The new books everyone's recommending this month, September 2026

A running list of new releases people are talking about this month, pulled from NPR, Kirkus, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon's editors' picks. Updated monthly as new picks come in. Last updated Sep 17 2026.

01
Exit Party - Emily St. John Mandel
02
American Hagwon - Min Jin Lee
Min Jin Lee's first novel since Pachinko, nearly a decade in the making. Kirkus's top fiction pick this month.
03
The Disappearers - Marlon James
gay men in Jamaica planning a play in 1988, Marlon James's Booker longlisted follow-up to A Brief History of Seven Killings.
04
Ply - Hernan Diaz
his follow-up to the Pulitzer winner Trust. centuries after collapse, a thief who steals power from the utility running what's left.
05
Taipei Story - R.F. Kuang
06
Switzy - Emma Cline
Emma Cline's third novel and a Booker Prize nominee, an aging executive on his way to a Swiss euthanasia clinic for one last reckoning.
07
Our Noble Selves - Kate Atkinson
08
Under Story - Chloe Benjamin
start here if The Immortalists scared you off, this one's an epic sci-fi love story instead.
09
Hollow Bones - Jodi Picoult
10
The Pirate Queen - Ariel Lawhon
based on Grace O'Malley, the real Irish pirate queen. no lore exam required, it stands on its own.
11
Hollywood, Ending - John Green
12
Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea - Emily Wilson
Emily Wilson, the translator behind those newer Odyssey and Iliad editions, on why any of it survived. Kirkus's nonfiction pick.
13
American Scoundrel - Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark

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