Fall is here and with it comes another month of reading. Each month we look at what books are coming out and try to highlight the ones that catch our eye or excite us. Particularly as the days get shorter and the weather turns cozier, it’s important to have a good book ready for you. Hopefully, some of these new October reads will speak to you as they’ve spoken to us. And, as always, let us know in the comments what new books you’re excited about in October.
Byron’s Picks
The Searcher ~ Tana French (Release Date October 6, 2020)
The Searcher is a thriller that is getting a lot of buzz. It’s on the must-read lists of Amazon, Time magazine, and the New York Times. I’m going to read it too. Why not? It’s October. Seems like a good time to get a thriller!
Ardis’s Picks
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue ~ V.E. Schwab (Release Date October 6, 2020)
I was so impressed by V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series when I encountered it through a book club in 2018. While I didn’t have as much luck with her Villains series, this new book from Schwab is undeniably enticing. I can’t wait to read her take on the Faustian bargain, and see this new take on the joy (and cost) of living forever.
Leave the World Behind ~ Rumaan Alam (Release Date October 6, 2020)
I don’t often venture outside my “genre fiction” comfort zone, but I’m making an exception for Rumaan Alam’s new book. How could I not? It’s an exciting premise and (as about a million reviews have already said) absolutely magnetic. This level of suspense set against a quiet family vacation in rural Long Island just drips with fall indulgence to me and I’m wickedly eager to read it.
The Once and Future Witches ~ Alix E. Harrow (Release Date October 13, 2020)
I loved Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and from the brief teaser I read late last month I’m sure she’s bringing that same energy, poetry, and power to this new book. Set in the late 1800s, The Once and Future Witches tells a story of, well, witches, who join the suffragist movement in New Salem to help witches and women survive and thrive. It’s a charming premise, and I can’t think of an author better suited to it than Harrow.
Machine ~ Elizabeth Bear (Release Date October 20, 2020)
I don’t even know where to begin summarizing what draws me to this book. All I can do is quote from the Amazon brief: “… an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away.” This is everything I want, and I can’t wait to read it.
