Book Club Recs - Fall 2021

Hello book clubs! (And aspiring book club members!)

Welcome back to our recurring blog post series: seasonal book club recommendations!

Below you will find our Fall 2021 book club picks - new paperback releases for the months of September, October, and November. Again, the books listed below are not intended to be exhaustive, rather a starting point for you and your clubs to find new and exciting voices to share with each other.

And remember, we would love for you to join us at one of our virtual TPB Book Clubs. More information on programming and book picks can be found here. You don’t want to miss these amazing reads and discussions!

Happy fall reading!


September Paperback Releases


Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging Cover ImageHeart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging by Anne Liu Kellor
Release Date: 9/7/21
Genre: Biography
Price: $16.95

Wanting to understand how her path is tied to her mother tongue, Anne, a young, multiracial American woman, travels through China, the country of her mother's birth. Along the way, she tries on different roles--seeker, teacher, student, girlfriend, artist, and daughter--and continually asks herself: Why do I feel called to make this journey?

 


The Other Half of Happy Cover ImageThe Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcarcel
Release Date: 9/14/21
Genre: Middle Grade
Price: $7.99

This is a heartfelt poetic portrayal of a girl growing up, fitting in, and learning what it means to belong. One-half Guatemalan, one-half American: When Quijana's Guatemalan cousins move to town, her dad seems ashamed that she doesn't know more about her family's heritage.


 

To Hold Up the Sky Cover ImageTo Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu
Release Date: 9/14/21
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Price: $18.99

From New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and incredible re-imaginings of the past.

 

 


We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence Cover ImageWe Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper
Release Date: 9/14/21
Genre: True Crime
Price: $17.99

We Keep the Dead Close is a memoir of mirrors, misogyny, and murder. It is at once a rumination on the violence and oppression that rules our revered institutions, a ghost story reflecting one young woman's past onto another's present, and a love story for a girl who was lost to history.

 

 

Earthlings Cover ImageEarthlings by Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translator)
Release Date: 9/21/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

Dreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, Earthlings asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world, and cements Sayaka Murata's status as a master chronicler of the outsider experience and our own uncanny universe.

 

 

Every Body Looking Cover ImageEvery Body Looking by Candice Iloh
Release Date: 9/21/21
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Price: $11.99

“Candice Iloh’s beautifully crafted narrative about family, belonging, sexuality, and telling our deepest truths in order to be whole is at once immensely readable and ultimately healing.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times Bestselling Author of Brown Girl Dreaming

 

 

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling Cover ImageThe Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim
Release Date: 9/21/21
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Price: $10.99

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling is a heart-wrenching, true-to-life exploration through the often neglected crevices of culture, mental illness, and family. Its strong themes are balanced by a beautiful romance making it a feel-good, yet important read.

 

 

Piranesi Cover ImagePiranesi by Susanna Clarke
Release Date: 9/28/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

The instant New York Times bestselling novel from the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic book set in a dreamlike alternative reality.

 

 

 

The Cold Millions: A Novel Cover ImageThe Cold Millions: A Novel by Jess Walter
Release Date: 9/28/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice,  and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a  kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams.

 

 

The Arrest: A Novel Cover ImageThe Arrest: A Novel by Jonathan Lethem
Release Date: 9/28/21
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Price: $16.99

From the award-winning author of The Feral Detective and Motherless Brooklyn comes an utterly original post-collapse yarn about two siblings, the man that came between them, and a nuclear-powered super car.

 

 


October Paperback Releases


Infinite Country: A Novel Cover ImageInfinite Country: A Novel by Patricia Engel
Release Date: 10/5/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

This "heartbreaking portrait of a family dealing with the realities of migration and separation" (Time) is "a sweeping love story and tragic drama [and] an authentic vision of what the American Dream looks like in a nationalistic country" (Elle).

 

 

The Once and Future Witches Cover ImageThe Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Release Date: 10/5/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.99

In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement.

 

 

 

Detransition, Baby: A Novel Cover ImageDetransition, Baby: A Novel by Torrey Peters
Release Date: 10/5/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $18.00

The lives of three women--transgender and cisgender--collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires.

 

 

 

The Book of Nonexistent Words Cover ImageThe Book of Nonexistent Words by Stefano Massini, Richard Dixon (Translated by)
Release Date: 10/5/21
Genre: Essays
Price: $23.99

The internationally acclaimed author harnesses his brilliant imagination and masterful storytelling ability to create a catalog of new words inspired by stories of real people in this wondrous book reminiscent of Italo Calvino's mesmerizing Invisible Cities.

 

 

Tales from the Ant World Cover ImageTales from the Ant World by Edward O. Wilson
Release Date: 10/5/21
Genre: Nature General
Price: $17.95

In Tales from the Ant World, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson takes us on a thrilling myrmecological tour across continents and through time, inviting us into his decades-long scientific obsession with ants.

 

 

We Run the Tides: A Novel Cover ImageWe Run the Tides: A Novel by Vendela Vida
Release Date: 10/12/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $16.99

An achingly beautiful story of female friendship, betrayal, and a mysterious disappearance set in the changing landscape of San Francisco.

 

 

 

A Certain Hunger Cover ImageA Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
Release Date: 10/19/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

A satire of early foodieism, a critique of how gender is defined, and a showcase of virtuoso storytelling, Chelsea G. Summers' A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world's most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.

 

 

Muffled Cover ImageMuffled by Jennifer Gennari
Release Date: 10/26/21
Genre: Middle Grade
Price: $7.99

A young girl learns how to cope with her noise sensitivity and step outside of her comfort zone in this "thoughtful" (Beth Turley, author of If This Were a Story and The Last Tree Town), heartwarming middle grade novel that's perfect for fans of Tune It Out by Jamie Sumner and El Deafo by Cece Bell.

 

 

Memorial: A Novel Cover ImageMemorial: A Novel by Bryan Washington
Release Date: 10/26/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you're supposed to be, and the limits of love.

 

 

 

Out of Love: A Novel Cover ImageOut of Love: A Novel by Hazel Hayes
Release Date: 10/26/21
Genre: Fiction 
Price: $17.00

For anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale, this gorgeously written debut is a love story told in reverse, a modern novel with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic, and ultimately full of hope.

 

 


November Paperback Releases


The Pilot's Daughter: A Novel Cover ImageThe Pilot's Daughter: A Novel by Meredith Jaeger
Release Date: 11/2/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

The glitzy days of 1920s New York meet the devastation of those left behind in World War II in a new, delectable historical novel from USA Today bestselling author Meredith Jaeger.

 

 

Perestroika in Paris: A novel Cover ImagePerestroika in Paris: A Novel by Jane Smiley
Release Date: 11/2/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $16.00

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author: a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals--and a young boy--whose lives intersect in Paris in this feel-good escape" (The New York Times).

 

 

The Wife Upstairs: A Novel Cover ImageThe Wife Upstairs: A Novel by Rachel Hawkins
Release Date: 11/2/21
Genre: Mystery & Suspense
Price: $17.99

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won't stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature's most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

 

 

The Liar's Dictionary: A Novel Cover ImageThe Liar's Dictionary: A Novel by Eley Williams
Release Date: 11/9/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $16.00

An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world.

 

 

The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories Cover ImageThe Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories by Danielle Evans
Release Date: 11/9/21
Genre: Essays
Price: $17.00

The award-winning author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self brings her signature voice and insight to the subjects of race, grief, apology, and American history.

 

 

 

Heiress Apparently (Daughters of the Dynasty) Cover ImageHeiress Apparently (Daughters of the Dynasty) by Diana Ma
Release Date: 11/9/21
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Price: $9.99

The epic first novel in a sweeping series following the romantic lives and intrigues of the fictionalized descendants of a Chinese empress.

 

 

 

Nightmare Alley Cover ImageNightmare Alley: Movie tie-in edition by William Lindsay Gresham, Nick Tosches (Introduction by)
Release Date: 11/16/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.95

Stan Carlisle is working as a carny and sets himself above the freak-show geeks. Onstage, he plays a mentalist and caters to the rich and gullible. It looks like the world is Stan's for the taking. At least for now.

 

 

Persephone Station Cover ImagePersephone Station by Stina Leicht
Release Date: 11/16/21
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Price: $16.99

Hugo Award-nominated author Stina Leicht has created a "thoroughly enjoyable" (NPR) take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure.

 

 

Leave the World Behind: A Novel Cover ImageLeave the World Behind: A Novel by Rumaan Alam
Release Date: 11/23/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $16.99

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong.

 

 

 

The Witch's Heart Cover ImageThe Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
Release Date: 11/30/21
Genre: Fiction
Price: $17.00

When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive national bestselling debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.

 

 

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Edited by Nicole R.