September Means Back-To-School Books!

Plus: some new fiction and non-fiction picks and what our critics are reading [View this email online]( [NPR]( by Meghan Collins Sullivan [September picks image]( NPR September tends to be a busy month in the publishing world — and this one will be no exception. We’ve picked eight books we're excited about this month, but there are so many more! On the fiction front, there’s Colson Whitehead's latest, a heist novel, Harlem Shuffle and Sally Rooney’s romance Beautiful World Where Are You? Also, Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Doerr has a new book Cloud Cuckoo Land that crosses multiple times and places -- and Lauren Groff’s Matrix also hits shelves this month. Meanwhile, on the non-fiction front, in Believing Anita Hill reflects on life and gender equality 30 years after her testimony at Clarence Thomas’ hearing for Supreme Court justice. U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo reveals what has gone into her poetry over the years in Poet Warrior, while Maggie Nelson’s latest On Freedom takes a look at what freedom means in the realms of art, sex, drugs, and climate. And Bob Woodward follows up Fear and Rage with the final in his Trump trilogy, Peril, written this time with Robert Costa and centered on the White House transition from the former to the current presidency. [Follow this link to find out why our critics are excited about this group!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s also back-to-school time! So, this weekend our own Asma Khalid [recommended three books]( for middle schoolers – A High Five for Glen Burke, The Breadwinner and New Kid. She says all the books on this list are "about sort of creating empathy and figuring out how to enter back into the school world in such a crazy time right now." [School picks image]( [PCHH image]( Our Pop Culture Happy Hour team is also on the back-to-school case – chatting about high school required reading and everything that comes with it. [You can hear what they have to say here](. This week our kids’ books columnist Juanita Giles reminds us that [teen romance novels have been around forever]( – and says that she’s got some in her house right next to the classics. She writes that Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai is a new release worth a look for your middle-grade readers. Meanwhile, host of the Code Switch podcast Karen Grigsby Bates [spoke with authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher]( Murray about The Personal Librarian, the fictionalized account of the very real Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman who quietly passed as white who convinced J.P. Morgan's son, Jack Morgan, to make his father’s library a gift to New York City – and curated the collection for years. You can also [read her review]( here. And critic [Lily Meyer weighs in on]( Patrick Nathan’s plea for artistic ethics in Image Control, writing that it “can be frustrating at times: polemical, hyperbolic, messy. But the book's aggravating moments stem from, and are redeemed by, its intelligence, originality, and heart.” [be cool image]( [Image Control]( [personal librarian image]( Here’s hoping you find some time to sit down with a good book this week! — Meghan --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [books@npr.org](mailto:books@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Pop Culture, Code Switch and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Books emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( [NPR logo]