September has officially arrived, which means it's time to make our TBR pile dangerously ambitious.
There are certain seasons that make you want to read.
Fall is obviously one of them.
Maybe it's the earlier sunsets. Maybe it's the first cold night when you can justify staying home. Maybe it's the return of sweaters, candles, coffee, and the very specific fantasy of becoming the kind of person who reads in bed every night.
Whatever the reason, September has a particularly good excuse: there are a lot of new books to read.
This fall's publishing slate includes literary fiction, speculative fiction, family dramas, cultural criticism, translated fiction, and buzzy new work from some very recognizable names.
Here are the ones we're watching.
Switzy: A Novel
Book by Emma Cline
If you liked The Girls, Emma Cline's return is worth paying attention to.
Her new novel follows a retired executive whose life begins to unravel, promising the kind of psychological unease Cline does so well.
It's not necessarily the book you pick up when you want to feel cheerful.
But it might be exactly the book you want for a dark October afternoon.
Mood: unsettling, literary, slightly sinister.
Exit Party
by Emma Cline
Emily St. John Mandel has become one of those authors whose name alone makes a book feel like an event.
Her latest novel moves into speculative territory again, imagining a world shaped by the collapse of the United States.
If you're drawn to books that ask big questions while still giving you something genuinely absorbing to read, this belongs near the top of the pile.
Mood: cerebral but immersive.
American Hagwon
By Min Jin Lee
After Pachinko, Min Jin Lee has earned a permanent spot on the list of authors whose new releases feel culturally significant.
Her new work is one of the fall's most anticipated literary releases and another reason to pay attention to what contemporary historical fiction is doing right now.
Mood: sweeping, emotional, generational.
Hollywood Ending
By John Green
... but not the John Green you remember
John Green is returning with his first adult novel, a story connected to the world of young actors making a Warhol biopic.
Which sounds, frankly, very different from the John Green many of us grew up reading.
And that's part of what makes it interesting.
Authors eventually outgrow the versions of themselves that readers remember. This is Green stepping into a different literary world — and potentially bringing some of his longtime audience with him.
Mood: nostalgic, grown-up, culturally curious.
A little Anthony Bourdain
Sometimes the best addition to a fall reading list isn't a brand-new novel.
It's something you somehow never got around to reading.
This season brings a re-release of Anthony Bourdain's The Nasty Bits, which makes a strong case for revisiting his particular combination of food, travel, cynicism, curiosity, and storytelling.
Because sometimes the ideal fall book isn't about autumn at all.
It's about wanting to go somewhere else.
The books we're actually looking for
The best fall TBR isn't necessarily the list with the most impressive titles.
It's the one that gives you options.
One book for when you want to disappear.
One for when you want to think.
One for when you want something strange.
One for when you want to be emotionally destroyed.
And, ideally, one that makes you forget to check your phone.
So consider this your permission to make the nightstand pile slightly ridiculous.
The point isn't to finish everything.
It's to have something you're excited to pick up.
And that's a pretty good way to start fall.
Until next week — stay chévere