)
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas (supernatural thriller set in the aftermath of the Mexican war of independence)
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (I will read anything she writes)
Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner (romance; college student sleeps with her friend’s mom)
South to America by Imani Perry and Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng are next for me.
You might like my new book, 'The Ultimate Relationship... the one with yourself' (available online). Author is me, Fiona Price. My story from the inside out and really about claiming our innate power to take charge of ourselves and our lives!
aaay love this! my stack currently consists of:
n. k. jemisin - the killing moon + the shadowed sun (fantasy)
rebecca hall - wake- the hidden history of women-led slave revolts (graphic novel)
elvia wilk - oval (sci fi)
eloghosa osunde - vagabonds! (fiction)
marlon james - a brief history of seven killings (historical fiction)
tricia hersey - rest is resistance (non-fiction)
@saeed your beautiful books arrived!
Please consider featuring the upcoming “White Women” by Regina Jackson & Saira Rao. The documentary companion “Deconstructing Karen” premieres on CBC next week. Anti-racist work for nice white ladies!
Poetry:
1. Akiwaeke Emezi Content Warning: Everything
2. Maw Shein Win. Invisible Gifts (Manic D Press)
3. Kimi Sugioka. Wile & Wing (Manic D Press)
4. Mason J. Crossbones of My Life (Nomadic Press-Lambda Literary award, trans poetry)
5. Mohammed El-Kurd. RIFQA. ( Haymarket Press)
6. Cris Turienzo. La alquimia en tiempos de quimera. (de España)
7. Violeta Orozco The Broken Woman Diaries (Andante Books). prize winner--International Latinx Poet in English
8. Solmaz Sharif. CUSTOMS.
9. Anthology: When There Are Nine: Poems Celebrating the Life and Achievements of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Edited by Rebecca Evans, Shaneen A. Harris, and Ashley Kunsa; MOON TIDE PRESS
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton.
from last year, but just reading: Robert P. Jones Jr. The Prophets
I have Bliss Montage on my list! And just got Alive at the End of the World in the mail :)
Two great books just finished:
- Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen
- Dirtbag, Massachusetts by Isaac Fitzgerald
Other books, mostly preordered so far:
- Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang (tr. by Ken Liu)
- Tell Us When To Go: A Novel by Emil Deandreis [describes recent San Francisco in vivid ways] (Sept 20 release)
- Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders (Oct 18 release)
- The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi (Nov 1 release)
- The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin [for fans of sci-fi where gentrification is the enemy, this is the second book in her The Great Cities series] (Nov 1 release)
I have a few books at the moment that I’d like to get to this month:
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls-- T Kira Madden
Lost Wax--Jericho Parms
Magical Negro--Morgan Parker
I LOVED Magical Negro. Morgan Parker very quickly became one of my most favorite poets over the past year!!
I think I'm about to start Mercury Picture Presents, by Anthony Marra, and I'm also really excited about Bliss Montage, A Dangerous Business, The Furrows, Seven Empty Houses, and Signal Fires, too!
Sacrificio, by a former professor, Ernesto Mestre-Reed.
How may we get a signed copy of your lates book?
I am eagerly awaiting my copy of Chen Chen's book...any day now! I just did a book roundup on my substack today. I love reading. https://melissafondakowski.substack.com/p/grateful-for-my-friends-book-roundup?r=5xye1&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web - and oh yeah: yours is on my list, too!!
Jackal- Erin Adams
Just got my copy (I pre-ordered awhile ago!) Going to start this weekend!