15 New Books for October
This month, we’ve got our eyes on Light Skin Gone to Waste, The Last Chairlift, and 13 other titles by writers on the West.
THE CONSEQUENCES: STORIES, BY MANUEL MUÑOZ
Muñoz’s collection roots readers deep in the Central Valley through narratives about the families of Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers around Fresno. His characters span age, class, and sexual identity. In one story, a young mother longs for the unpredictability of her youth while having an unexpected encounter with the father of her child; in another, two women connect on a journey to find their deported husbands; and in a third, a dead body haunts a farm’s foreman. Graywolf Press, October 18
DINOSAURS, BY LYDIA MILLET
The author of A Children’s Bible looks again at a community in crisis, although on a more personal scale. Reeling from a breakup, a man named Gil walks from New York to Arizona and moves into a castle, next to a house made of glass. As his patterns begin to mirror those of his new neighbors, their troubles become his troubles and Gil loses track of where they end and he begins. W.W. Norton & Company, October 11
FEELS LIKE HOME: A SONG FOR THE SONORAN BORDERLANDS, BY LINDA RONSTADT
In Feels Like Home, Grammy Award winner Ronstadt sheds a warm light on the Sonoran borderlands of Arizona where she grew up, remembering the people who lived there, sharing recipes, and celebrating the influence of place. Including photographs and letters, this memoir provides deep insight into Ronstadt’s roots. Heyday, October 4
IF I WERE THE OCEAN, I'D CARRY YOU HOME, BY PETE HSU
This debut collection follows a slew of children and young adults as they move through the quotidian patterns of life—celebrating birthdays, enjoying beach parties, attending church events—while also being thrust into grim, chaotic, and violent situations. Hsu’s stories expose the irresistible urge to search for hope within a depraved world. Red Hen Press, October 11
THE LAST CHAIRLIFT, BY JOHN IRVING
The author of The Cider House Rules returns with a novel that takes place in Colorado. The central character, Adam, raised in New England by a ski instructor, moves to Aspen’s Hotel Jerome, where his mother became pregnant while she was a competitive slalom skier. Simon & Schuster, October 18
LIGHT SKIN GONE TO WASTE: STORIES, BY TONI ANN JOHNSON
Johnson’s powerful collection explores racism, family pressures, and human failings and triumphs. The work here revolves around psychologist Philip Arrington, who lives largely in his own world; his wife, who suffers from dramatic mood swings; and their two daughters, who must find space to be themselves. University of Georgia Press, October 15
THE PASSENGER, BY CORMAC McCARTHY
McCarthy’s first novel since the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Road begins as Bobby Western, a Coast Guard diver, discovers a jet at the bottom of the ocean full of dead passengers. When Western notices that a passenger is missing, he becomes unsettled, since he is already plagued by the ghost of his father. Soon he is swept up in a startling plot that unfolds across the treacherous landscape of the American South. Knopf, October 25
POSTER GIRL, BY VERONICA ROTH
In this novel by the author of the popular Divergent series, Sonya Kantor has been in prison for 10 years when a former enemy offers her a deal: find a girl kidnapped by the Delegation, a regime that has since been toppled, and she can earn her freedom. The catch is that Sonya was once the face of the Delegation and must navigate a world she hardly recognizes—one crawling with the specters of her past. William Morrow, October 18
RIGHTEOUS PREY, BY JOHN SANDFORD
Sandford’s latest imagines a group of wealthy vigilantes known as the Five who murder society’s most depraved criminals. Afterward, the Five send the victims of these criminals untraceable Bitcoin donations, leaving law enforcement no clues as to who the vigilantes are. As the Five gain public support, Detectives Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are dispatched to expose them. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, October 4
SINGER DISTANCE, BY ETHAN CHATAGNIER
In the world of Chatagnier’s novel, martians and earthlings communicate through the universal language of mathematics, building proofs into their planets’ surfaces for one another to see. When the martians go silent for 30 years, Crystal Singer must crack their most complicated equation to reconnect. But after she disappears on a trip to Arizona, it’s up to her boyfriend, Rick, and three others to traverse the great distances between them. Tin House Books, October 18
STILL NO WORD FROM YOU: NOTES IN THE MARGIN, BY PETER ORNER
Inspired by his grandfather, who wrote letters daily to his grandmother while serving in World War II, Orner delivers a series of essays that explore the craft of writing as a form of connection between writers and readers. Using the works of writers such as Primo Levi for his source material, Orner weaves personal anecdotes into his observations, developing a fresh brand of literary criticism. Catapult, October 11
TELL ME THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE, BY ERIK TARLOFF
When Toby, chief fundraiser for the San Francisco Opera, embarks on a dangerous love affair, the bubble of his happy-go-lucky, privileged bachelor lifestyle is punctured and his world is overturned. Tarloff’s comedic novel explores love in all its forms. Rare Bird Books, October 11
THE WAR IN COURT: INSIDE THE LONG FIGHT AGAINST TORTURE, BY LISA HAJJAR
After the United States launched its war on terror, “the war in court,” as Hajjar’s new book notes, also began. This insightful inquiry gathers interviews, histories, legal analysis, and Hajjar’s own reporting to reveal how lawyers fought the U.S. government and its torture policies in Guantánamo, and the continuing effects these legal battles have had in this country and beyond. University of California Press, October 18
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON, BY RYAN LEE WONG
Reed, the protagonist of Wong’s debut novel, is on the verge of dropping out of school so he can participate more fully in the Black Lives Matter movement, but his plans are challenged by his mother, who engages him in a series of provocative discussions about political and social change and what he can learn from history (including his own). Catapult, October 4
WIND, TREES, BY JOHN FREEMAN
From the host of the California Book Club and the editor of Freeman’s, the poems in Wind, Trees find politics and redemption in the forest and the breeze, which are also symbols of community and continuity. Selfishness is humanity’s downfall, but love is our opportunity for healing. Copper Canyon Press, October 25
California Bestsellers List (May 16, 2024)
Executive Disorder
California Bestsellers List (May 9, 2024)
Life and Fate
