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Coming Soon

Curious about what books will be released in the months ahead so you can pre-order or reserve them? Then click on the months below.

Please note we have not included every book that is coming out, but rather some that caught our eye --- and that we thought should catch yours as well.

September 2021

Paperback

Sensation Machines by Adam Wilson - Fiction, Humor

Soho Press | 9781641292863 | Published September 7, 2021

Michael and Wendy Mixner are a Brooklyn-based couple whose marriage is failing in the wake of a personal tragedy. Michael, a Wall Street trader, is meanwhile keeping a secret: he lost the couple’s life savings when a tanking economy caused a major market crash. And Wendy, a digital marketing strategist, has been hired onto a data-mining project of epic scale, whose mysterious creator has ambitions to solve a national crisis of mass unemployment and reshape America’s social and political landscapes. When Michael’s best friend is murdered, the evidence leads back to Wendy’s client, setting off a dangerous chain of events that will profoundly change the couple --- and the country.

She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh - Biography, Music, Nonfiction

Scribner | 9781982157296 | Published September 7, 2021

Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh witnessed firsthand the particular vulnerabilities --- and strengths --- of women in working poverty. Meanwhile, country songs by female artists played in the background, telling powerful stories about life, men, hard times and surviving. In her family, she writes that “country music was foremost a language among women. It’s how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren’t discussed.” And no one provided that language better than Dolly Parton. In SHE COME BY IT NATURAL, Smarsh explores the overlooked contributions to social progress by such women as exemplified by Dolly Parton’s life and art.

Talking to GOATs: The Moments You Remember and the Stories You Never Heard by Jim Gray - Entertainment, Memoir, Nonfiction, Sports

William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062992079 | Published September 7, 2021

In TALKING TO GOATs, award-winning broadcaster Jim Gray looks back at his four decades of sports reporting from the unparalleled perspective of one of the world’s most respected and skilled interviewers. The book features numerous world-class athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather, Michael Phelps, Mike Tyson and Tiger Woods, and world leaders George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev and many more. On each page, Jim gives the reader a coveted all-access pass as he reviews the best interviews, the best athletes and the best games in modern sports history. It’s like a personal introduction to the characters and careers of these heroes and villains we’ve known since childhood.

The Appointment by Katharina Volckmer - Fiction

Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982150181 | Published September 7, 2021

In a well-appointed examination in London, a young woman unburdens herself to a certain Dr. Seligman. Though she can barely see above his head, she holds forth about her life and desires, her struggles with her sexuality and identity. Born and raised in Germany, she has been living in London for several years, determined to break free from her family origins and her haunted homeland. But the recent death of her grandfather, and an unexpected inheritance, make it clear that you cannot easily outrun your own shame --- whether it be physical, familial, historical, national or all of the above. Or can you? With Dr. Seligman’s help, our narrator will find out.

The Best of Me by David Sedaris - Essays, Fiction, Humor, Nonfiction

Back Bay Books | 9780316242400 | Published September 7, 2021

For more than 25 years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to read without laughing. Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work. In these stories, Sedaris shops for rare taxidermy, hitchhikes with a lady quadriplegic, and spits a lozenge into a fellow traveler’s lap. He also explores falling in love and staying together, recognizing his own aging not in the mirror but in the faces of his siblings, losing one parent and coming to terms --- at long last --- with the other.

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Ballantine Books | 9781984818379 | Published September 7, 2021

Dawn Edelstein is on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but of a man she last saw 15 years ago: Wyatt Armstrong, who is now somewhere in Egypt working as an archaeologist. After the crash landing, the airline offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways --- the first known map of the afterlife.

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun - Comedy, Fiction, Humor, Romance

Atria Books | 9781982170714 | Published September 7, 2021

Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show “Ever After.” As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star. Charlie doesn’t believe in true love and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars.

The Dynasty by Jeff Benedict - Biography, Nonfiction, Sports

Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982134112 | Published September 7, 2021

It’s easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut. How was their dynasty built, and how did it last for two decades? In THE DYNASTY, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than 200 insiders, as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents and electronic communications.

The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063030152 | Published September 7, 2021

Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of her twin sister Summer’s seemingly never-ending good fortune. When Summer calls Iris to Thailand to help her sail the family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris has secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But after a disturbing incident in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. Now Iris has the chance to step into the golden life she’s always envied --- and get one step closer to the hundred-million-dollar inheritance left by her manipulative father. All Iris would need to do is ensure she’s the first of his seven children to fulfill the strange conditions of his will. But Iris soon discovers that her twin was keeping more than one secret, and her life lurches between glamorous dream and paranoid nightmare.

The Inheritance by JoAnn Ross - Fiction, Women's Fiction

HQN | 9781335418562 | Published September 7, 2021

When conflict photographer Jackson Swann dies, he leaves behind a conflict of his own making when his three daughters, each born to a different mother, discover that they’re now responsible for the family’s Oregon vineyard --- and for a family they didn’t ask for. As the sisters reluctantly gather at the vineyard, they’re soon enchanted by the Swann family matriarch and namesake of Maison de Madeleine wines, whose stories of bravery in WWII France and love for a wounded American soldier will reveal the family legacy they've each inherited and change the course of all their lives.

The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk - Fiction

Grand Central Publishing | 9781538717981 | Published September 7, 2021

Gates Foster lost his daughter, Lucy, 17 years ago. He's never stopped searching. Suddenly, a shocking new development provides Foster with his first major lead in over a decade, and he may finally be on the verge of discovering the awful truth. Meanwhile, Mitzi Ives has carved out a space among the Foley artists, creating the immersive sounds that give Hollywood films their authenticity. Using the same secret techniques as her father before her, she's become an industry-leading expert in the sound of violence and horror, creating screams so bone-chilling, they may as well be real. Soon Foster and Ives find themselves on a collision course that threatens to expose the violence hidden beneath Hollywood's glamorous façade.

The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman - Fiction, Historical Fiction

St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250780829 | Published September 7, 2021

Millie (Meike) Mosbach and her brother, David, manage to escape to the States just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Millie attends Bryn Mawr on a special scholarship for non-Aryan German girls and graduates to a magazine job in Philadelphia. David enlists in the army and is eventually posted to the top-secret Camp Ritchie in Maryland, which trains German-speaking men for intelligence work. Now they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family.

The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus - Fiction, Horror

Tor Nightfire | 9781250305275 | Published September 7, 2021

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly risen friends and family. On a U.S. aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones, while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In D.C., an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.

The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad written by Mike Birbiglia, with poems by J. Hope Stein - Humor, Memoir, Nonfiction, Parenting

Grand Central Publishing | 9781538701522 | Published September 7, 2021

In 2016, comedian Mike Birbiglia and poet Jennifer Hope Stein took their 14-month-old daughter, Oona, to the Nantucket Film Festival. When the festival director picked them up at the airport, she asked Mike if he would perform at the storytelling night. She said, "The theme of the stories is jealousy." Jen quipped, "You're jealous of Oona. You should talk about that." And so Mike began sharing some of his darkest and funniest thoughts about the decision to have a child. Over the next couple of years, these stories evolved into a Broadway show, and the more Mike performed it, the more he heard how it resonated --- not just with parents but also with people who resist all kinds of change. So he pored over his journals, dug deeper and created this book.

The Orphan's Song by Lauren Kate - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Romance

G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212589 | Published September 7, 2021

When Violetta and Mino meet, one finds true love and the other denies it. Both orphans at the Hospital of the Incurables in Venice, an orphanage and music conservatory, they meet and make music together clandestinely until Violetta is selected for the Incurables' renowned chorus. In order to join, she signs an oath never to sing beyond the church doors, effectively sequestering herself for life. Mino flees, heartbroken. Too late, Violetta realizes what she has lost. In rebellion she begins a dangerous and forbidden nightlife, unknowingly drawing closer to Mino as he searches Venice for his long-lost mother. Mino and Violetta must each journey through passion, heartache and betrayal before a dangerous secret reunites them, leading to a shocking and final confrontation.

The Scorpion's Tail by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Grand Central Publishing | 9781538747285 | Published September 7, 2021

A mummified corpse is found in the cellar of an abandoned building in a remote New Mexico ghost town. Rookie FBI Agent Corrie Swanson is assigned to ID the body and determine the cause of death. She brings archaeologist Nora Kelly to excavate the body and lend her expertise to the investigation, and together they uncover something unexpected and shocking: the deceased apparently died in agony, in a fetal position, skin coming off in sheets, with a rictus of horror frozen on his face. Hidden on the corpse lies a 16th-century Spanish gold cross of immense value. When at last they identify the body --- and the bizarre cause of death --- Corrie and Nora open a door into a terrifying, secret world of ancient treasure and modern obsession.

The Summoning by J.P. Smith - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728243177 | Published September 7, 2021

Every year, as the anniversary of 9/11 inches closer on the calendar, Kit Capriol scans the memorials published in the New York Times. It's a simple thing to look up a name and phone number, and reach out to surviving family members who might still be yearning for connection with their lost loved one. After her husband went down in the North Tower, Kit scraped by as an actress. But now her daughter Zoey is in the hospital, bills are due and the acting work has dried up. Becoming a medium is almost too easy for someone used to pretending for a living. Now, though, something has changed. The seances Kit holds in her apartment are starting to feel unsettlingly real, and the intriguing man she met at a local bar could be more complicated than he seems.

Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman - Nonfiction, Sports

Mariner Books | 9780358627968 | Published September 7, 2021

In the history of modern sport, there have never been two high-level teammates who loathed each other the way Shaquille O’Neal loathed Kobe Bryant, and Kobe Bryant loathed Shaquille O’Neal. From public sniping and sparring, to physical altercations and the repeated threats of trade, it was warfare. And yet, despite eight years of infighting and hostility, by turns mediated and encouraged by coach Phil Jackson, the Shaq-Kobe duo resulted in one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. Together, the two led the Lakers to three straight championships and returned glory and excitement to Los Angeles.

Tom Seaver: A Terrific Life by Bill Madden - Biography, Nonfiction, Sports

Simon & Schuster | 9781982136222 | Published September 7, 2021

He was called Tom Terrific for a reason. Tom Seaver was one of the most talented and popular players in the history of baseball. He is one of only two pitchers with 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00. He was a three-time Cy Young Award winner, 12-time All Star, and was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame with the highest percentage ever at the time. Popular among players and fans, Seaver was fiercely competitive but always put team success ahead of personal glory. Drawing in part on their long relationship, New York Daily News baseball columnist Bill Madden offers a deeply personal and fascinating portrait of one of the greatest and most admired players of all time.

Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas by Roberto Lovato - Memoir, Nonfiction

Harper Perennial | 9780062938527 | Published September 7, 2021

The child of Salvadoran immigrants, Roberto Lovato grew up in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco as MS-13 and other notorious Salvadoran gangs were forming in California. He eventually traded the violence of the streets for human rights advocacy in wartime El Salvador, where he joined the guerilla movement against the U.S.-backed, fascist military government responsible for some of the most barbaric massacres and crimes against humanity in recent history. In UNFORGETTING, Roberto interweaves his father’s complicated history and his own with firsthand reportage on gang life, state violence and the heart of the immigration crisis in both El Salvador and the United States.

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Riverhead Books | 9780593191422 | Published September 7, 2021

A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with her guests, a stranger who seeks help comforting his elderly mother, a friend of her youth now hospitalized with terminal cancer. In each of these people, the woman finds a common need: the urge to talk about themselves and to have an audience to their experiences. The narrator orchestrates this chorus of voices for the most part as a passive listener, until one of them makes an extraordinary request, drawing her into an intense and transformative experience of her own.

24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid by Willie Mays and John Shea - Memoir, Nonfiction, Sports

St. Martin's Griffin | 9781250828354 | Published September 14, 2021

Widely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid. Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime. This is the story of a man who values family and community, engages in charitable causes, especially involving children, and follows a philosophy that encourages hope, hard work and the fulfillment of dreams.

A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria - Comedy, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Avon | 9780062959966 | Published September 14, 2021

After burning out in her corporate marketing career, Michelle Amato has built a thriving freelance business as a graphic designer. She’s perfectly fine being the black sheep of her marriage-obsessed Puerto Rican-Italian family. The only guy who ever made her want happily-ever-after disappeared 13 years ago. Gabriel Aguilar left the Bronx at 18 to escape his parents’ demanding expectations, but it also meant saying goodbye to Michelle. He’s now the successful co-owner of LA’s hottest celebrity gym, with an investor who insists on opening a New York City location. It’s the last place Gabe wants to go, but when Michelle is unexpectedly brought on board to spearhead the new marketing campaign, everything Gabe has been running from catches up with him.

A Most Clever Girl: A Novel of an American Spy by Stephanie Marie Thornton - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Berkley | 9780593198407 | Published September 14, 2021

Reeling from the death of her mother and President Kennedy’s assassination, Catherine Gray shows up on Elizabeth Bentley’s doorstep demanding answers to the shocking mystery she just uncovered about her family. What she doesn’t expect is for Bentley to ensnare her in her own story of becoming a controversial World War II spy and Cold War informer. Recruited by the American Communist Party to spy on fascists at the outbreak of World War II, a young Bentley --- code name Clever Girl --- finds she has an unexpected gift for espionage. But after falling desperately in love with her handler, Elizabeth learns he is actually a Russian spy. As Catherine listens to Elizabeth's harrowing tale, she discovers that the women's lives are linked in shocking ways.

A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism

William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062980793 | Published September 14, 2021

Following her brother's death and her mother's emotional breakdown, Laura now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her grandparents. The quiet, awkward teenager has been getting into trouble at home and has been expelled from her high school. When Christmas is over and the new year begins, Laura may find herself at boarding school in Montreal. Nearly unmoored from reality through her panic and submerged grief, Laura is startled when a handsome swan boy with only one wing lands on her roof. She tries to build him a wing so he can fly home. Little does she know that her struggle to find help for her new friend parallels that of her grandparents, who are desperate for a distant relative’s financial aid to save the family store.