Now that it’s September, here are the 40-plus books we’re most looking forward to curling up with this fall

The fall always provides an embarrassment of book riches, with hundreds of titles released throughout the season, many of them in this first week of September.

The volume can leave you with a feeling of delight — so many books — and dread — so little time. Catalogues and Advance Reading Copies (a.k.a. ARCs) have been arriving in my hands since the spring, which has given me the chance to choose a few books I think deserve some attention.

Unsurprisingly given the urgency of the issue, there are lots of books devoted to climate change and nature, including Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond With the Natural World, by Karen Armstrong (Sept. 6, Knopf Canada); CBC’s Bob McDonald, The Future Is Now: Solving the Climate Crisis with Today’s Technologies, (Viking Canada, Sept. 27), The Petroleum Papers: Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change, by Geoff Dembicki (Greystone, Sept. 20), Earthkeeping, by Gary Saunders (Goose Lane, Oct. 4), and Fen, Bog and Swamp, by Annie Proulx (Simon & Schuster, Sept. 27). How To Speak Whale, by Tom Mustill (Hachette, Sept. 6) asks what if animals and humans could speak to one another – and investigates how they do communicate.

Memoirs and biographies include That’s How The Light Gets In, (Simon & Schuster, Nov. 22), the final instalment of Michael Posner’s three-part “Untold Stories” opus on the life of Canadian musical bard Leonard Cohen; then there’s the Nobel Prize-winning American Bard Bob Dylan, out with his book The Philosophy of Modern Song (Simon & Schuster, Nov. 1). If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture (Atlantic Monthly Press, Sept. 20), internationally renowned Canadian/Israeli/American architect Moshe Safdie’s memoir, includes stories of his childhood in Montreal and his belief that architecture is a social force for good; and there’s a new political biography from the prodigious TVO host Steve Paikin, this time of former prime minister John Turner (Sutherland House, Oct. 20).

A number of big books are already out — with all these new books the season is creeping back to begin in August, giving some titles a head start before the full rush in September. Count among them Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, A White Town, And The Road To Reconciliation, by Andrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson (HarperCollins), Dionne Brand’s Nomenclature (McClelland & Stewart), Emma Donoghue’s Haven (HarperCollins), and The Foghorn Echoes, (Penguin Canada) by Danny Ramadan.

Over the next three months or so, there are more titles you’ll want to look out for — this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’ll get you started.

SEPTEMBER

Stargazer, Laurie Petrou (Oldcastle Books, Sept. 1) Stories of friendship feature in this fall’s offerings: while “Boy Friends” (see below) is a memoir of male friendship, this novel, billed as a “literary thriller” is a chilling look at the dark side of female friendship, the desire to escape family, and lust for fame — all in the environs of a Northern Ontario university.

Rules of Engagement, Selena Montgomery a.k.a. Stacey Abrams (Berkley, Sept. 6) Yes, that Stacey Abrams, the Democratic organizer and Georgia gubernatorial candidate. Years ago, she wrote romances under the pen name Selena Montgomery. Berkley has reissued the stories, three in all, including “The Art of Desire” and “Powers of Persuasion” all featuring Black women.

Exculpatory Lilies, Susan Musgrave (McClelland & Stewart, Sept. 6) Poet Susan Musgrave writes to acclaim, whatever medium she’s working in: poetry, fiction, children’s books, a cookbook cum memoir, and always with sharp observation and humour. This new volume explores life, marriage, addiction, death, grief — her husband, Stephen Reid, passed in 2018; their daughter, Sophie, of an overdose in 2021.

Fairy Tale, Stephen King (Simon & Schuster, Sept. 6) This month marks the king of horror’s 75th birthday. There are plenty of think pieces and books coming out looking at his impact and this new one from King. Early in the pandemic, he asked himself: “What could you write that would make you happy?” and answered the question like this: “I saw a vast deserted city — deserted but alive. I saw the empty streets, the haunted buildings, a gargoyle head lying overturned in the street. I saw smashed statues (of what I didn’t know, but I eventually found out). I saw a huge, sprawling palace with glass towers so high their tips pierced the clouds. Those images released the story I wanted to tell.”

Junie, Chelene Knight (Book*hug, Sept. 13) Her first book, the memoir “Dear Current Occupant,” conceived as a powerful homage to her peripatetic childhood, won B.C. writer, poet and now literary agent Chelene Knight the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. “Junie” is her highly anticipated debut novel, and explores themes seen in her memoir: mother/daughter relationships, growing up in the city’s East End, in the beautiful prose we’ve come to expect from her.

Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories, Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi (HarperCollins, Sept. 13) This debut book from Nigerian-American Ogunyemi, is a collection of interwoven stories that span in setting from 1897 to 2050, Nigeria to the United States, that feature women — Nonso, Remi, Aisha and Solape — and the challenges and complexities of their lives.

A Minor Chorus, Billy-Ray Belcourt (Penguin Canada, Sept. 13) Belcourt’s writing is hauntingly beautiful — he won the 2018 Griffin Prize for his first poetry collection “This Wound Is A World”; his first memoir “A History Of My Brief Body” was also acclaimed; now he’s out with his first novel which, the publisher writes, tests “the theory that storytelling can make us feel less lonely.”

Lessons, Ian McEwan (Knopf Canada, Sept. 16) An epic novel that centres protagonist Roland Baines, chronicling his life from the 1940s to current times and the events that shaped our recent history — from World War II to the Cuban Missile Crisis to the pandemic. Celebrated British writer McEwan (“Atonement,” “Amsterdam” et al) is known for telling powerful human stories with a finger on the pulse of current issues.

Touch Anywhere To Begin, Mark Anthony Jarman (Goose Lane, Sept. 20) Canadian writer Jarman, generally known for his fiction, particularly short stories, returns to travel writing — his first volume since “Ireland’s Eye” 20 years ago, to much acclaim. In this collection of 18 essays he travels to Shanghai, Mumbai and other places near and far.

Jennie’s Boy: A Newfoundland Childhood, Wayne Johnston (Knopf Canada, Sept. 20) Last year, Johnston published the shocking, sprawling novel “The Mystery of Right and Wrong,” based on his wife’s family and secrets that have haunted them for years. This year, he’s written a poignant, funny — and, at 320 pages, much shorter — memoir recounting some of his own early childhood growing up dirt-poor in Newfoundland.

We Spread, Iain Reid (Simon and Schuster, Sept. 27) Ottawa-born Reid’s debut novel “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” which explored relationships and solitude, was made into a Netflix movie. This novel also deals with dark themes: independence, art, fears of growing old and aging. Penny has lived in the same apartment for decades; before he died, her partner made provisions for her in a long-term residence, unbeknownst to her.

Laughing with the Trickster, Tomson Highway (Sept. 27, Anansi, Massey Lectures) In this, the 2022 Massey Lecture, award-winning writer and playwright Highway takes five themes central to the human condition — language, creation, sex and gender, humour and death — and examines and compares them through various mythologies. As always, he’ll make you laugh and think and feel everything in between.

The Sleeping Car Porter, Suzette Mayr (Coach House, Sept. 27) Suzette Mayr always takes her readers on a wild ride. This time, it’s 1929 and we’re on the train from Montreal to Vancouver with Baxter, a queer Black train porter, who is saving money to attend dentistry school while dealing with sleep deprivation, passengers who call him George and worrying about the threat of being fired.

Best of Friends, Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury, Sept. 27) The eighth novel from the Women’s Prize winner (“Home Fire”) and Booker nominee follows two childhood friends, Zahra and Maryam, from growing up in Karachi in the 1980s, to moving to London and forging careers there.

Boy Friends, Michael Pederson (Faber & Faber, Sept. 13) From the Scottish poet and writer comes a memoir that traverses the subject of male friendship after he loses a close and cherished friend.

The Lost Century, Larissa Lai (Arsenal Pulp Press, Sept. 20) Poet and novelist Lai’s “The Tiger Flu” won the 2019 Lambda award for lesbian fiction; this latest is a historical novel set during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II that explores queer Asian history, the violence of war, and the rise of modern China.

OCTOBER

The Last Chairlift, John Irving (Knopf Canada, Oct.18) Irving, author of “The World According to Garp,” “A Prayer For Owen Meany” and a dozen other novels has said this is his final “big” book. Irving returns to familiar territory: geographically we’re in New England, thematically with alternative families, feminism, the treatment of LGBTQ people. It weighs in at almost 900 pages and spans eight decades of sexual politics.

The Winners, Fredrik Backman (Simon & Schuster, Oct. 4) Backman’s ‘Beartown’ series (“Beartown,” “Us Against You”) has had a lot of love in Canada: about a remote northern town and the impact minor hockey has on its citizens. They’re absorbing reads with great storytelling and Backman isn’t afraid to tackle tough issues and life’s big questions. This is the last in the series

Welcome to the Weird America, A.G. Pasquella (Buckrider Books, Oct. 11) Three novellas packed into one volume — with fantastically retro cover art — Toronto writer Pasquella samples speculative fiction, science fiction and pays homage to “old weird America” in an original volume with more than a touch of noir.

Fayne, Ann-Marie MacDonald (Knopf Canada, Oct. 15) A sweeping historical novel from the author of “Fall On Your Knees” among others. This one is set in the 19th century: Charlotte lives on the Fayne estate in the moors, straddling the border between England and Scotland, with her father (her mother died giving birth to her; her brother soon after). She has a mysterious condition; he’s overprotective, until a tutor helps unlock a curiosity and passion for knowledge.

A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories, Leonard Cohen (Oct. 11, McClelland & Stewart) Cohen had alluded to the idea, when he wrote what was his first published novel “Beautiful Losers,” that he’d previously written another novel. This is that book: he wrote it between 1956 in Montreal and 1961 when he’d settled on Greece’s Hydra island. It was a short novel; in this collection are also short stories written during that time, a harbinger of themes — desire, love, freedom, transcendence — he’d explore in his later work.

Big Men Fear Me, Mark Bourrie (Biblioasis, Oct. 18) Bourrie won the final RBC Taylor prize for “Bush Runner,” his biography of European explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson, hailed for its entertaining writing as much as its research and historical heft. Now comes a biography Bourrie’s been working on for 16 years, of George McCullagh who created the Globe and Mail by merging two other papers. He was charismatic, but also had bipolar disorder, which smashed his ambitions.

Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins, Oct. 18) Inspired by Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” which dealt with the impact of institutional poverty on children and society more broadly, “Demon Copperhead” is the story of a boy born to a single mother in poverty in Appalachia. Instead of industrial England, his storyscape features opioid addiction, American rural life and foster care.

Scars and Stars, Jesse Thistle (McClelland & Stewart, Oct. 18) This is both a followup and companion to Thistle’s multi-year bestseller, “From The Ashes,” which was mostly prose sprinkled with poetry. This volume puts the poetry first, with prose interspersed; it contemplates life, family and his new experiences with parenthood.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Dumplings, John Lorinc, ed (Coach House, Oct. 18) Every continent, every culture has a dumpling: ravioli, samosas, gyozas, tamales, perogies, etc. With an introduction by the Star’s food writer Karon Liu, this anthology is filled with essays by writers, musicians, journalists and historians who share anecdotes and stories that reinforce the importance, ubiquity and cultural diversity of these little bites.

The Life Sentences of Rik McWhinney, Rik McWhinney (University of Regina Press, Oct. 8) McWhinney grew up in Toronto, but by the age of 9 was serving his first sentence in Coburg Reform School starting at age 9. He went on to spend more than 34 years in federal penitentiaries, 16 of those years in solitary confinement. McWhinney died at age 67 in 2019, but this book collects his poetry, essays, grievance forms, essays and interviews giving insight into the everyday life of those incarcerated in Canada’s prison system.

Shopomania, Paul Berton (Douglas & McIntyre, Oct. 15) Full disclosure: Berton is the editor-in-chief of the Star’s sister paper The Hamilton Spectator. He’s known for his columns and his skewering wit: here he takes aim at the culture of consumerism and posits this idea: if we created consumerism, we can create something to replace it.

NOVEMBER

Above The Fold, John Honderich (McClelland & Stewart, Nov. 1) There’s a bittersweet aspect to this one. People across the country, not just those who work at the Star, have been waiting to read the former Toronto Star publisher and chair of the board’s memoir since the day he stepped down when the company was sold in 2020. Honderich passed unexpectedly at age 75 in February this year, but he left this manuscript, about his family roots, relationship with his dad, and their time at the Star.

Ordinary Wonder Tales, Emily Urquhart (Biblioasis, Nov. 1) Urquhart is a folklorist and, in this book, she explores in essays the truth that underlies the fairy tales we know, and the magic in the everyday. Previous non-fiction works were “Beyond the Pale,” her account of raising a daughter with albinism, and “The Age of Creativity,” an exploration of artistic output, including her father’s, in old age.

The Future Is Analog, David Sax (PublicAffairs, Nov. 15) Sax, who lives in Toronto, hit international bestsellers lists in 2016 with “The Revenge of Analog.” He wrote this latest as the pandemic illustrated what it’s like to live in a digital world: “instant communication, instant shopping, virtual everything.” And then to realize “how awful” it was. Lots to think about in terms of embracing a future that’s not digital.

True Reconciliation, Jody Wilson-Raybould (McClelland & Stewart, Nov. 8) In her previous book “‘Indian’ In The Cabinet,” Wilson-Raybould wrote about her journey as an Indigenous leader to a position as Canada’s Attorney General, and the SNC-Lavalin affair that resulted in her sitting as an independent. That one was subtitled “Speaking Truth To Power.” This one is subtitled “How To Be A Force For Change,” and suggests how individuals and institutions can do just that.

The Opportunist, Elyse Friedman (HarperCollins, Nov. 29) Toronto author and screenwriter Elyse Friedman has found inspiration in quirky families in previous work, including her 1999 novel “Then Again,”; here an aging father is about to marry a woman 50 years his junior, sending his sons into an inheritance-threatened tizzy. Protagonist Alana rounds out a cast that propels this sly tale with themes of power and greed.

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