16 Books to Read in September

New novels from Zadie Smith, Stephen King and Lauren Groff; Walter Isaacson’s hotly anticipated Elon Musk biography; a history of the AR-15 assault rifle; and much more.

The New York Times Books Staff | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Three Visionaries Expanded Our Understanding of Reality

“The Rigor of Angels,” by William Egginton, considers how three very different men — Jorge Luis Borges, Immanuel Kant and Werner Heisenberg — rejected conventional assumptions about reality and embraced paradoxical truths instead.

Jennifer Szalai | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Cousins (and Co-Authors) Write a Love Letter to New York

Jillian and Mariko Tamaki have created award-winning graphic novels together. Their new book, “Roaming,” is an ode to the city that captivated them and the thrills of young adulthood.

Robert Ito | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Zadie Smith Makes 1860s London Feel Alive, and Recognizable

Her new novel, “The Fraud,” is based on a celebrated 19th-century criminal trial, but it keeps one eye focused clearly on today’s political populism.

Karan Mahajan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

‘A Wound That Is On the Mend’: Indigenous Art Today

A new book surveys a range of creative output from around the Americas, collectively replacing outdated narratives of Indigenous cultures with the perspectives of the artists themselves.

Lauren Christensen | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

One Morning in Maine, 225 People Went to the Library

Books or beach? In a coastal town, the decision is easy, thanks to artwork by the author of “Blueberries for Sal” and “Make Way for Ducklings.”

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Newly Published, from Children’s Books to 1970s Counterculture

A selection of recently published books.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Audiobook of the Week: ‘How to Write About Africa’

A new recording revisits the late Binyavanga Wainaina’s rhetorical strength and disarming humor in a collection of essays, stories and satire.

Dipo Faloyin | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Panel-by-Panel Life of the Man Who Created Charlie Brown

Rather than treading on sacred ground, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi’s “Peanuts”-style biography brings Charles M. Schulz and the strip together as one.

Jeff Smith | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Imprinted by Belief

An essay series on American literature and faith.

Ayana Mathis | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

James McBride Doesn’t Read Reviews. Here’s Why.

His latest novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” has received a number of raves, but the veteran novelist will respectfully avoid them.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Writer Scrutinizes Privilege, Starting With His Own

In “Quiet Street,” Nick McDonell reflects on America’s most entrenched elite and his place within it.

Jonathan Dee | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Can You Get Out of Poverty Without Having to Beg?

In “Live to See the Day,” the sociologist Nikhil Goyal tracks the lives of three teenagers as they try to balance school and survival in Philadelphia.

Nikita Stewart | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

It Totally Peaked in High School

In his lively “Empire of the Sum,” Keith Houston looks at the best — and worst — years of the pocket calculator’s life.

Alexander Nazaryan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Making of an Ivy League President: Two Women’s Stories

In “Necessary Trouble,” by Drew Gilpin Faust, and “Up Home,” by Ruth J. Simmons, the former presidents of Harvard and Brown recount their unlikely paths to leadership at two of America’s most elite universities.

Martha Southgate | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Languid, Atmospheric Thriller Steeped in Postwar Melancholy

Christine Mangan’s “The Continental Affair,” a cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s Europe, evokes Gauloises, orange blossoms and corner cafes.

Leah Greenblatt | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Case for Home Births in America

In “Birth Control,” Allison Yarrow argues that this country’s male-dominated medical industry prioritizes control instead of the autonomy — and safety — of pregnant patients.

Susan Dominus | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Amor Towles Sees Dead People

The novelist discusses his career and his recent essay about cadavers in crime fiction, and the actor Richard E. Grant talks about his memoir and his love of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 Paperbacks to Read This Week

Including debut novels by Rasheed Newson and Andrea Abreu, Prince Shakur's award-winning memoir and more.

Shreya Chattopadhyay | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Audiobook of the Week: ‘The Ghost Club’

Kate Winkler Dawson’s audiobook original reveals the origins of a society of occult-obsessed supernaturalists that included Dickens, Doyle, Yeats and more.

Audrey Clare Farley | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Nick Hornby Reviews a Short History of the Beatles Before the Band

Ilene Cooper’s “This Boy” shows how the grayness of John’s and Paul’s childhoods fed into the explosion that was just around the corner.

Nick Hornby | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Essential Ursula K. Le Guin

Her powerful imagination turned hypothetical elsewheres into vivid worlds governed by forces of nature, technology, gender, race and class a far cry from our own.

Shreya Chattopadhyay | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Shari Lapena Believes in the Feline Mystique

As her career took off, the best-selling Canadian novelist found the ideal office mate: her cat. They even had matching desk chairs.

Elisabeth Egan | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Newly Published, from Young Adult Novels to The Allman Brothers Band

A selection of recently published books.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

How Many Books Do You Know That Became Broadway Musicals?

Before they were bursting into song, some literary characters were bursting off the pages of popular books. Can you identify the sources of these five theatrical adaptations?

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Finding Her Voice Was Just a Rowboat Journey Away

Harakka Island, a creative community off the coast of Helsinki, Finland, helped the illustrator Marika Maijala come into her own as an artist. “I don’t know where my art ends and my life begins. The border is fleeting.”

Johanna Lemola and Saara Mansikkamaki | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

The Artist and Mystic Who Collected the World

Harry Smith lived many lives. “Cosmic Scholar,” a new biography, details his earthly ones.

Dwight Garner | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

George Eliot’s Scandalous Answer to ‘The Marriage Question’

In a new book, Clare Carlisle considers the powerful partnership between the Victorian novelist and the de facto husband who tended her career.

Alexandra Jacobs | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Purging Books, Making Art and Ruling Chicago

An editor recommends two escapist biographies.

Sadie Stein | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Rollicking Tragicomic Tale of Unending Family Drama

In Paul Murray’s new novel, “The Bee Sting,” an Irish family faces economic ruin after the 2008 financial crash. And that’s just the start of their troubles.

Jen Doll | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 New Paperbacks to Read This Week

Recommended releases from the Book Review, featuring titles by Gabino Iglesias, Yiyun Li, Alex Nevala-Lee and more.

Shreya Chattopadhyay | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Newly Published Thrillers, From Bloodthirsty Toddlers to a Cabin Killer

A selection of recently published books.

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Witches, Robots and Martial Artists, Ready for Battle

New books by Juno Dawson, Emma Mieko Candon and Alexander Darwin.

Amal El-Mohtar | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

To Have and to Hold, Even if You Turn Into a Literal Shark

In her debut novel, Emily Habeck sets up an unusual conundrum for a pair of newlyweds.

Edan Lepucki | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Can You Find These 13 Hidden Crime and Mystery Titles?

Looking for literary thrills and chills this summer? As you uncover the books concealed within this text passage, a reading list appears at the bottom of the screen.

J. D. Biersdorfer | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

So Your Mother Is Hiding in the Multiverse? Then Here, Eat This.

In Lauren Beukes’s surreal new book, “Bridge,” a young woman embarks on a metaphysical quest to find her family before a fearsome hunter does.

Ainslie Hogarth | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

James McBride’s Latest Is a Murder Mystery Inside a Great American Novel

“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” opens with the discovery of a skeleton in a well, and then flashes back to explore its connection to a town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.

Danez Smith | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

When the Favor of a Beloved Schoolteacher Turns Sinister

In Catherine Chidgey’s seventh novel, “Pet,” a motherless 12-year-old girl falls under the intoxicating spell of a mysterious teacher at her Catholic school in New Zealand.

Ruth Franklin | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Swedish Fever Dream of Literature and Love, Lost and Found

In Ia Genberg’s “The Details,” the unnamed narrator spends the duration of an illness reflecting on her bygone relationships.

Catherine Lacey | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

No Place Is Home, for the Immigrant Hero of This Debut Novel

“Hangman,” by Maya Binyam, follows the narrator on a disorienting trip back to his native country.

Katie Kitamura | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

6 Paperbacks to Read This Week

Selected paperbacks from the Book Review, including Paul Newman's memoir and novels by James Hannaham and Adam Levin.

Shreya Chattopadhyay | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Edan Lepucki’s Favorite Place to Read Is in the Tub

“Have you ever smoked a joint and read Toni Morrison’s ‘Sula’ in a very hot bath, reveling in a single, rich paragraph for what feels like an hour?” says the novelist, whose new book is “Time’s Mouth.” “If not, may I suggest you try it?”

Unknown Author | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Lois Libien, Who Found a Readership With Household Tips, Dies at 87

As a journalist she covered issues affecting women, then turned to writing about housekeeping in handbooks and a syndicated newspaper column.

Sam Roberts | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A Rich Stranger Wants to Give You All His Money. There’s a Catch.

In “Anansi’s Gold,” Yepoka Yeebo delves into the origins of a venerable scam — and the man who got away with it for decades.

Anakwa Dwamena | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

A.I.’s Inroads in Publishing Touch Off Fear, and Creativity

The technology has the potential to affect nearly every aspect of how books are produced — even the act of writing itself.

Elizabeth A. Harris and Alexandra Alter | NYTimes Books | Disclosure

Being Underestimated Was Her Secret Weapon

In “Flirting With Danger,” Janet Wallach tells the story of Marguerite Harrison, who traded a life of privilege to become America’s first international female spy.

Chloe Malle | NYTimes Books | Disclosure