Thousands of books are published each month. And much as we’d like to, we can’t read (or review) them all. But what we can do is point out a few we think you might enjoy. In that spirit, here’s a rundown of forthcoming titles that caught our eye and may catch yours, too.

Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach (Sept. 16th, W.W. Norton & Company, 288 pp.). Sure, we can fix it — if we can get the parts! Replacing bits and pieces of our bodies as they wear out has many of us living longer, better lives. The unflappable and hilarious Roach explores the technology and the implications.

 

Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill (Sept. 16th, Tachyon Publications, 192 pp.). Young Nesi may have holy blood in her, but unless she finds a protector among the Ninety-Nine Pillars of Heaven, she’ll never escape the temple. She’s desperate to leave, but will her gutsy appeal to the Fox of Tricks be worth the risk?

 

Dangerous Miracle: The Astonishing Rise and Looming Disaster of Antibiotics by Liam Shaw (Sept. 23rd, Simon & Schuster, 352 pp.). They’ve saved millions of lives, and they’ve saved most of us at least some misery. We tend to take antibiotics for granted — a mistake, because antibiotic resistance is rapidly outpacing antibiotic development.

 

A Harvest of Furies: A Novel by Hayden Casey (Oct. 14th, Lanternfish Press, 312 pp.). In this reimagining of Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, the house of Argos is recast as the house of Aggie, an American man whose return from war brings his family’s troubled world crashing down.

 

I Can Imagine It for Us: A Palestinian Daughter’s Memoir by Mai Serhan (Oct. 14th, AUC Press, 236 pp.). Although her father was expelled from Palestine in 1948, and she herself has never set foot in it, Cairo-based author Serhan nonetheless grapples with what it means to be from a place whose very existence is disputed.

 

Projecting America: The Epic Western and National Mythmaking in 1920s Hollywood by Patrick Adamson (Oct. 15th, University of Oklahoma Press, 268 pp.). Silent-era shoot-‘em-ups weren’t just entertainment for long-ago moviegoers — they were an important chapter in the story our country continues to write about itself.

 

The Onion Story: How a Band of Misfits, Dropouts, and Sad Sacks Built the World’s Most Trusted News Source by Scott Dikkers (Oct. 28th, Matt Holt Books, 288 pp.). Is this article for real or is it the Onion? It’s nearly impossible to tell these days, making life difficult for satirists. All the more reason to claim to be “The World’s Most Trusted News Source.”

 

Better Not Burn Your Toast: The Science of Food and Health by Joe Schwarcz (Nov. 4th, ECW Press, 240 pp.). An easily digestible take on how we are what we eat, and how we eat, and even when we eat — with side-dish stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, and the pope.

 

Sink or Swim: How the World Needs to Adapt to a Changing Climate by Susannah Fisher (Nov. 4th, Bloomsbury Sigma, 288 pp.). Now that so many politicians and investors around the world have concluded clean air and water don’t matter, we need to find realistic ways to deal with the looming food shortages, floods, fires, and forced migrations from places that can no longer support human life.

My Little Donkey: And Other Essays by Martha Cooley (Nov. 18th, Catapult, 256 pp.). Ever fantasize about pulling up stakes and moving to Italy? Sixty-something author Cooley and her husband did just that in 2021, leaving the U.S. for a village in northern Tuscany. This insightful collection chronicles what happened next.

 

Best Offer Wins: A Novel by Marisa Kashino (Nov. 25th, Celadon Books, 288 pp.). In an overheated Washington, DC, real-estate market, some people will do pretty much anything to prevail in their quest for the perfect home.

 

 

The Worst Day: A Plane Crash, A Train Wreck, and Remarkable Acts of Heroism in Washington, DC by Bruce Goldfarb (Dec. 2nd, Steerforth, 232 pp.). No one who was in the nation’s capital on January 13, 1982, will ever forget that day. First, an Air Florida plane crashed into the icy Potomac just after take-off from National Airport during a major snowstorm. Then, with businesses closing early and commuters struggling to get home, there was a fatal derailment on the city’s Metro system. This is the story of the courageous responses to those dual tragedies by professionals and ordinary citizens alike.

Great Writers & the Cats who Owned Them by Susannah Fullerton (Dec. 9th, Bodleian Library/University of Oxford, 280 pp.). Cats have been amusing and inspiring authors and poets for centuries. Of course, they provide the same services to readers, so this book might best be read with feline “help.”