Drawn from over 14,000 titles in pw’s fall announcement edition, we asked our review editors to select the most notable books published in fall 2017. links to reviews are included where available . (Interested in our list of the most anticipated children’s and adult books coming this fall? You can read it here.)
fiction
You are reading: Anticipated books of 2017
sings, unburied, sings by jesmyn ward (scribner, sept.): When the father of leonie’s children is released from prison, leonie packs her children and a friend into his car and heads to parchman farm, on a journey full of danger and promise.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste NG (Penguin Press, Sept.) – Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother, rents a house from the Richardson family, which is picture perfect. Soon, Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: the four Richardson children are drawn to the seductive mother-daughter pairing and Mia’s mysterious past.
manhattan beach by jennifer egan (scribner, oct.): anna, the sole provider for her mother and severely disabled sister, meets a man who may hold clues to her father’s disappearance. .
Dark Forest by Nicole Krauss (Harper, Sept.) – The love story author delivers a novel of metamorphosis and self-realization. In modern-day Israel, two visiting Americans, one a young wife, mother, and novelist, the other an elderly philanthropist, experience existential crises and transcendence.
the world goes on by lászló krasznahorkai, trans. By George Szirtes, Ottilie Mulzet, and John Batki (New Directions, November): These 11 stories from the international man booker winner range from the banks of the Ganges to a Portuguese marble quarry.
mystery/thriller/crime
A Legacy of Spies by john le carré (Viking, Sept.) – george smiley returns in this spy novel from mwa grandmaster le carré, albeit peter guillam , mi6’s devoted smiley assistant, who takes center stage.
Origin of Dan Brown (Doubleday, Oct.): The author of the Da Vinci Code brings back Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon for another adventure that mixes religion, science, history and art .
artemis by andy weir (crown, nov.) – weir follows up his best-selling debut, the martian, with a thriller set in the first and only city on the moon.
sci-fi/fantasy/horror
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury, August): This incredible account of a disabled adventurer’s journey through 19th-century Peru in search of quinine trees perfectly captures the disorientation of height and culture collide in a setting where the nature of the fantastic elements remains ambiguous until the end.
the stone sky of n.k. jemisin (orbit, aug): jemisin culminates the broken earth trilogy with a devastating story of a mother and daughter, both wielding tremendous power, who clash over the fate of their ruined world.
Annalee Newitz’s Self-Employed (TOR, Sept.): In newitz’s startlingly original debut, a man and a robot fall in love as they chase a robin hood pharmacist through a luminous environment of near future.
romance/erotic
The Duchess Bargain: Girl Meets Duke, Book 1 by Tessa Dare (Avon, Sept.) – In the charming launch of the regency series from Dare, A Duke Who Fears Being rejected for his scars, he proposes to a seamstress who shocks him by insisting on a relationship of equals.
Donald Allmon’s Glamor Thieves (Riptide, Sept.): A cyberpunk sensibility, intense action, and blatant sexiness make for a potent mix in Allmon’s swoon-worthy debut erotic romance, featuring sexual encounters between orc and elf heroes echoing the warmth of the near-future arizona fantasy setting.
Irresistible You: Chicago Rebels, Book 1 By Kate Meader (Pocket Star, Aug.) – Meader, known for her firefighting novels, takes to the sports with this splendidly characterized contemporary, in the one where a hockey player who co-owns the team falls in love with a player who plans to transfer.
See Also: 7 Books That Will Change How You See the World
poetry
the complete poems of a.r. amons, vols. 1 & 2 edited by robert m. West (Norton, Oct.) : Ammons was one of the most innovative American poets of the 20th century, and his complete oeuvre is finally brought together in this two-volume set. In addition to the authorized texts of the material that earned him two National Book Awards and a National Book Critics Circle Award, there are more than 100 previously uncollected poems.
eve l’s electric arcs. ewing (haymarket, sept.) – ewing’s stunning debut collides in a variety of ways as it questions what the imagination can make possible in the realm of social justice. As the boundaries between the self and the outside world blur, the political ramifications of the inner life begin to become clear.
heaven is all goodbye by tongo eisen-martin (city lights, sept.) – eisen-martin responds to state violence, racism, deindustrialization, and other related forms of oppression taking readers to the streets. These slippery, complex poems contextualize the staggering inequalities of 21st-century America as their polyphonic voices confront their manifestations.
We Are In: A Book By June Jordan Edited By Christoph Keller And Jan Heller Levi (Alice James, Sept.) – The legendary poet and activist Jordan (1936-2002) was committed to the liberation of all people and the revolutionary power of art. This extensive volume complements his poetry with prose, letters, and other writings that show the depth and breadth of his vision.
comics/graphic novels
akira: katsuhiro otomo’s 35th anniversary box (kodansha, oct.) – otomo’s cyberpunk masterpiece, one of the most influential manga of all time , the fir tree is released for the first time with the original Japanese page layouts, in a deluxe hardcover set. Tetsuo and Kaneda’s street battles in Tokyo remain a highlight of the comics.
poppies of iraq by brigitte findakly and lewis trondheim (drawn and september quarterly): trondheim’s quirky, cartoonish art highlights the cruelties and absurdities of findakly’s memoir of growing up in iraq a complex story of family, memory and the places we left behind.
the hunting accident: a true story of crime and poetry by david l. carlson and landis blair (first second, sept.) – the true story of a man who discovers the real cause of his father’s blindness – he was always told it was a hunting accident, but the facts were much more Dark – What goes around in a story of crime and redemption involving mass murderer Nathan Leopold, Jr.
memories
what happened to hillary rodham clinton (simon & schuster, sept.) – clinton’s new book of essays recounts stories from her life, up to and including the 2016 presidential campaign, inspired by your favorite dating book.
Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir by Amy Tan (ECCO, Oct.) – The best-selling author shares her life as a writer, her traumatic childhood, and the connection between fiction and emotional memory.
Making Sense: The Making of a Countercultural Cook by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, Sept.): A revealing look at Waters’ evolution from a rebellious but impressionable follower to a respected activist who affects global social and political change through the common bond of food.
Unstoppable: My Life So Far by Maria Sharapova (FSG/Crichton, Sept.)– In this insightful memoir, 30-year-old tennis star Sharapova details her life from her earliest memories to the news.
literary essays/criticism/biographies
A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney (hmh, Oct.) – Midorikawa and Sweeney, two authors who are also longtime friends, uncover little-known stories of friendship from the lives of famous authors.
The Secret Life: Three True Stories of the Digital Age by Andrew O’Hagan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct.)– a collection of essays by the novelist o ‘hagan explores identity in the digital age through three figures: wikileaks founder julian assange; alleged inventor of bitcoin craig steven wright; and O’Hagan’s own invented online identity, Ronnie Pinn.
Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Adult Children’s Literature by Bruce Handy (Simon & Schuster, Aug.) – while reviewing the iconic books of American childhood , like goodnight moon and where the wild things are, also revisits the sometimes complex or unexpected stories of their creators.
Elizabeth Hardwick’s Collection of Essays Edited by Darryl Pinckney (New York Review Books, Oct.) – This retrospective features the late Hardwick, novelist and co-founder of New York Review of Books, as an essayist includes work on political and travel journalism, but emphasizes his literary criticism.
history
See Also: 52 Best Middle-Grade Graphic Novels for Your Tween of 2022
the ghost of the innocent man: a true story of trial and redemption by benjamin rachlin (little, brown, aug.) – rachlin acknowledges the shortcomings of the american criminal justice system throughout history of Willie James Grimes, a North Carolina man wrongfully convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison in 1988, and released in 2012 after his conviction was overturned.
Great Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919 by Mike Wallace (Oxford University, Oct.): Wallace’s masterful follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gotham begins with the 1898 municipal consolidation of the five boroughs of New York and explores the development of a new socioeconomic order of consolidated corporate capitalism. wallace takes the raucous history of this sprawling metropolis and shapes it into a compelling, dynamic and cohesive narrative.
Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 by Stephen Kotkin (Penguin Press, Nov.) – In the second of his planned three-volume biography, Kotkin covers the forced collectivization of the Soviet peasantry, the clamor within the Soviet ranks and the subsequent great purge, and the impending confrontation with fascism. Stalin certainly made history, as Kotkin shows, but far from the way he had envisioned.
the vietnam war: an intimate history by geoffrey c. Ward and Ken Burns (Knopf, Sept.): This lavishly illustrated companion volume to Ward and Burns’ latest documentary mini-series features dozens of interviews with key figures at all levels from both the US and Canada. uu. and vietnam more than 40 years after the war ended, ward and burns investigate how it started and why it developed the way it did.
politics/current affairs
We Were in Power for Eight Years: An American Tragedy by ta-nehisi coates (random/one world, Oct.) – the national book award-winning author 2016’s between the world and me offers essays that look back at the obama era and what comes after.
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Won Russia Back By Masha Gessen (Riverhead, Oct.) – Putin’s best-selling biographer reveals how, in space Within a generation, Russia surrendered to a more virulent and invincible strain of autocracy.
I Can’t Breathe: A Bay Street Murder by Matt Taibbi (Random/Spiegel & Grau, Oct.): The Rolling Stone writer explores the roots and aftermath of the murder of Eric Garner by police on July 17, 2014, in New York City.
Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World by Suzy Hansen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, August)– An American writer living in Istanbul, dealing with a new understanding of their homeland and their place in the world.
music
Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe (FSG/Crichton, August): This book tells the story of Joni Mitchell, made up of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell and her friends , as well as analysis of her well-known lyrics, her imagery and style, and what they say about the woman herself.
gold dust woman: a biographie of stevie nicks by stephen davis (st. martin’s, nov.) – davis’s candid and forceful book reveals the life of the woman who is arguably one of the best rock singers-songwriters.
science
Extreme Cities: The Danger and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change by Ashley Dawson (verso, Oct.): Many books have shed light on the ever-increasing dangers of climate change , particularly the disastrous impact sea level rise will have on coastal regions, but Dawson goes further in outlining some possible solutions to this crisis. he finds that massive tech projects may not be what’s needed; instead, the solution may already exist in radical movements to forge a more just and equitable society
The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks (Knopf, Nov.) – Sacks, a larger-than-life figure in the field of neurology, was working on two manuscripts when he died in 2015 This collection of essays, which contains two unpublished pieces, revolves around basic concepts to understand the human condition and sees bags that are related to evolution, creativity, memory and much more.
Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone by Juli Berwald (Riverhead, November) – In this superbly timed exploration of the humble jellyfish, Berwald shares her personal journey to better understand these potential indicators of the effects of climate change on the oceans. Packed with captivating stories of this strange and largely unknown creature, the book sheds light on jellyfish research, offering insight into jellyfish’s place on the planet – and ours.
religion
the rise and fall of adam and eve by stephen greenblatt (norton, sept.) – harvard humanities professor and pulitzer-winning author greenblatt investigates the “beauty, power, and influence “That Adam and Eve story has been going on for millennia.
ptl: the rise and fall of jim and tammy faye baker’s evangelical empire by john wigger (university of oxford, august) – history professor at the university of missouri wigger explores the rise, the stumble, and fall of the ptl evangelical empire founded in 1973 by jim and tammy faye baker. Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison for wire and mail fraud.
bible nation: the united states of the fan lobby by candida r. Moss and Joel S. Baden (Princeton Univ., Oct.) — Bible scholars Moss and Baden examine the collection of Bible-related antiques owned by the Green family that owns the Hobbyist Lobby and how they have aspired to influence national policy by funding a network of projects related to the bible.
See Also: 10 Best Macrame Books for Beginners & Beyond | Macrame for Beginners