10 Novels We're Looking Forward To This Fall

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Book Review

Episode: "10 Novels We're Looking Forward To This Fall"

Host: Gilbert Cruz
Co-Host: Joumana Khatib
Date: September 5, 2025

---

Overview

In this engaging episode, editors Gilbert Cruz and Joumana Khatib from The New York Times Book Review share their most anticipated novels for the Fall 2025 season. The pair banter about seasonal joys, book trends, and dig into why fall is a particularly exciting time for book lovers. With sharp wit and insider knowledge, they preview major releases, emerging voices, unexpected titles, and some highly awaited returns by acclaimed authors. Listeners are left with a wealth of options for their reading lists and a taster of upcoming screen adaptations.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Allure of Fall for Book Lovers

• Fall is described as the best season for book releases and "to be a person, to wear cardigans," especially in New York.
  • Joumana: “It bears repeating that fall is really the best season to be a new book lover.” [01:09]
• Gilbert and Joumana riff on their fashion preferences while joking about the unrelenting New York humidity.

---

Featured Forthcoming Novels

1. Dan Brown, The Secret of Secrets

Release: Early September

• Sixth installment in the Robert Langdon series.
• Langdon’s new girlfriend disappears in Prague, likely tied to ancient local mythology.
• Filled with signature Dan Brown puzzles and mysteries.
• Light riffs on the concept of “manuscript wife guy” and numerology appeal.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Joumana: “Numerology is a big deal to Robert Langdon.” [02:37]
    • Gilbert jokes: “Look in a mirror. And then you figure it out.” [02:49]
      Timestamps: [02:06]–[04:36]

---

2. Adam Johnson, The Wayfinder

Release: Mid-October

• Sweeping, Polynesia-set epic by the Pulitzer winner.
• Follows a young heroine, Koriro, as her threatened island society confronts upheaval via a mysterious interloper from Tonga.
• Emphasizes unique setting, classic adventure tone, and "doorstop" length.
  • Joumana: “You got a plucky young heroine, you've got an interloper, you got maps and...a huge book.” [06:25]
    Timestamps: [04:41]–[07:08]

---

3. Mick Herron, Clown Town

Release: Early September

• Ninth in the Slough House series (basis for Apple TV's "Slow Horses").
• Centers on misfit British spies, led by profane Jackson Lamb.
• Appeal: The joys of long-running series and creatively vulgar antiheroes.
  • Gilbert: “There’s just nothing that is as satisfying as locking fully into a series, as I know many people have with this one.” [08:25]
    Timestamps: [07:12]–[08:25]

---

4. Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonya and Sunny

Release: End of September

• Author’s first novel since her 2006 Booker-winning The Inheritance of Loss.
• A love story set between India and Vermont, blending romance with immigrant experience and family saga.
• Explores themes of isolation and generational dynamics.
  • Joumana: “[It’s] classic, sprawling...a romance story, a social novel. Satisfying on a lot of those fronts.” [10:46]
    Timestamps: [08:25]–[11:07]

---

5. Richard Osman, The Impossible Fortune

Release: September

• Fifth in the beloved Thursday Murder Club series.
• The amateur sleuths (elderly Brits) become wedding planners—“I don’t know what that means,” Gilbert quips.
• Netflix adaptation with major stars (Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley) is launching simultaneously.
• Joumana shares a delightful tangent about Osman’s TV persona and British comedy shows.
  • Joumana: “He's so deadpan. He's so quick, he's hysterical.” [12:42] Timestamps: [11:07]–[14:28]

---

6. Mona Awad, We Love You, Bunny

Release: End of September

• Follow-up to cult hit Bunny, skewering MFA culture with dark humor and horror elements.
• The protagonist is ambushed by her frenemy group (“the Bunnies”) on a book tour—madness ensues.
• Noted for its cracked, satirical tone and willingness to get truly weird:
  • Joumana: “It’s really smart and funny and weird and dark and it’s just—who comes up with this? Mona Awad comes up with this.” [16:07]
    Timestamps: [14:36]–[17:27]

---

7. Thomas Pynchon, Shadow Ticket

Release: Unspecified (likely Fall)

• Mysterious as always: The hosts have not seen a copy yet.
• Set in the 1930s, follows PI Hicks McTaggart on a search for a vanished cheese heiress, with Nazi-intrigue elements.
• Extended riff on Pynchon’s legendary character names and penchant for literary puzzles.
  • Gilbert: “We don't know what he looks like. We don't know what this book looks like...” [19:18]
  • Joumana: “Mostly I just want to know what the cheese heiress is named.” [21:18]
    Timestamps: [19:10]–[22:10]

---

8. Ian McEwan, What We Can Know

Release: Late September

• Post-apocalyptic "science fiction without the science," set in a partially submerged England.
• A future scholar researches a "lost poem" from the present day.
• Nods to McEwan’s literary standing and his prior work Atonement and its famous film adaptation.
  • Gilbert: “Given that this is Ian McEwan, a great literary novelist, it’s actually a story about poetry.” [23:20] Timestamps: [22:50]–[24:12]

---

9. Amy Baradale, Trip

Release: Out Now

• "Strange, idiosyncratic," fast-moving novel.
• Documentarian Sandra dies during a Buddhist conference and navigates the Bardo (afterlife), while her neuro-divergent son’s storyline unfolds in parallel.
• Praised for insider wit, Donald Barthelme–George Saunders energy, and Buddhist references.
  • Joumana: “It reads like the best kind of weird Donald Barthelme story.” [25:18] Timestamps: [24:12]–[27:14]

---

10. Joe Hill, King Sorrow

Release: Late October

• Long-awaited horror novel (Hill's first in a decade).
• A Maine college student is blackmailed into stealing rare books, including one rumored to summon a milk-drinking dragon.
• Leans into fantasy, literary horror, and the “manuscript” motif that the episode opened with.
  • Gilbert: “He is a master of modern horror fiction and this is his first novel in almost a decade.” Timestamps: [27:16]–[29:00]

---

Screen Adaptations and Pop Culture Tie-Ins

• Hamnet (dir. Chloe Zhao): Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about Shakespeare’s family coming to screen—a likely Oscar contender.

  • Joumana: “It’s about Shakespeare and his wife grieving their young son whose name is Hamnet.” [29:51]

• The Housemaid (dir. Paul Feig), The Running Man (dir. Edgar Wright), and Frankenstein (dir. Guillermo del Toro, starring Jacob Elordi as the monster and Oscar Isaac as Dr. Frankenstein).

  • Gilbert: “[Jacob Elordi] is starring as Frankenstein’s monster...I love the idea that Frankenstein’s monster is really just considered, like, this teen heartthrob icon.” [31:13]

Timestamps: [29:17]–[31:41]

---

Fun Segment: Celebrity Memoir Quiz

Gilbert quizzes Joumana on upcoming celebrity memoirs. Highlights:

• The Book of Sheen (Charlie Sheen) [32:28]
• Night People: How to Be a DJ in 90s New York City (Mark Ronson) [32:36]
• Last Rites (Ozzy Osbourne, posthumous) [33:10]
• Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run (Paul McCartney) [33:30]
• Bread of Angels (Patti Smith) [34:02]
• Kid: A Memoir (Sir Anthony Hopkins) [34:09]
• The Uncool (Cameron Crowe) [34:21]

Memorable dialogue:

• Gilbert (re Cameron Crowe): “The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.” [35:13]
• Joumana: “How much do you take that advice to heart?”
• Gilbert: “I wouldn't be here if I didn't think about that quote every day.” [35:16]

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Joumana, on big books: “My martyr cape is just at the cleaners right now.” [06:50]
• Gilbert, on the popularity of fall books: “You’re going to hear about so many books. So many books.” [00:56]
• Joumana, on Pynchon character names: “Mike Fallopian is great. You know what else I like? Yashmin Half Court. Amazing.” [21:19]
• Gilbert, on Atonement: “Cecilia, even if you haven't seen the movie, you can see her in that green dress. It is one of the more memorable movie costumes of this century, I think.” [23:25]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Fall Books Overview: [00:35]–[02:06]
• Dan Brown, The Secret of Secrets: [02:06]–[04:36]
• Adam Johnson, The Wayfinder: [04:41]–[07:08]
• Mick Herron, Clown Town: [07:12]–[08:25]
• Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonya and Sunny: [08:25]–[11:07]
• Richard Osman, The Impossible Fortune: [11:07]–[14:28]
• Mona Awad, We Love You, Bunny: [14:36]–[17:27]
• Thomas Pynchon, Shadow Ticket: [19:10]–[22:10]
• Ian McEwan, What We Can Know: [22:50]–[24:12]
• Amy Baradale, Trip: [24:12]–[27:14]
• Joe Hill, King Sorrow: [27:16]–[29:00]
• Screen Adaptations: [29:17]–[31:41]
• Celebrity Memoir Quiz: [31:41]–[35:23]

---

Closing Thoughts

The episode is a lively, funny, and highly informative guide to the most buzzed-about fiction of Fall 2025. From blockbuster thrillers and speculative epics to quirky literary outings and long-awaited returns, Gilbert Cruz and Joumana Khatib give listeners the inside track on what to read—and watch—for the rest of the year.

---

Transcript

[A]

Paul Mescal and Josh o' Connor star in the History of Sound, a sweeping and tender romance that spans decades and continents. In 1917 Boston, a chance encounter in a piano bar leads two students to a folk song collecting trip through the backwoods of Maine and an ensuing love affair that will change both their lives forever. In select theaters September 12th, in theaters everywhere September 19th. Visit mubi.comhistoryofsound to get tickets. That's M U B I.comhistoryofsound.

[B]

I'm Gilbert Cruz.

[C]

And I'm Joumana Khatib.

[B]

We are both editors at the New York Times Book Review. And stuff is about to get real here in the world of books because despite whatever temperature it actually is outside, fall book season is here. So between now and the end of the year, you're going to hear about so many books. So many books. And we think you should hear about them here first. So Joumana and I, as we do every season, are here with a preview. We're gonna look ahead at some of the bigger titles out over the next several months. Right.

[C]

I'm so excited. That's what we're gonna do is legit. I mean, we say this every year, but it bears repeating that fall is really the best season to be a new book lover is what I will say.

[B]

It's also the best season to be out in the world, to be a.

[C]

Person, to, to wear clothing, cardigans, to be in New York City, period.

[B]

True.

[C]

Not. I told somebody the other day that just given the consistent humidity levels in New York City that I have been feeling more and more like the love interest in the shape of water, in the sense that I am just always somewhat moist and amphibious.

[B]

You're just a fish man over here.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. So lovely to meet you listeners. Yeah. So I'm counting the hours until fall.

[B]

Do you, do you wear cardigans or do you just wear sweaters?

[C]

I used to wear cardigans. I like a pullover. Now I like. What I care more about is the composition. Natural fibers only, no polyester.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Let's start. We're gonna go back and forth as we always do, Giovanna. And I'm gonna start with a big piece of popular fiction that's coming out in early September. It is a book by Dan Brown and he has a book called the Secret of Secrets. And it stars Robert Langdon, who is the star of many of his books. The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons. Did you know, Jomana, this is the sixth book in the Robert Langdon series. I could have sworn there were only like three.

[C]

Oh, see, I thought there were way more.

[B]

Really?

[C]

I think it's like overexposure bias. But listen, six is a great number. Numerology is a big deal to Robert Langdon.

[B]

It is the solution to all. You just. You got to read the numbers backwards, turn the book upside down.

[C]

Maybe it is the night.

[B]

Look in a mirror. And then you figure it out. Have you read any of these books?

[C]

I haven't.

[B]

Okay, I've seen the Da Vinci Code.

[C]

And I haven't seen the movie. However, I'm conversant enough being a culturally porous individual. Okay, I did do a little recon about this one and I'm interested in the premise of this one because I like the idea of a sort of like, manuscript wife guy.

[B]

Say more.

[C]

I'm going to leave it to you. This is your book, you take it away.

[B]

Okay, so Robert Langdon, who I only see in my mind as Tom Hanks, of course. He has a girlfriend, a new girlfriend. I don't know if he has many girlfriends. He has a new girlfriend, she disappears, she has a manuscript. He has to hunt both of them down. Maybe hunt's the wrong word, given that she's his girlfriend and it all takes place in Prague, or.

[C]

Romantic city. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Wonderful bridges. And I think people are going to eat this one up. People love the Da Vinci Code, they love Robert Langdon, they love puzzles, they love mysteries, they love Prague. You might be the only one that.

[C]

Loves manuscripts, but I don't love relying on publisher jacket copy because of course, being in the book reviewing business, I like to arrive at sound conclusions on my own. And if this isn't catnip from the jacket of the Secret of Secrets, I don't know what is. So apparently Robert is being chased or. Or evading a chilling assailant sprung from Prague's most ancient mythology. That's cool.

[B]

What is that? A golem?

[C]

I don't go.

[B]

No, Gollum is the thing from Lord of the Rings.

[C]

Honestly, I spent. I think I spent all my mythology chips reading the Book of the Dead when I was seven. So you're gonna have to get someone else, but it sounds a lot cool.

[B]

So. Praed's most ancient mythology. Look to the Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown.

[C]

Okay, I wanna stick with the mythology theme right now because I have a very thick, fat novel on my desk right now. I think you've seen it. It's one of those books that. It says with a big, sprawling, fantastical map here. It's called the Wayfinder by Adam Johnson and Adam Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. He is probably best known for the Orphan Master's Son and he's an indigenous writer. I think it's fair to say that this is one of his biggest swings yet because this is a sprawling epic and it's set in Polynesia. Our heroine is this young Polynesian girl named Koriro. This interloper from Tonga arrives on her island and island culture, they're a little suspicious. They don't know what this guy's motives are. They don't know exactly what's going on. They don't have a ton of contact with other islands in the region. They're the self contained society. But their society is also on the brink of collapse. It seems obvious that they need to all pick up from this island, resettle somewhere else in the region in order to survive. So Carrero enters this very uneasy pact with this guy from Tonga. And what he doesn't tell her is that Tonga's broken out in warfare. And it's one of these long sprawling fantasy stories. It's very absorbing and it's cool. And frankly, I haven't read a ton of stories set in this region of the world, but it sounds good, it's fun. You got a plucky young heroine, you've got an interloper, you got maps and.

[B]

You have a big book.

[C]

And it's a huge book. Yes, listeners, I know. I will tell you, this is a doorstop of a book.

[B]

I have seen the galley, which is what we call advanced copies. Many other people call them ARCs, advanced reader copies. You have one on your desk. It is huge. And my question is, do you like to carry big books around?

[C]

No, but I do it. I don't like.

[B]

Oh, okay. Sacrifice.

[C]

I know, yeah. My martyr cape is just at the cleaners right now.

[B]

I think some people find it satisfying in this age of everything is on a Kindle or an E reader or on your phone to have like a big thing that they can still cart around.

[C]

Life is hard enough.

[B]

Life is hard enough.

[C]

I've got got enough to carry.

[B]

So that is the Wayfinder. When is that out again?

[C]

That is coming out in October, mid October.

[B]

Excellent. I don't know if you've read any of the McCarron series. Do you know these books? The Slough House series?

[C]

I do.

[B]

Listeners, for those of you who don't know, this is a modern spy series set in London. It is the basis for the Apple TV series Slow Horses, which stars Gary Oldman and several other people. I think it's entering its fourth or fifth season this fall. But this clown town, great name, which comes out in early September, is the ninth book in the Slough House series. Slough House is the name of essentially the department where they send spies who have royally messed up in some way. They don't kick them out of MI5, but they send them to work with Jackson Lamb, who is in a sort of a disgusting, aging, yet still very competent and even great spy in his own right. They go to Slough House and they're there and somehow they're solving all these cases, even though they all suck. This is book nine. There's just nothing that is as satisfying as locking fully into a series as I know many people have with this one. With a character like Jackson Lamb, who is disgusting and profane and creatively profane, which is something I love. I know many people are excited for this one.

[C]

Okay, I'm going to go in the complete opposite direction of the kind of author who keeps up this quick, steady, fast paced series. I'm going to talk about the long awaited, like seriously, 20 years in the making. Return of the author Kiran Desai. Her last novel was in 2006 and it was called the Inheritance of Loss and it won the booker. And you know, I have really complicated feelings about when this happens where she was a fairly young author when she won and it set her up as like the voice of a generation or a major talent to watch. And sometimes I wonder if those laurels are. Can be unfair and if they ever interfere in the artistic process. Anyway, so Kiran had been dropping hints over the last couple of years that she'd been working on this big major novel for years. And it's finally here and it's coming out in September. And this is called the Loneliness of Sonja and Sunny. This is one of those books that. So on paper, and I'm saying this with a slight parodical edge, but it's a sweeping love story set between India and the United States as young people try to find their place in the world. But it's that genre, but very beautifully done. And the premise of this book is pretty interesting. So Sonia is an Indian woman who's living in Vermont. She's studying there. It sounds like she's at a place that looks, that feels like Bennington. And Kiran Desai herself also did that track. And she's terribly lonely. No matter how much blueberry pie she gets in the dormitory, she's like fundamentally alone for the first time in her life. And she has this chance encounter with a man named Sonny on a train and there's this like, coup de foudre and they have this instant connection and then they realize their parents tried to set them up years ago.

[B]

Oh, boy.

[C]

Now, this is my nightmare, by the way. This is my nightmare.

[B]

Wait, you're gonna eat this up.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Are you kidding? But yeah, it's. This is also a fairly big book. But this is really, I think, for those readers who like the immersive family saga, multiple generations, multiple subplots, the horse race of being in a big family. I'm sure you don't know anything about that, Gilbert. Who's up?

[B]

Who am I if not someone with so many siblings?

[C]

So many siblings. Yeah. It's so this, I think, is just like the classic, sprawling. It's a romance story. It's a social novel. It's satisfying on a lot of those fronts. And so that's the Loneliness of Sonya and Sunny by Kiran Desai. And that's coming out at the end of September.

[B]

Joomad, I promise you I'm going to talk about books that are not series books, but I do have, at least for the moment, one more to talk about that's coming out in September. And it is a book called the Impossible Fortune. It is by Richard Osmond.

[C]

My man, My man. He's so funny.

[B]

Somebody got very excited.

[C]

I know.

[B]

This is the fifth book in the Thursday Murder Club series, and this is a series about four people who live in a retirement community in England. And everyone needs a hobby. Their hobby is they solve crimes. Osman has published several of these. Again, there's a fifth one. He took a break last year from publishing a Thursday Murder Club series book. Every year he did this one off, We Solve Murders, which was about some other people solved murders. But he came back to this one, of course, because people love this series. People love the characters. A film is debuting at the end of August, and so we're recording a little bit beforehand. It will have debuted already by the time this episode airs on Netflix, which is an adaptation of the first book in this series. It stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley as three of the four Thursday Murder Club participants. Participants, members in this book, the fifth one, the Impossible Fortune, they become wedding planners. I say that with a question mark at the end because I don't know what that means.

[C]

You didn't have a wedding planner.

[B]

We did not have a wedding planner, which maybe was a mistake, but also they're expensive.

[C]

Saved a lot of money.

[B]

Saved a lot of money. Did not save.

[C]

Still married stress and strife.

[B]

You like Richard Osmond?

[C]

I do. I came to him because I was going through a period of life when I was watching a lot of Taskmaster, which is a British series that really, I don't think could take off in the States. And Richard is just absurd. Not only is he, like 8ft tall, he's. He's so deadpan. He's so quick, he's hysterical. And I am going to sound like a lunatic when I tell you that one of the more indelible images that I have of Richard Osmond on this show is of him retrieving. I'm pretty sure he's at the base of a hill, so he's already got an advantage over his competitors because he's 15ft tall. And I think the challenge was to, like, get a yoga mat off the hill and it's under an exercise ball without moving the ball. And he did it in some clever way. Oh, and he had a really good story about a beaver, but that was on. Would I lie to you?

[B]

What is. I feel for those who don't know what Taskmaster is. Could you just tell our American listeners.

[C]

Yes. The host of the series is Greg Davies, who's like a Welsh comedian who's also very large in retrospect. And there are five contestants and they're all pulled from the British comedy scene and they have to do increasingly absurd tasks like make a short film involving coconuts. They're totally absurd and it's hysterical. It's an amazing expression of comedy and I think it will always lift your spirits. And Richard's really good on it.

[B]

He is quite tall.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you think he is? The chilling assailant sprung from Prague's most ancient mythology in the new day of proud book.

[C]

Listen, I have a very high esteem of him, so anything's possible.

[B]

That is the impossible Fortune. Richard Osmond, the fifth book in the Thursday Murder Club series, out in September. Joumana.

[C]

All right. A few years ago, there was this, like, cult hit that came out, and it's called Bunny by Muna Awad. There is no reason in the world for this book to have taken off on its face and achieved the cult status that it has, because it is about an extremely insular community, by which I mean MFA students at something that resembles Brown University. Thankfully, that's not an experience that a lot of the American reading public have. However, I think in tone in Sensibility, it reminds me of Heather's. It's Dark, It's Funny, it's weird. The whole conceit of the book is a play on the very tired writing axiom, which is to murder your darlings. I'm going to give you a quick recap in case you haven't read Bonnie. So our protagonist is Sam. She's a misfit in this writing program. She's a loner, and she. They're like. There's this group of students in her cohort that she calls the Bunnies. They only eat, like, magnolia cupcakes and pink things, and they wear peplum tops and bubble hems and they're wealthy and talk like this. And anyway, oh, the audiobook's really good, by the way. So she gets wrapped up in their whatever. And it turns out that the Bunnies basically take small, cute animals, often actual Bunnies, and turn them into, like, love interests and then kill them.

[B]

I'm lost.

[C]

I know, I know. Listen, if you talk like this, you might get it. It's really smart and funny and weird and dark and it's just. Who comes up with this? It's Muna Awad comes up with this. So now we have a follow up to Bunny, and it's called we love you, Bunny. And it's coming out at the end of September, and it picks up where Sam, who was our heroine in the previous book, is now on book tour, hawking her wares all throughout the major reading cities of the United States. And the Bunnies ambush her at a book event because they don't like her portrayal of them. And then madness ensues. Muna really has. She has a really cracked sense of humor. It's the kind of humor that I think comes from really seeing things clearly for what they are, I should say. She also teaches in an M. I mean, she teaches creative writing. So she sees this from a number of angles. You can easily see, like Winona Ryder, this being her breakout role, if this book had come out 25 years ago.

[D]

Wayfair loves fall. The crisp air, the cool nights, and of course, the seasonal lattes. And as your trusted destination for all things home, Wayfair's got everything you need to cozify your space, from comfy recliners to warm bedding and autumn decor. Wayfair even has espresso makers so you can make that latte at home. You know the one. Head to Wayfair.com today to shop curated collections of easy, affordable fall updates. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com Wayfair Every style, every home.

[B]

Montblanc invites you to use life's quiet moments to Pause, reflect and put pen to paper. Chapter oh, no.

[C]

No, no, no, no. Part one.

[B]

Perfect.

[C]

The mountains are impressive. Oh, I wish you were here to see them.

[B]

Dear diary, meet my new writing companion, the Meister. Stuck. For every journey, the perfect companion awaits. Montblanc. Let's write. Visit montblanc.com for exquisitely crafted writing instruments, leather goods, and more.

[E]

Throughout the Fort Myers area, life unfolds at your own speed. Here, connecting to loved ones and yourself is an unhurried pleasure. Whether kayaking beneath mangroves, pausing to watch birds take flight, finding seashells along the shoreline, or walking the beach, each moment invites reflection. Fort Myers is a place to experience fully at a pace that just feels right. Discover a slower, more intentional way of living@visitfort myers.com I feel like we are.

[B]

Not purposefully, but we're steering clear of a book that we probably should just talk about now by a big author.

[C]

That none of us have ever seen.

[B]

That none of us have ever seen. We don't know what he looks like. We don't know what this book looks like because we haven't gotten any copies yet. What book am I talking about?

[C]

You are talking about Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon. Because I still can't bring myself to say Pinchon, even though I think that is how it's said.

[B]

Is that what the big New York magazine story.

[C]

That is. That was literally the first sentence. It's. First of all, it's pronounced Pinchon. Now, knowing him, this could be some extended joke. Anyway, so it's been like 10 years since we've had a book from Thomas Pynchon. Long time. At this point, the man has certainly earned the right to just sit in Riverside park and eat bagels every day. Like he didn't do.

[B]

You need to earn that right. I feel like so many people do.

[C]

That all the time and they feel entitled. Okay. What? I'm. He didn't owe us anything, right? And yet here he is with a new book.

[B]

And what is this one about?

[C]

So this, from what I know and readers, I have to tell you, this has the world's biggest asterisk. Because I only know about this. I only know what the publisher has told me about this book. And I don't love having to rely on that. However, it's set in the 1930s. It follows a sort of everyman PI of course, he has a good Thomas Pynchon name. His name is Hicks McTaggart.

[B]

That's great.

[C]

And he is hired to track down the heiress to a Wisconsin dairy fortune who's gone awol, so it takes him to Europe. I think he crosses paths with some, like, proto Nazis. The waves of history drop him on various shores and he just gets caught up in all these, like, any good Pynchon book, right? Like, he gets entangled in this kind of web that is not visible to the naked eye and just gets stranger and stranger the deeper you get in. So that's what I'm expecting out of this book. Mostly I just want to know what the cheese heiress is named.

[B]

Take a guess.

[C]

No, I have too much respect for his naming conventions. Because I've been thinking about who are some of my favorite Pynchon character names. Not even, like, taking their personalities into account. Just the names. Of course. Mike Fallopian. Right. Etta Pomas, I think is overexposed. But, like, I do. Mike Fallopian is great. You know what else I like? Yashmin Half Court. Amazing. And Kit Travers. Good. Oh. But really the best. Like, one of the ones that I've. And it's just because I finished Vineland a couple months ago is Brock Vaughn. Brock Vaughn. And he's like this classic, like, unbelievably horrible antagonist who, like, steals the hero's wife, and he's fed with a lot of, like, sexual potency. And his name is Brock Fond. It's amazing.

[B]

Why were you reading Vineland?

[C]

I was reading Vineland because I'd heard that it was one of the more approachable Pynchon books, and I hadn't read it. And I strongly believe it is the basis for Paul Thomas Anderson's next movie, which is coming out in September, which is called One Battle After Another.

[B]

Correct. This is starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn.

[C]

And isn't Josh Brolin in this one, too?

[B]

No, Benicio Del Toro.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[B]

You're thinking of the other guy from Sicario.

[C]

Josh Brolin is just so good in, like, the Pynchon adaptations. Molto pana Geiko.

[B]

You are an Inherent Vice fan, right?

[C]

I am. I am, yeah.

[B]

Another, I would argue, biggish fall book, given the writer, is the new novel by Ian McEwan. This is what we can know. This is out in late September. Ian McEwan, he's written almost 20 novels. British writer, including 2001's Atonement, which famously, as everyone knows, was one of the New York Times 100 best books of the 21st century. And listeners, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, please go read our list from last year in which Atonement came in at number 26.

[C]

Also, the basis for the movie were Keira Knightley in that amazing green gown.

[B]

It is one of the more memorable movie costumes of this century, I think. Cecilia, even if you haven't seen the movie, you can see her in that green dress. So his new one is post apocalyptic. He has said it is, quote, science fiction without the science, which just means it's fiction, I guess. But it's set in the Future, I think 100 years or so in the future. And the great island nation of England, the United Kingdom, is partially underwater. Why? Because of climate change? Because of rising sea levels. Given that this is Ian McEwan, a great literary novelist, it's actually a story about poetry. Or it's actually a story about a scholar in the 22nd century who's doing research into a lost poem from our century. Xumana. What do you have?

[C]

So this is Trip by Amy Baradale. This is one of the most out of left field, strange, idiosyncratic books that I have encountered all year. And that's praise from my point of view. And also, I don't know much about Amy Barrowdale. I know that she has a background in writing short stories, and that really comes through in this book because it moves very fast. It's got a strange conceit, and it just asks you to go along with the ride. And I'm totally there for that. So the setup is this. Our narrator is. Or one of our narrators is Sandra, and she's a documentarian. She is grappling in the wake of her son receiving an autism diagnosis. And so she's getting ready to go to Nepal to. To film a Buddhist conference that is called Death in Denouement, which is basically a bunch of white hippie academics talking about the Bardo. Right. This is objectively funny. This also makes me wonder if Amy has grown up in the Buddhist traditions.

[B]

It's a very shamana.

[C]

It's so good. It's so good. Okay, okay. So she gets there. It's actually not a spoiler for me to say that she dies on this conference. And then Sandra herself is stuck in the Bardo. The Bardo being like this kind of limbo between life and death. In the meantime, her son has been sent to this facility for children or adolescents with sort of emotional problems. He runs away, he hitchhikes. He gets picked up by this madman who is driving into Florida as a hurricane approaches to, like, check on his rental properties, which sounds like I can picture this man completely. And he's in recovery. He's insane. They end up on a boat and like Sandra's trying to protect her son from this Bardo. It is such a strange novel. It is. Could not dream it up yourself. It's funny. It's smart. I actually have some experience with a branch of Buddhism that I think Amy must also know because this almost feels like insider stuff. It reads like the best kind of weird Donald Bartlemy story. Even weird George Saunders. I'm not talking about Lincoln and the Bardo, although that's a natural comparison. I'm talking more like Sea Oak, like my favorite short story of his where a grandmother comes back to life and makes her grandson take her to a strip joint and her head slides off.

[B]

It's a famous George Saunders, actually.

[C]

She doesn't make him take her to the strip joint, but he is a stripper and she's basically grandmama juring him to strip.

[B]

Better listeners, if you have not read Sea Oak, do not let Shimada's absolutely unhinged description of it.

[C]

It's so good, it's steer you away.

[B]

Some of that stuff happens, but it's just something that's best experienced, untainted, tainted.

[C]

I think I introduced that wonderfully.

[B]

So what is this one called?

[C]

Trip by Amy Baradale. And that one's out now.

[B]

Excellent. I have one that's out in October. Can I talk about that one?

[C]

I suppose.

[B]

Okay. This is King Sorrow by Joe Hill. Joe Hill, former guest of this show. Go back and listen to last year's Halloween episode in which he gave a bunch of scary book recommendations. He is a master of modern horror fiction and this is his first novel in almost a decade. A couple years ago, several years ago, he published a collection of short stories and novellas, I think, called Full Throttle. And this is about a student at a college in Maine where he is from, and his group of friends. And this student gets blackmailed into having to steal rare books from the campus library. We've all been there.

[C]

A manuscript story.

[B]

It's a manuscript story.

[C]

Why did you lead with.

[B]

We're starting with a manuscript story. We are ending with a manuscript story. His friends suggest that he steal this one book that may be able to solve his blackmail problem. Because the book allows you to summon a dragon. Okay, but the dragon needs to be fed. Fed?

[C]

What, like a paleo diet? Are they eating beef tallow? What do dragons eat?

[B]

The dragon drinks milk. Joe Hill has written some extremely hardcore horror stories. He has written some that toe the line between horror and fantasy. This one feels like it is more in that vein. Zelda is just like a very funny Writer. He's someone who I try to get to every time he publishes a book. And I'm looking forward to King Sorrow, which comes out a week or so before Halloween.

[C]

Is King Sorrow the name of the dragon?

[B]

Can't say. I don't want to make claims on here that I cannot back up. Could be.

[C]

Could be. So what book is that?

[B]

King Sorrow by Joe Hill, out in late October. So, Joumana, as we discussed at the beginning of this episode, we are going to talk about nonfiction coming out this fall, next week. There's just so many books coming out over the next several months, and nonfiction.

[C]

Is like a fall thing. It's like the fall flex, you know?

[B]

Absolutely, absolutely. So that deserves its own episode. However, I do want to mention, since we're still on fiction, a couple of movies and TV shows that are coming out based on books that I think people might be interested in. First one is a big one for the New York Times Book Review because I believe we put this on our top 10 books many years ago.

[C]

It's Chloe Zhao's Hamnet.

[B]

Chloe Zhao's Hamnet. Chloe Zhao, Oscar winning director of Nomadland, is adapting Maggie o' Farrell's Hamnet. What is Hamnet about?

[C]

It's about Shakespeare and his wife grieving their young son whose name is Hamnet.

[B]

Hamnet. Not Hamlet. Hamnet. I think that's going to be a potential Oscar contender. It's out at the end of the year. There are some other movies that are not going to be Oscar contenders, but I'm just going to talk about them very quickly. One is the Housemaid. This is based on a Frieda McFadden book, Frida McFadden, mega bestseller, just has so many books out there right now. This is directed by Paul Feig. It stars Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. The Running man, which is directed by Edgar Wright, directed Shaun of the Dead.

[C]

And a bunch of other stuff.

[B]

This stars Glen Powell and Ya boy Josh Brolin. This is based on a Stephen King book that he wrote under pseudonym in the 80s. It was famously made into an Arnold Schwarzenegger film in the 1980s. And it is about a guy who gets involved in a game show that all of America watches where he is hunted down and people try to kill him.

[C]

Huh.

[B]

It stars Glen Powell and my boy Josh Brolin. And your boy Josh Brolin. This is out in November. And then speaking of very large Richard Osmond esque people, Jacob Elordi, the actor Jacob Elordi, who is quite large, that's.

[C]

About all they have in common, he.

[B]

Is starring as Frankenstein's monster. Really? In a new movie, Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro, the director of the Shape of Water, which stars Oscar Isaac as Dr. Frankenstein.

[C]

I'm interested.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Jacob Elordi. It's amazing. I love the idea that Jacob Elordi might not even have, like, prosthetics and that Frankenstein's momster is really just considered, like, this teen heartthrob icon. And that would say wonderful things about beauty, don't you think?

[B]

All right, I want to end this with a quiz. It's a quiz for you. There are so many celebrity memoirs that are coming out this fall. These are nonfiction books. But I'm gonna do the quiz now.

[C]

Oh, God.

[B]

I'm gonna tell you the name of the book, and you have to guess who has written it.

[C]

Okay, okay, okay.

[B]

We're gonna go through a few. The first one, sort of a gimme.

[C]

Does it share the memoir?

[B]

It is not share the memoir, Part two, which has been pushed to next year. This one is called the book of do not Look. Are you looking at.

[C]

Look.

[B]

Are you looking at the notes?

[C]

I swear to God I'm not looking.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Swear to God, I'm not looking. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I can't believe you would even ask me this.

[B]

Why are you looking at your phone? You should be focusing on the quiz.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

The Book of Sheen.

[C]

Charlie Sheen.

[B]

Okay. That's out in September.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Night People. How to be a DJ in 90s New York City.

[C]

It's Mark Ronson.

[B]

I bet it is. Mark Ronson. Last Rites, Last Rights.

[C]

Amy Coney Barrett.

[B]

No.

[C]

Who is it? Who is it?

[B]

Would you like a clue?

[C]

Yes. Can I phone a friend?

[B]

I'm right here.

[C]

Are you my friend? Okay.

[B]

For the purposes of this, I'm your friend.

[C]

Okay. Yes, I would like a clue.

[B]

It's by a musician. Last rites.

[C]

I'm guessing that it's by a musician whose last name is. Right.

[B]

Okay. It's not. It's Ozzy Osbourne who just died.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

He called it this when he wrote it last year before he died. He just died?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So this will be anyone to read.

[C]

All right.

[B]

Wings. The story of a band on the run.

[C]

A band on the run. It's not Dolly parton. It's not BTS. I don't know.

[B]

This is by Paul McCartney, whose band after leaving the Beatles was called Wings. Whose most famous album was called Banned on the Road.

[C]

When I become a middle aged father of three, I look forward to being able to participate in this quiz.

[B]

I sang it While looking at me.

[C]

You only have one kid, so it's not personal.

[B]

You know, a song from the album Band on the Run was my wedding song.

[C]

Was it really?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

That's very nice.

[B]

I agree. It was very nice.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Bread of Angels.

[C]

Patti Smith.

[B]

Patti Smith. That comes out in November. We did okay, Kid. A Memoir.

[C]

Oh, God. Sir Anthony Hopkins.

[B]

Sir Anthony Hopkins.

[C]

Was I right?

[B]

You were right. Good guess. Okay, okay, last one. The Uncool.

[C]

Oh. I'm actually interested in this book, and I'll tell you, I think it's Cameron Crue, right?

[B]

Cameron Crowe.

[C]

Crow.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So cool. I didn't know who this person was, but I am legitimately interested in this book.

[B]

Why is that?

[C]

It sounds good. Can you tell me who Cameron Crowe is?

[B]

Cameron Crowe is a movie director, a writer. He used to, in his early days, was a writer for Rolling Stone, a story that was fictionalized in the film Almost Famous, which he wrote and directed and which this title comes from. In that movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a famous real life rock critic named Lester Bangs. There's this quote from the movie where he calls the young man in the film and he says, the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.

[C]

How much do you take that advice to heart?

[B]

I wouldn't be here if I didn't think about that quote every day. Okay.

[C]

I think that's a passing grade.

[B]

I think you pass.

[C]

I think I passed.

[B]

You certainly passed. You passed the quiz. Thank you. You passed the test of being wonderful on this podcast. As always, Joo Monica Teeb. Thank you for being here.

[C]

Thank you for having me.

[B]

That was my conversation with Zhu Monica Teeb, in which we recommended a bunch of novels and other fiction that we're looking forward to this fall. I'm Gilbert Cruz, editor of the New York Times Book Review. Thanks for listening.

[D]

Wayfair loves fall. The crisp air, the cool nights, and of course, the seasonal lattes. And as your trusted destination for all things home, Wayfair's got everything you need to cozify your space, from comfy recliners to warm bedding and autumn decorations. Wayfair even has espresso makers so you can make that latte at home. You know the one. Head to Wayfair.com today to shop curated collections of easy, affordable fall updates. That's W A Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style, every home.