Séptember has arrived, and with it a fresh lineup of paperbacks to explore. The list below collects twenty-five enjoyable reads to consider, featuring debuts, sophomore efforts, notable translations, and new releases from familiar names. Expect new fiction from Adam Johnson, Megha Majumdar, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Gish Jen, Walter Mosley, and many more, alongside wide-ranging nonfiction that surveys topics from Muriel Spark to the Beatles to the famed Bard–Marlowe rivalry, among many other curiosities.
As always, take care, and may these titles find their way onto your to-be-read piles.
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Adam Johnson, The Wayfinder (Picador)
“An epic that feels almost unearthed rather than manufactured. Johnson’s sprawling narrative traces the tangled currents of conquest with a swagger that evokes Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob. His daring blend of magical realism with psychological depth casts a spell as compelling as Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf. Yet The Wayfinder remains a unique creation—an intricate tapestry weaving Pacific myth, a hero’s quest, political allegory, ecological lament, and feminist revision that resonates across time.”
–The Washington Post
Gish Jen, Bad Bad Girl (Vintage)
“If you’ve ever had a complicated bond with your mother, this work may unleash a flood of long-held emotions. It’s a deeply intimate piece that nonetheless speaks to universal themes about immigration, identity, and what it means to be a daughter, a mother, and a woman. It’s infused with affection and a longing to understand. A remarkable and humane achievement.”
–Los Angeles Times
Megha Majumdar, A Guardian and a Thief (Vintage)
“Radiant and alive, Majumdar invites readers into a city that is both crumbling and tenacious, where markets trade seaweed and counterfeit fish while a single island-borne billionaire remains shielded from harm. There isn’t a single villain on the stage; instead, ordinary people struggle to endure and safeguard what matters to them. Majumdar proves once again that she knows how to chart moral complexity with precision.”
–Publishers Weekly
Frances Wilson, Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel (Picador)
“A brilliant literary critic turns an exacting gaze toward Muriel Spark, one of literature’s most singular minds, promising to be among the year’s most gripping biographies.”
–Kate Tuttle
Stephen Greenblatt, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival (Norton)
“In a brisk, twisty narrative, Greenblatt centers Christopher Marlowe—the shoemaker’s son celebrated for provocative plays like Doctor Faustus. The tale unfolds with the propulsion of a spy thriller, offering a vivid portrait of sixteenth‑century England.”
–The New York Times
Adam Nicolson, Bird School: A Beginner in the Woods (Picador)
“In this revealing account, the Ondaatje Prize‑winning author reflects on birdlife near his Sussex home, illuminating what often goes unseen or unheard. He also shines a light on how human activity—especially intensive farming—has driven bird populations downward in recent years. It’s a luminous tribute to the avian world.”
–Publishers Weekly
Walter Mosley, Gray Dawn (Little Brown)
“The author’s note foregrounds the ongoing harms of segregation and violence, turning this novel into a testament that channels the realities of Los Angeles’ diverse streets, where hardship and hope intersect. It’s a masterful entry into Mosley’s canon, inviting readers to see across communities and ages.”
–Booklist
Karl Ove Knausgaard, The School of Night (Penguin Books)
“No contemporary publishing project matches Knausgaard’s Morning Star sequence in ambition and immersive pull. He has forged something radically new, a sprawling, almost dangerous experience that absorbs the reader’s life as it unfolds. The London-set first installment centers on a single figure and moves between bleakness, humor, and terror in ways that are utterly enthralling.”
–Martin McInnes
Sarah Moss, Ripeness (Picador)
“Tender and wistful, Ripeness follows a story of belonging across two eras—1960s Italy and 2020s Ireland—finding both sorrow and joy in equal measure. Moss writes with maturity and clarity, delivering insights that feel both compassionate and precise.”
–Emma Donoghue
Ian Leslie, John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs (Celadon Books)
“Across the century’s most resonant creative union, none seems as enduring as the bond between the two Liverpudlian youths who met during adolescence, collaborated for years, and transformed global art. Leslie’s new book stands as the finest study of that friendship—from its unlikely start to its bittersweet end—and of the music that came from it, better than any other account we have.”
—Adam Gopnik
Hu Anyan, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (Trans. Jack Hargreaves) (Astra House)
“A striking first-person account of life as a working-class worker in modern China, navigating the gig economy. This urgent chronicle shines a light on the underbelly of the country’s economic ascent and reveals the precarious realities faced by many. Hu’s plainspoken prose, deftly translated by Hargreaves, makes the book not only a personal narrative but a sharp critique of systemic exploitation.”
–Yangyang Cheng
Charlotte Beradt, The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation (Trans. Damion Searls) (Princeton University Press)
“An unprecedented ledger of how the Nazi regime reached into the private spaces of daily life, distorting even the dream state. This work remains a striking and unsettling portrait of life under tyranny.”
–Times Literary Supplement
Mia Couto, The Cartographer of Absences (Trans. David Brookshaw) (Picador)
“Structured with temporally fragmented narrative and the use of found documents, Couto’s latest translation offers a powerfully intimate look at revolution, compromise, and long-hidden secrets. It confronts Mozambique’s colonial wound and raises weighty questions about ideals and sacrifice. A haunting and compelling work.”
–Tobias Carroll
Amie Barrodale, Trip (Picador)
“Barrodale’s audacious debut is both witty and moving, a novel that feels at once like a psychedelic journey and a lucid meditation on the bonds between creator and reader. It navigates a liminal space between author and audience with audacity and grace.”
–Bookforum
Nathan Harris, Amity (Little Brown)
“A sharply imagined Western that reimagines the archetype with a fresh protagonist and a plot full of momentum. Harris’s latest channels the grit and cadence of classic frontier fiction while injecting vivid imagery and precise period language. It’s a memorable, impeccably crafted tale that keeps turning from start to finish.”
–Kirkus Reviews
Tim Berners‑Lee, This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web (Picador)
“Part memoir and part manifesto, this lively volume recounts the web’s origins and evolution while offering a bold plan to regain control of our digital lives. The central idea is to restore individual data sovereignty by rethinking how the web is designed—a project that Berners‑Lee, now in his seventies, continues to champion against the encroachments of powerful actors and authoritarian regimes.”
–John Thornhill
Jacob Silverman, Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley (Bloomsbury Continuum)
“Silverman delivers a sharp, ominous account of how some silicon valley magnates have fed ideologies that fuse corporate power with political ambition, a trend that could reshape democracy. It’s a crucial exposure of the political dangers lurking behind immense wealth in tech.”
–Publishers Weekly
Agustín Fuentes, Sex Is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary (Princeton University Press)
“This eye-opening study argues that reproductive anatomy varies more than commonly assumed, challenging the idea that anatomy dictates behavior or cognitive traits. It also vividly demonstrates the diversity of sex expressions in nature, debunking the naturalness of a gender binary.”
–Publishers Weekly
Jordan Castro, Muscle Man (Catapult)
“Muscle Man is a triumph—like reading a blend of Walter Benjamin and Thomas Bernhard after a workout, full of ferocity, wit, and inventiveness. Castro’s voice is singular, and the book itself feels both feral and brilliantly intelligent.”
–Brandon Taylor
Anne Berest, Claire Berest, Gabriële (Trans. Tina Kover) (Europa Editions)
“The Berest sisters extend Anne’s The Postcard with a vivid portrait of their great‑grandmother Gabriële Buffet‑Picabia. Their prose blends historical context with intimate reflection, offering insight into why the Picabias treated their children with distance. Fans of early 20th‑century art will especially savor this.”
–Publishers Weekly
Heather Aimee, The Irish Goodbye (Holt)
“The Irish Goodbye has a rich ensemble of characters, tangled affairs, a grand beach house in decay, a doomed sailboat, long‑buried family secrets, and one volatile holiday weekend. More than anything, this finely crafted novel asks what family means and what we owe to one another and to ourselves.”
–Amy Shearn
Cory Doctorow, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (Picador)
“The ongoing degradation of the everyday tech we rely on isn’t a myth—and Enshittification explains how we arrived here. Witty, incisive, and urgently pertinent, this book argues for reclaiming our digital lives from the forces that have degraded them.”
–Molly White
Ciara Greene, Gillian Murphy, Memory Lane: The Perfectly Imperfect Ways We Remember (Princeton University Press)
“Memory Lane stands out among memory studies by foregrounding cognitive psychology in everyday life. Greene and Murphy explore how memory functions, revealing how its apparent flaws can be strengths in disguise. It’s an accessible, readable account of how we recall and are shaped by memory.”
–The Conversation
Zuzan Říhová, Playing Wolf (Trans. Alex Zucker) (Catapult)
“An English‑language debut that feels cinematic in scale, this book blends folk horror with psychological suspense and riffs on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood to stunning effect. Říhová’s talent as a poet surfaces in the language, translated here by Alex Zucker. It’s dark, beautiful, and utterly immersive.”
–BookRiot
Sam Sussman, Boy from the North Country (Penguin Books)
“A man who believes he could be Bob Dylan’s son returns home to care for his ailing mother, in Sussman’s luminous autobiographical debut. At the core lies a powerful portrait of a mother and son’s bond, rendered with emotional clarity. A remarkable and moving read.”
–Publishers Weekly
