As an academic, the start of the school year is more the new year than whatever that thing we do in January. I know no other life rhythm, having begun every fall in a classroom since I excitedly hurried off to pre-school in 1972.
And what’s not to love: when I met my class on Monday and reviewed the syllabus, I felt as I always do the absolute privilege of getting to introduce my students to the texts with which we’ll engage this term. It’s like being a hostess at a really good party–you want everyone to meet each other and have a fabulous time together. I feel the same about working with the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing team to curate the Festival of Faith & Writing (by the way, speaker nominations now open through October 31 for FFW 2028).
In August through October this year, there’s an incredible surfeit of books appearing. It’s really quite an exciting abundance, but there are so many things coming out that some excellent things might get lost in the deluge.
So I wonder if it might help to give a few recommendations. Call it your own small syllabus, if you’d like. Or an invitation to meet some friends at my party. I haven’t read most of these yet myself (some have yet to be available), but I think they’re all worth checking out.
On the fiction side:
- Ariel Lawhon, The Pirate Queen (September 8)
Over six novels, including her most recent, the best-selling The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon has established herself as an extremely accomplished writer of gripping stories centered on strong, powerful women, set throughout history. (NB: I’m not calling it historical fiction because she makes the case that “historical fiction” is not a genre, but a setting–which I found compelling). Lawhon’s research is impeccable and rich, her characterizations vibrant and relatable, her plotting and pacing top-notch. In fact, I’m still stunned at her explanation at Festival 2026 that each of her books has a specific “shape.” That’s quite genius, to be honest–and now I’d like to go back and study each of them more carefully than on my initial read.
Her latest book–about the irresistible Grace O’Malley, Irish chieftain, seafarer, and defender against Elizabeth I’s attacks–sounds just as remarkable. The early reviews I’ve seen are overwhelmingly positive, including a starred review from Booklist. And the few folks on the internet that have been less enthusiastic seem to object to the very thing I’m looking forward to: its three-part structure inspired by a Celtic knot (seriously, that’s just cool!) The book narrates Grace’s life as “maiden, mother, and matriarch”–and loops through the life in a non-linear way. Rather than a problem, that sounds to me like a fusion of the best multi-part Victorian novel (like Bleak House or Middlemarch) with the inventiveness of contemporary literature (say, Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land). What’s also impressive is that Lawhon has suggested that the novel will also work if the reader wants to read in a linear way by tracking with the “maiden, mother, matriarch” headers. That takes some serious skill to pull off two books in one! I’ll be watching my mailbox.
And also, quick recs of:
2. Min Jin Lee, American Hagwon (September 29)
Min Jin Lee’s latest in her Diaspora Quartet that includes Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko. Like those two amazing novels, Lee unpacks a multi-generational history of a Korean immigrant family and the struggle for success, here particularly as it intersects with education. Her books are richly textured, deeply researched, and beautifully empathetic. I still frequently think about Free Food and Pachinko, and I’m sure American Hagwon will be no different.
3. Beth Brower, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series (ongoing)
A smart friend raved about this series, which features the adventures and misadventures of a young woman in Victorian England. As a scholar of that time period, it feels like a must read, even if just for (wink, wink) “professional reasons.” They look witty and fun–and the internet is wild about them!
4. Katherine Rundell, The Neverfear (September 1)
The 3rd in the series, Impossible Creatures, by the brilliant Oxford don and children’s writer, Katherine Rundell. The award-winning author of a stunning biography of John Donne, Rundell is also a notable children’s writer (and passionate defender of the genre), often compared to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. This series takes as its premise that all the mythological creatures now live on a magical Archipelago. I’ll leave the rest for you to discover, but I truly believe they are necessary for readers of all ages, especially as one of Rundell’s other books is entitled Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise. You’ve been challenged.
And then some non-fiction:
5. Sarah Perry, Death of an Ordinary Man (October 6)
This is one of the books I have read in this list, but I got my copy from England, and it’s a fall US release I very much endorse. Sarah Perry is well-known for her award-winning fiction, such as The Essex Serpent and Enlightenment. Here she turns her talent to describing something closer to home: the final days helping to care for her father-in-law, David. It is both intimate and transcendent, profoundly raw and disarmingly honest. I was deeply moved and greatly sorrowed, but I also relished the way I came to care about David and admire the loving efforts that come at the end of a good man’s life.
6. Florence Hazrat, On the Mark: A History of Punctuation, From Ancient Egypt to the Emoticon (August 11)
Surely everyone is interested in punctuation? Truly, there is some very interesting stuff to be learned here. The blurb says it’s a “riotous global history.” How could I resist?
7. Jill Lepore, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State (August 25)
I posted a meme in jest on Instagram the other day about hoping to be left behind by AI. But not really: I have so many concerns–environmental, ethical, pedagogical, economic, political etc–that I want to be critically informed about this technological wave that is being presented as inevitable. Lepore’s scholarship seems like it will be helpful in determining where resistance can happen–and why it needs to.
8. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt, Look Like a Lady: Five Visual Tropes of Womanhood and How to See Ourselves Differently (September 8)
I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Weichbrodt’s new book, following on from her 2023’s Redeeming Vision. I’m looking forward to going on tour with Weichbrodt through these images of women and the way they shape and misshape us. Weichbrodt combines her art historian background with her wonderful teacherly abilities to make this text accessible and transformative.
9. Sandra Glahn, A Woman’s Place Is in the Story: Seeing Women in the Biblical Narrative (August 25)
This is the other book in this list that I’ve read because I was honored to be asked to blurb it. Here’s what I said in my blurb:
“A tremendous gift, reclaiming a wider cast of characters in Scripture! Sandra Glahn’s winsome mix of biblical scholarship, literary interpretation, personal insights, and her immensely readable style introduces us to women, particularly in the Old Testament, that we may have missed. Whatever you think you know about biblical women, this book will increase your knowledge of and appreciation for the richer, more complicated story that the Bible offers. Throughout, Glahn is a wonderful guide, reminding readers again and again that no one is a minor character in God’s grand story!”
10. Kristen Du Mez, Live, Laugh, Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made (September 15)
This hardly needs a mention from me. But still…like everyone else, I’m eagerly awaiting my Du Mez’ latest investigation!
So, happy fall reading, y’all.
And maybe, if you’re so inclined, your reading can honor the lives of two of our now-departed and most bookish saints: after all, St. Dolly would want you to support authors and songwriters and booksellers and librarians. And St. Wendell would want you to have good words from a good book grounded in the good earth to attend you on your way.
They certainly showed us the way to that joyful celebration that can happen in the pages of a book. How amazing to live when they were here to guide us.
Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash
