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Must-Read Books September 2026 |
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The Amateur
by Chris Bohjalian
1978: It is the first Thursday in August and temperatures are flirting with ninety when Mira Winston, eighteen years old, drives a golf ball from her tee toward the practice net near the clubhouse and caddy shack. The golf ball, weighing 1.6 ounces, tears through the net, traveling 150 miles per hour, and slams, with sickening force, into the temple of a high school junior named Kenny Foster, rupturing an artery and unleashing a torrent of blood. Kenny brings his hand to the side of his head, then topples onto his side. He's dead before the ambulance even arrives. In the wake of this terrible accident--and everyone, at first, agrees it was an accident--Mira looks for comfort in all the wrong places: In her lover, Theo Catton, a married man three decades her senior. In her mother, a well-kept woman with secrets of her own. In the dead caddy's little sisters, girls bewildered by grief. But when the investigators look more closely at the torn net, when a detective recalls Mira's history of recklessness, and when Kenny's father spies Mira with her married lover, the affluent and mannered community turns on this once-promising young woman. A gripping story that takes the reader from the sun-soaked greens of a tony Westchester country club to the fluorescent-lit stand of a county courtroom, The Amateur asks: What happens when one small moment--a swing, a ball, a piece of string--changes the course of an entire life?
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| If Books Could Kill by Kate EberleWhen her wish to be the main character in romance novelist Anna Matthews' next book is magically granted, lovelorn Roxie Mitchell discovers that Anna has pivoted to thrillers...and that Roxie's so-called dream guy is actually trying to kill her. With the help of crime fiction-loving English professor Grant Hoffman, Roxie sets off on a globetrotting adventure to track down the killer -- and hopefully return to the real world. For fans of: meta romantic comedies like How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson. |
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| In Stormy Weather by Chelsea CurtoMeteorologists and longtime rivals Quincy Monroe and Sebastian Dunn, who are competing for the same job at the National Weather Service, reluctantly team up to cover a record-breaking Florida hurricane season in this action-packed enemies-to-lovers romance. Try this next: Chase Me If You Can by Heather Frances. |
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| The Masala Chai Mystery Club by MJ SoniAt loose ends after being forced to retire early, librarian Neeti Shah turns amateur sleuth after her New England neighbor dies in a fall. Was it an accident or murder? Many people wanted the unpleasant man dead, leading Neeti to think his death was deliberate, so she teams up with her niece and her mystery-loving friends to solve the case. For fans of: Eva Gates; Uzma Jalaluddin; Richard Thorogood. |
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Paper Ghosts
by Sarah Addison Allen
For decades, the women of Wester House have unsettled and fascinated their small, timeless North Carolina town. Their home is full of whispers, old griefs, and uncanny knowing. But when Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, long-buried truths begin to stir. 1976: Restless young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who brings freedom and the promise of another life to her carefully controlled world. Their brief, incandescent love story promises to escape the pull of the Wester legacy until Willamena makes a fateful choice that changes her life forever. Present day: Returning home is the last thing Bailey Wester wants. Yet as she reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she feared, Bailey begins to understand the love, heartbreak, and impossible choices that shaped the women in her family and realizes the past may not have been trying to haunt them after all. A luminous novel filled with Sarah Addison Allen's stunning prose and signature blend of romance, Southern charm, and wonder, Paper Ghosts reminds us that in order to have the future we really want, sometimes we need to live with the past, and not let go of it.
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| Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LacourIn 1944 New Orleans, 18-year-old Odette, from a Creole family, and her cousin Delphine share secrets, including Odette's affair with a woman and Delphine's with a married white man. To avoid Jim Crow, Odette and her sisters move to California. Passing as white, Delphine moves, too, eventually running into Odette. Inspired by the author's Creole family, this novel is "a masterpiece" (Booklist). Read-alikes: Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul; Kin by Tayari Jones. |
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| The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate WestburyIn 1951 Oxford, England, Gin Bishop is a clever student with no plans to marry the well-to-do man her aristocratic father has selected, while Sidney Braithwaite, a veteran and former spy, studies Latin and Greek. At first, Gin and Sidney annoy each other, but when a kindly librarian is murdered and they learn he had been tracking a Soviet agent, they team up to investigate in this "cracking good debut" (Kirkus Reviews). For fans of: Susan Elia MacNeal. |
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Taipei Story
by R. F. Kuang
College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home.Then shocking news arrives: Lily's grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she's drawn into a journey of self-discovery--piecing together memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.Taipei Story asks: What if the diaspora fantasy of homecoming never comes true? What if learning a language can't bring you any closer to the people you're trying to reach? What if you search for your family's history, but your family doesn't want to share? What if you wait too long to ask the right questions? As Lily struggles for answers, her summer becomes a poignant search for understanding--of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.
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The Birthing Tree
by Amanda Peters
Born under the shadow of a birthing tree sacred to generations of Mi'kmaq women, Aliet Paul grows up outside a small Nova Scotia town with her fierce, loving grandmother Kiju. Her mother died bringing Aliet into the world under that very tree; her father remains a mystery no one will name. Aliet's childhood is shaped by seasonal apple pickers, the medicinal wisdom of the old ways, and the quiet, steadfast presence of John, a boy who becomes her anchor. But the world beyond their community is changing. Traditional midwifery is condemned, prejudice deepens, and when the wrong person witnesses a birth, the consequences are disastrous. As Aliet comes of age, she navigates love, loss, and a personal tragedy that veers her from the path her grandmother wanted for her. She becomes a nurse trained in modern medicine, yet she carries Kiju's teachings close, tucked beside memories of the tree that once welcomed new life. Years later, when the call comes that Kiju has died, Aliet returns home to a crumbling house, a community scattered, and a past she thought she'd outrun. As Aliet restores the house room by room, something inside her stirs awake: the threads of her lineage, the old ways of her grandmother, and the mystery of her own bloodline. As Aliet digs to uncover who her family really is, each revelation pulls her deeper into a web of long-guarded silences, dangerous loyalties, and generational wounds that refuse to stay buried: Someone knew the truth about her mother's final moments. Someone knew what happened in the orchard all those years ago. And someone wants the past to remain undisturbed. Spanning decades of loss and reclamation, this sweeping yet intimate novel follows one woman's journey to protect the land, the traditions, and the memory of the women who came before her--and to decide which parts of her inheritance she will carry into the future.
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You'll Love It Here
by Natalie Sue
Mona thought her living situation was bad... but the real mess is just beginning.One day is all it takes for Mona's life to implode. After years of climbing at her marketing firm, she was supposed to be getting promoted and finally moving out of her crumbling apartment building. Instead, she's jobless, aimless, and still stuck in a space barely big enough for a yoga mat.Then her eccentric landlady takes a tumble and asks Mona to step in as the building's reluctant super. The deal is simple: help prep the place for sale, and she can secure the upgrade she's been chasing. But that's easier said than done when the neighbors treat boundaries as optional. There's the shouting couple, the mysterious shut-in, a possible panty thief in the laundry room--and Sami, the relentlessly cheerful diner owner who keeps showing up with coffee and unsolicited ideas about community. As Mona gets pulled deeper into the building's chaos--and closer to the people inside it--she's forced to confront what, and who, she's really been trying to outrun. Sometimes, the place you're desperate to leave is the one that finally shows you who you are.Wise, heartfelt, and laugh-out-loud funny, Natalie Sue's sophomore novel is a story about burning out, starting over, and finding your people in the most unexpected places--perfect for fans of The Wedding People and Anxious People.
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The Responsible Party
by Claire Carusillo
Claire grew up with the legend of the Unsinkable Mounsey Women. Her great-great-grandmother Fanny made headlines in 1915 for washing ashore in England nearly a year after her ship sank. Fanny's daughter Sarah went to collect her mother on the equally ill-fated Lusitania--whose sinking she, too, survived. Their improbable endurance led to regional stardom on the Midwestern vaudeville circuit. But Claire never knew the full story--until now. Listless, jobless, and recently canceled for extolling skin-care advice online that sent a reader to the hospital, Claire is surprised when a knock at the door turns out to be the police, looking for answers about a murder from the 1970s they suspect her mother, Kath, may know something about. As the cops zero in, Claire demands answers from her mother. Kath's comically long response, which blossoms into the story of the Mounseys and their descendants writ large, moves from a Liverpudlian poorhouse at the onset of World War I to a Lake Michigan lighthouse in 1971 (when sex was freer and McDonald's fried their potatoes with beef tallow) to present-day Chicagoland; along the way, it offers Claire a richer understanding of what she inherited from the complicated, resilient women she descends from. Replete with inappropriately old boyfriends, dubious medical professionals, and more than a few boats, The Responsible Party is the story of several women, in several different timelines, trying to stay afloat.
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The Three Graces of Pearl Street
by Elizabeth Wellington Rollins
Graziella, a ninety-six-year-old former nun, spends her days running the parish's food kitchen, convinced it is her responsibility to keep everyone fed in their working-class New York neighborhood. Her daughter, Grace, a respected psychology professor, appears accomplished and composed, yet finds herself unmoored as her personal life falters. Ella--Graziella's granddaughter and Grace's daughter--is weary of defending her vegan diet and anti-capitalistic lifestyle; blind to her own brilliance, she longs, above all, for a place to belong. Living together again, the three Graces reckon with the distances that have shaped them, and with what it means, at last, to be fully known. Truly captivating (Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author) and populated by unforgettable characters, The Three Graces of Pearl Street explores the delicate balance between tradition and modernity, and the quiet courage it takes to move through the world with true grace.
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Take What You Can
by Naima Coster
Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other and became immediate best friends. Then, they bonded as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now, they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. When Milly suggests Val move to New York to raise their daughters together after a decade apart, it's a resounding yes. Despite their excitement, the pair secretly wonder if their friendship has always worked best as a trio. From that first trip to France, these two motherless daughters were taken under the wing of an older woman named Helene. She showered them with money, love and attention, and showed them the possibilities of a meaningful future. But without Helene, who are Milly and Val? Milly, a successful influencer married to restaurant royalty, is occupied with her desire for independence. Val, a brilliant journalist, is struggling to write her first book and fit into her old friend's new world. The realities of class and social capital, of strained marriages and the demands of motherhood, serve as constant reminders of how far apart they've grown. And no matter how much they try to avoid it, everything comes back to the rift that began all those years ago in France. What they've long tried to bury may finally destroy their sisterhood. Weaving between Brooklyn brownstones and the glittering beaches of southern France, Take What You Can is a dazzling novel exploring what it means to be a mother when you have none, a sister without blood ties, and a woman in pursuit of the life she wants. With her signature sharply-observed prose, Coster illustrates what it means to be--and to stay--someone's person through all phases of life.
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Sunrise
by Téa Obreht
eIn 2024, Nina's small-engine plane crashes into a lake in the Wyoming mountains. Her boyfriend Ben, who was flying it, is nowhere to be found. Lost and freezing on the shore, Nina is armed with only a few old protein bars, a phone with no service, and a vague hope of rescue. It is up to her to survive in the vast wilderness. But then she stumbles upon Sunrise--a town of the Old West that is strangely well maintained, but seemingly abandoned. A place that holds the missing link to a ghost story one hundred years in the making. In 2003, local golden boy Coll is putting the finishing touches on the town's annual historical reenactment. But when an upstart would-be author comes to him with questions about one of Sunrise's most beloved figures, it threatens to upend everything he thought he knew about the city--and himself. In 1902, town founder, gunslinger, and legendary pulp hero Anton Vargas returns to Sunrise and quickly takes charge of a group searching for a missing boy. But who really is Vargas? What does he know about the boy's disappearance? And why has he returned after such a long absence? These three strangers are separated by time and circumstance. But Sunrise's many secrets are like gunpowder: quiet, contained, until they encounter a spark. Magisterial and suspenseful, Tea Obreht's novel challenges the myths we think we know: of heroes and villains, of the people and places to which we lay claim, and, most of all, of our own lives.
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Hollow Bones
by Jodi Picoult
On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn't have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters. Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse--a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis--have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew. Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
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Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease
by Gabe Bullard
Countless tools and innovations fill our daily lives, allowing us to swipe, tap, click, and subscribe without a second thought. We order food to our front door, call an Uber for a ride down the street, and scroll through the endless songs and TV shows at our fingertips. In theory, convenience should give us more energy and time to do things we want to do, and make unpleasant jobs faster and simpler. But is it working?In this book, journalist Gabe Bullard reveals the hidden architecture behind the ubiquitous modern-day services and technologies that allegedly make our lives easier. You'll learn: How the false conveniences we choose every day don't actually eliminate work, effort, or money Why convenience culture fuels burnout and shallow living How pop culture is being shaped by second screen and lean back content The ways that friction-maxxing -- from talking to your cashier, cooking from scratch, and hand writing letters -- can enrich our lives with meaning and rewards At best, many of these conveniences aren't any more convenient than what they replaced. At worst, they leave us isolated--home alone with soggy french fries, forgettable streaming shows, a degraded planet, and a smaller bank account. But we don't have to settle. In Against Convenience, Bullard draws a road map for how we can fight back against the juggernaut of empty ease to live a more meaningful, deeper, and gratifying life.
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Your Turn: How to Create a Midlife You Love
by Allison Aubrey
Aubrey presents a captivating collection of women, ages 45 to 105, who cultivated creativity, connection, and joy, showing how it's possible to find meaning and momentum in midlife. She takes what she's learned, from scores of fascinating women she met both on this journey and in her decades of reporting as a journalist, to give readers a playbook for what could be next. She weaves together incredibly powerful insights and resources of rediscovery to help you reignite your passions and hit your stride in midlife and beyond. She cuts through the clutter of health and self-improvement advice and offers readers indispensable, evidence-backed strategies to thrive. A kind of What Color Is Your Parachute? for middle age, this book provides us surprisingly simple yet specific steps we can take now to make the most of our third turns. Aubrey combines the rigor her audiences have come to expect with the attunement, inquisitiveness, and sense of service that have made so many of her health stories go viral. This book is the new blueprint for your midlife reawakening, with an empowering, essential message for women: The best time of your life starts now.
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Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best
by Angela Duckworth
How you situate yourself to meet a challenge can be crucial. Duckworth's in-depth research reveals the enormous influence wielded by the objects within arm's reach, your peers and mentors, and even your zip code. Though you're often told to make the best of your situation, it is far, far better to make your situation better first. In Situated, you'll discover: -Why your personality changes, sometimes dramatically, from one situation to another--and how you can harness that shift -The secret to conquering temptation without willpower -Why taking the less effortful path can feel like cheating but often solves a stubborn problem -How the company you keep shapes the person you become -The most effective ways to help others succeed Highlighting four essential elements of successful situations, Duckworth shows how high performers like Taylor Swift, Michael Phelps, and Jerry Seinfeld create situations that make it easier to excel. And, with disarming honesty, she shares her own struggles with burnout and marriage--and how learning to change her situation, not herself, made all the difference. Whatever it is you want to achieve, there's a situation that can make your journey easier. It takes effort to make your situation your ally--but a little effort goes a long way...when you get situated.
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Cookbooking: A Fan's Guide
by Debbie Berne
An eclectic, visually stunning pop-history, Cookbooking explores the most influential and beloved cookbooks through photographs, listicles, graphics, and snappy writing. Subjects include: a visual history of cookbook design; what's the matter with front matter?; the diet cookbooks we've starved for; the proliferation of French cookbooks, hippie cookbooks, TV-show cookbooks. And so much more. In short, Cookbooking is a celebration of the genre and an exploration of what makes books filled with recipes so engaging, collectable, and such excellent companions in bed. This is a book for cookbook collectors and casual fans alike. Whether you're looking for cool cookbooks to add to your shelf or searching for a unique gift to give the foodie in your life, Cookbooking is sure to surprise and delight. A love letter to the cookbooks you already own: and an irresistible guide to the ones you'll want next.
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| No Place on Earth by Andrea Beatriz ArangoAfter his parents separate, anxious Puerto Rican 11-year-old Gustavo moves with his mom to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. There, his anxiety dreams get even worse -- until he meets new classmate Kordell inside a shared dreamscape. This hopeful and emotionally powerful read blends fantasy with realistic mental health challenges. |
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| Nest of Tongues by Randy RibaySiblings Lily and Caleb are Bay Area teens with a big secret: they’re vampires. When a monster hunter targets Caleb, the two seek to uncover the hunter’s identity before it’s too late. This page-turning horror novel is rooted in Filipino vampire mythology. |
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| Immortal Game by Allison SaftWhen Midir of Bri Leith, the fae High King of the Otherworld, hosts a chess tournament, the prize is the granting of a single wish. Chess grandmaster Shea Fury knows this is her chance to reclaim her sister, lost to the fae realm six years ago. Read-alikes: Malindo Lo’s Huntress; Bex Hogan’s Nettle. |
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| The Skeleton and the Cat by Brandon James ScottIn five bite-sized stories, young readers will get to know an irresistible duo: Skeleton, who lives alone in her cheerful, cozy home; and Cat, who patiently charms his way into Skeleton's quiet life. For fans of: the gentle, quirky vibes of classic easy reader series such as James Marshall's George and Martha or Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad. |
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| That You Are Here Is No Small Thing by Traci N. Todd; illustrated by Vashti HarrisonIn striking illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Vashti Harrison, a ribbon of blue light connects three contemporary Black American children to the diverse diasporic history that makes their lives possible. Publishers Weekly deems this picture book "a reverent reflection on ancestry, cultural memory, and hope." Read-alike: Zetta Elliott's A Song for Juneteenth. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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