Whether you’re looking to escape or engage, these highly-anticipated new books coming out in November have you covered. Escape into the likes of White Ivy, Susie Yang’s propulsive thriller (which also happens to be the November #ReadWithJenna book club pick) or the newest novel from Gossip Girl writer Cecily von Ziegesar. Engage with former NFL player Emmanuel Acho’s antiracism primer Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man or 2020 MacArthur “Genius” grant winner Catherine Coleman Flowers’ Waste, a stirring call to action to provide clean, basic sanitation to all Americans. We’re also looking forward to Michael J. Fox’s memoir dropping, along with YA charmers, and more. Here’s our list of the new books coming out this month that we’re most excited about.
White Ivy by Susie Yang
One of the fall’s buzziest novels, this is the propulsive story of a woman’s dark obsession with her rich classmate. Young Ivy Lin learned a lot from her grandmother — like how to lie and steal. But when her mother catches her, Ivy gets sent back to China, shattering her American dreams. As an adult, Ivy returns to the WASPy Boston suburb of her youth where she’ll do anything to get close to glamorous “golden boy” Gideon. Jenna Bush Hager selected White Ivy as her November #ReadWithJenna TODAY Show book club pick.
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To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss
Nicole Krauss — called “one of America’s most important novelists” by The New York Times — examines the occasionally bristly connections between women and men in this remarkable collection of short stories. Themes of life and death, youth and aging, and love and loss reverberate throughout these moving and thought-provoking tales that span the globe.
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Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Z. Hossain
Blending some of the best war satire of MASH, Catch-22, and Three Kings, Saad Z. Hossain plunges readers into the utter chaos following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where former economics professor-turned-criminal Dagr and his streetwise partner Kinza eke out a living as black-marketeers. When they come into the possession of Saddam Hussein’s top torturer, brilliantly gonzo adventures ensue.
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Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Magpie Murders author Anthony Horowitz has done it again with his latest crime thriller. Retired publisher Susan Ryeland now operates a small hotel on a Greek island, where her patience for island life is wearing thin. When the Trehearne family books a stay, Ryeland learns of their mysterious past, involving a murder that took place on the same day and in the same Suffolk hotel in which their daughter was married. Now, she’s missing. A series of literary connections convince Ryeland that there’s more to the story, and she returns to England to find out the truth.
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The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem
What happens when the screens and the machines stop working? That’s the case in Jonathan Lethem’s The Arrest, a quirky telling of life in America after the computers, planes, phones, and guns have all stopped working. Sandy Duplessis, now known as Journeyman, leaves his LA screenwriter life behind to join his sister in rural Maine, trading glamorous Hollywood caché for work as a butcher. When his old friend Peter Todbaum shows up unexpectedly in a retrofitted tunnel-digger powered by a nuclear reactor, their placid lives are turned upside down.
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Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
In this incredibly honest and accessible book, former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho deftly answers the difficult questions he’s been asked about being a Black man in America. Tackling sensitive issues like white privilege, cultural appropriation, and systematic racism, this unflinching yet approachable primer is essential for anyone wanting answers to questions they may have been afraid to ask.
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Cobble Hill by Cecily von Ziegesar
November 10
Fans of the bestselling Gossip Girl series will rejoice at the release of Cecily Von Ziegesar’s new Cobble Hill, a juicy novel that follows the lives of four families and their quirky kids over the course of a year. The eclectic group of neighbors ranges from an ex-boyband member and his ex-groupie wife to an industrial designer with a warehouse full of prosthetic limbs — all of whom have their own secrets to reveal.
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Eye of the Raven by Eliot Pattison
Edgar Award-winning author Eliot Pattison’s sequel to the historical whodunit Bone Rattler is another nail-biter set in colonial America. When his friend is falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death by hanging, Scottish Highlander-turned-detective Duncan McCallum races against the executioner’s clock to find the real killer. His investigation uncovers a series of ritualist murders and takes him into the heart of the Pennsylvania wilderness.
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Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
The latest installment in Jenna Evans Welch’s series (Love & Gelato, Love & Luck) is an affecting read about Liv (short for Olive) reconnecting with her estranged father in picturesque Santorini, Greece. While they search for the lost city of Atlantis together, they’re also looking for ways into each other’s hearts. Great escapism.
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Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
Master of One is an action-packed queer YA fantasy for the ages. Rags is a thief, and when he finally gets caught, his punishment is to find a relic of the fae. Instead, he finds an actual fae, and of course, an adventure to save the world ensues. This book is both delightfully familiar and wholly rich in new world-building.
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Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao
Are your parents trying to set you up in an arranged marriage? Then try Rent for Your ’Rents, which allows you to rent a fake boyfriend to impress your parents and get them off your case (it’s really a fantastic fake company name, we must say). Rent a Boyfriend indulges in rom-com tropes to the max (obviously), but it’s a heartfelt examination of the warring pressures felt by Asian American young adults as well.
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The Ever Cruel Kingdom by Rin Chupeco
In this sequel to The Never Tilting World, sisters Haidee and Odessa must venture into the underworld, where creatures are determined to tear them apart and keep the world in its current chaotic state. But these twins literally made the world start spinning again, and they won’t back down without a fierce fight. A timely and touching YA fantasy.
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No Time Like the Future by Michael J. Fox
Despite battling Parkinson’s disease for decades, Michael J. Fox remains an optimist, though it’s not always easy. His latest book, No Time Like the Future, examines the challenges of aging with the disease through personal stories, from an emergency spine surgery and learning to walk again, to a dangerous fall that almost broke his positive outlook. Fox’s humor mixes perfectly with his deeper reflections on life, love, and keeping it all together.
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Eartheater by Dolores Reyes
In Dolores Rey’s thrilling debut novel, a young Argentine woman finds herself compulsively drawn to eating dirt. With the dirt comes visions, one of which reveals the dark truth of her mother’s death. Word of her gift spreads within the slum in which she lives, causing her community to seek the truth about their own losses. Magical realism and dark mystery mingle with the feminist perspective to reveal those female lives influenced by violence and uncertainty.
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Finance Secrets of Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurs by Dileep Rao
A wealth of wisdom from entrepreneurship professor Dileep Rao on how to build a financially sustainable business. Based on interviews with entrepreneurs who built their startups into billion-dollar businesses, Rao shares actionable advice on how to do everything from grow a company without venture capital funding to leadership strategies that are good for the bottom-line. An essential primer for anyone looking to turn their small business into the next big thing.
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Light for the World to See by Kwame Alexander
Poet extraordinaire Kwame Alexander (The Crossover, The Undefeated) pens a call to action in this collection of three long-form poems, each covering a monumental beat in American history: George Floyd’s murder, Colin Kaepernick’s protests, and Barack Obama’s election. Light for the World to See digs into some of our darkest moments to reveal the racism at the heart of America’s past and present.
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The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar
This is the true story of a World War I veteran with no climbing experience who vows to reach the summit of Mount Everest. After years of post-war travels, failed marriages, and self-destruction, Maurice Wilson hatched a plan to fly his biplane — a Gipsy Moth — from England to Mount Everest. The 1933 adventure became a wild one with twists, turns, surprises, and humor along the way.
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Waste by Catherine Coleman Flowers
Do you know about “America’s dirty secret”? Catherine Coleman Flowers has made that secret her life’s work: ensuring that rural Americans have access to basic sanitation. Called the “Erin Brockovich of Sewage,” Flowers explores the systemic biases (race, class, geography) that affect citizens from Alabama to Alaska. “Waste” is also a personal story, giving readers a look at the path of Flowers from rural Alabama to environmental justice champion. Flowers was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2020.
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The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
Let your heart take flight with this gorgeous tale about two artists whose lives intertwine despite the decades dividing them. Haunted by the tragic death of his ornithologist mother, a young Syrian American trans man paints murals of birds across New York City in her memory. When he discovers the journal of Laila Z, a bird artist who disappeared mysteriously decades ago, her story sends him on a quest for a rare bird and opens his eyes to the rich hidden history of the queer and trans people in his community.
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Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory
In this twisty sequel to Tidelands, queen of historical fiction Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl) continues her Fairmile series. Showcasing the adventures of strong, working class women, Dark Tides spans England, Venice, and the American colonies in 1670. London warehouse owner Alinor’s life takes a dramatic turn when a man who scorned her in the past returns and a mysterious Italian widow shows up claiming she can save the family business.
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Life is a 4-Letter Word by David A. Levy and Kristine Carlson
For fans of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and You are a Badass, Life Is a 4-Letter Word is the newest entry in the self-help genre of books that we swear by (see what we did there?). You’ll laugh and you’ll cringe through the 40 life lessons psychologist David Levy shares as he imparts his insightful, and practical, advice on how to get your sh*t together.
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Ruinsong by Julia Ember
Music is magic in this richly drawn-out fantasy about two young women who were once childhood friends, now enemies, and eventually lovers. Remi and Cadence must incite a rebellion and stop an evil queen from destroying their kingdom.
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