13 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in October
A teenager studying witchcraft turns up dead at her British private school. An unexpected pregnancy tethers a woman to the Tennessee town she’s desperate to escape. There’s sooooo much good stuff coming to your Kindle this October. Here are the highlights!
RELATED: An Unlikely Friendship and a Trip to France in the Latest from ‘Room’ Author Emma Donoghue
the dutch house: a novel by ann patchett
Set over the course of five decades, the latest from Patchett (Commonwealth) is a dark fairy tale about Danny and Maeve, siblings who are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. When the two wealthy siblings are thrown back into poverty, they find that all they have to count on is each other.
the water dancer: a novel by ta-nehisi coates
In pre-Civil War Virginia, Hiram Walker is barely out of his teens when he’s recruited to help guide escaped slaves to freedom in the North. Coates's (Between the World and Me) debut novel traverses Virginia’s proud plantations, guerrilla cells in the wilderness and dangerously idealistic movements in the North—and takes on the themes of inequality and grit he's known for in his non-fiction.
A Booklover's Guide to New York by Cleo Le-Tan
Featuring interviews with notable NYC bibliophiles like Marc Jacobs, Hamish Bowles, Tina Brown and Tavi Gevinson, this illustrated love letter to literary New York showcases the city's best bookshops, libraries and haunts of world-famous writers. Prime coffee-table fare.
The Furies by Katie Lowe (Oct. 8)
A classic coming-of-age story is turned on its head in this story of four teenagers studying witchcraft, female rage and revenge at a private girl’s school in a British seaside town. In this dark debut, a dead 16-year-old girl is found posed on a swing on school property. Through flashbacks, a protagonist narrates the year leading up to that fateful night.
Grand Union: Stories by Zadie Smith (Oct. 8)
In her first collection of short fiction, Smith mines the fraught experience of life in the modern world. With 11 new and unpublished stories alongside some of her best-loved pieces from The New Yorker, Grand Union covers everything from families in prewar Greenwich Village to the inhabitants of a dystopian island society.
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett (Oct. 8)
In the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale, this novel is about a place called Garner County, where girls are told they have magical powers, and that their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac. That’s why they’re banished for their 16th year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. The trouble is, not all of them make it home alive.
olive, again: a novel by elizabeth strout (oct. 15)
Olive Kitteridge is back. Strout's latest returns to the beloved—if thorny—protagonist of her Pulitzer Prize-winning 2008 novel, Olive Kitteridge. This time, Olive is involved in—if not the star of—13 interconnected stories about loneliness, love and aging in a coastal Maine town.
Holding on to Nothing by Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne (Oct. 22)
Lucy is ready to escape from her rural Tennessee upbringing when a drunken mistake ties her to the town and one of its least-admired residents, Jeptha, who becomes the father of her child. From there, the two have to deal with the prying eyes of their neighbors, disapproval from their families and the struggles of raising a child on too little money and too much alcohol.
God Save the Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop by Kathy Iandoli (Oct. 22)
Hip-hop journalism has long been dominated by men, despite women’s obvious contributions to the artform. Iandoli’s book pays tribute to the goddesses of the genre—from the early work of Roxanne Shante, to hitmakers like Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott, to the superstars of today like Nicki Minaj and Cardi B.
Vanity Fair's Women on Women edited by Radhika Jones and David Friend (Oct. 29)
With a foreword by Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones, Women on Women features 30 of the best profiles, essays and columns on female subjects written by female contributors to VF over the past 35 years. (Think: Hillary Clinton, Tina Fey and Nicole Kidman.)
Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life by Twyla Tharp (Oct. 29)
At 77, dancer, choreographer and author Twyla Tharp religiously hits the gym each morning, and keeps up a breakneck schedule as a teacher, writer, creator and lecturer. Keep It Moving is jam-packed with no-nonsense advice on how to live with purpose as time passes.
Southern Women: More Than 100 Stories of Innovators, Artists and Icons by the Editors of 'Garden & Gun' (Oct. 29)
Through interviews, essays, photos, and illustrations, lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun’s latest is an ode to the female chefs, musicians, actors, writers and public servants and more who have defined what it means to be a Southern woman. Famous women like Sissy Spacek and Loretta Lynn are joined by lesser-known figures, like the pioneering Texas rancher Minnie Lou Bradley and quilter Mary Margaret Pettway.
Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers edited by Natalie Eve Garrett (Oct. 29)
This collection of illustrated essays by some of America’s most well-regarded writers explores how comfort food can help us cope with dark times―the loss of a parent, loneliness, heartache and more. Hear from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Lev Grossman, Carmen Maria Machado and more on General Tso’s chicken, mac and cheese and other stuff that’ll probably clog your arteries.
RELATED: 5 Books to Read Before You See the Movies This Fall