20 new books to read this fall, from Mariah Carey, Jonathan Lethem, Megan Rapinoe, more
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The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer and darkness is settling in. Makes it hard to see to read, but that's what Kindles and book lights are for, right?
You'll need them this autumn, given the embarrassment of good books publishing this season. You can look forward to new novels from literary heavy hitters Marilynne Robinson, Don DeLillo and Jonathan Lethem; celebrity tell-alls from Mariah Carey and Matthew McConaughey; and moving heart-to-hearts from Michael J. Fox and Megan Rapinoe.
Here are 20 fall books we can't wait to read while curled up under a warm blanket.
"The Meaning of Mariah Carey," by Mariah Carey • Release date: Sept. 29 • The award-winning music icon tells the story of her life, unfiltered, in her own words. “Writing this memoir was incredibly hard, humbling and healing. My sincere hope is that you are moved to a new understanding, not only about me, but also about the resilience of the human spirit,” Carey says.
"Jack," by Marilynne Robinson • Release date: Sept. 29 • The Pulitzer Prize-winner’s latest is a star-crossed interracial romance, in which the white prodigal son of a Presbyterian minister in Gilead, Iowa, falls in love with a Black high school teacher who’s also the son of a preacher.
Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist
“The Talented Miss Farwell,” by Emily Gray Tedrowe • Release date: Sept. 29 • Becky Farwell of Pierson, Illinois, is an unassuming town treasurer who lives in her family’s farmhouse. Reba Farwell is a big-time New York City art collector. Problem is, they’re the same person, and her scheme to use the town’s funds to fuel her art dealings spirals out of control.
“Earthlings,” by Sayaka Murata • Release date: Oct. 6 • Murata follows cult hit “Convenience Store Woman” with a strange and dreamlike story of a young girl who comes to believe she’s an alien.
“Leave the World Behind,” by Rumaan Alam • Release date: Oct. 6 • Unexpected visitors interrupt a family’s vacation in a remote house over a long weekend gone wrong in a suspenseful tale that examines the complexities of race and class.
“Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy,” by Talia Lavin • Release date: Oct. 13 • Jewish journalist Lavin assumed false identities and used her research skills to infiltrate and expose online extremist groups – white supremacists, Nazis, etc. – and shows readers how we can fight back against the Internet’s most hateful subcultures.
“Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath,” by Heather Clark • Release date: Oct. 20 • This meticulously researched and lengthy biography of a much-romanticized poet promises to paint the full portrait of a complex woman and her remarkably literary achievements.
“The Silence,” by Don DeLillo • Release date: Oct. 20 • In this short, timely novel set in the near future, five people gather in a Manhattan apartment on Super Bowl Sunday and experience a catastrophic event.
“Greenlights,” by Matthew McConaughey • Release date: Oct. 20 • The Academy Award-winning actor pens an unconventional and candid memoir filled with raucous stories and hard-won wisdom about living life to its fullest.
“The Cold Millions,” by Jess Walter • Release date: Oct. 27 • The author of “Beautiful Ruins” returns with a story of two orphaned brothers in the early 20th century who encounter vagrants, suffragettes, vaudevillians and an assortment of other characters on their adventures.
"Memorial," by Bryan Washington • Release date: Oct. 27 • Mike is a Japanese American chef, and Benson is a Black day care teacher in Houston. Though they love each other, they’re not sure why they’re still together – and then Mike is called off to care for his estranged dying father in Texas while Benson becomes unlikely roommates with Mike’s mom.
“The Office of Historical Corrections,” by Danielle Evans • Release date: Nov. 10 • The award-winning author of “Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self” releases a hotly anticipated new story collection, exploring the subjects of race, American history and grief with her signature insight.
“The Arrest,” by Jonathan Lethem • Release date: Nov. 10 • The author of “Motherless Brooklyn” and “The Fortress of Solitude” turns postapocalyptic, imagining a world in which television, computers, airplanes and all the modern conveniences we take for granted are wiped out by a major disaster called the Arrest.
“One Life,” by Megan Rapinoe • Release date: Nov. 10 • The Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup champion is also an activist icon and tireless fighter for LGBTQ rights. She shares her story, and in so doing urges readers to stand up for justice and equality.
"No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality," by Michael J. Fox • Release date: Nov. 17 • The actor and advocate for Parkinson’s awareness (he was diagnosed with the disease in 1991) shares a moving account of resilience and hope, as well as his hard-earned wisdom about health, illness, aging and mortality.
“Nights When Nothing Happened,” by Simon Han • Release date: Nov. 17 • The Chengs are model immigrants in their wealthy Texas suburb until a sleepwalking child leads to a misunderstanding that threatens to turn their community against them.
“Ready Player Two,” by Ernest Cline • Release date: Nov. 24 • Cline returns to the world of best-selling book (turned blockbuster Steven Spielberg film) “Ready Player One” with the world’s most inevitable sequel (and most inevitable title).
“The Thirty Names of Night,” by Zeyn Joukhadar • Release date: Nov. 24 • The author of “The Map of Salt and Stars" returns with a lyrical novel following three generations of Syrian Americans linked by a mysterious species of bird, as well as a transgender man’s journey of self-discovery.
“Rest and Be Thankful,” by Emma Glass • Release date: Dec. 1 • A visceral and dreamlike literary portrait of a burned-out pediatric nurse working night shifts in a neonatal ward.
“Barack Before Obama: Life Before the Presidency,” by David Katz • Release date: Dec. 1 • An intimate photographic celebration of Barack Obama before he became the 44th president of the United States from the then-Senate hopeful’s photographer and personal aide.