Midterm election news will fill the headlines this fall, but, among book buyers, fiction will likely have top billing.
asserted
fiction → fill → billing
Former President Joe Biden’s “Promise Me, America” stands out not just as a White House memoir — presidential memoirs are events unto themselves — but as a rare high-profile political book over the next few months.
asserted
memoirs → promise → months
Nonfiction sales have slumped in recent years and political books haven’t approached the peaks of President Donald Trump's first term.
asserted
books → slump → term
“The energy in political books seems to be subdued.
asserted
energy → seem → books
I think folks are just ranted out,” says Kristen McLean, an analyst and vice president for client insights at Circana, which tracks retail book sales.
asserted
which → think → sales
“I think the (news) cycle is moving a bit too quickly for a lot of the very specific political books to catch on,” says Shannon DeVito, Barnes & Noble's senior director of books.
asserted
DeVito → think → books
Michael Lewis' “Blockers,” a probe into Trump's second term through the eyes of government workers, may be the only new release to rival the impact of Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's summer bestseller, “Regime Change.”
uncertain
Blockers → rival → bestseller
This fall’s notable political offerings otherwise revisit the Biden years, from “Promise Me, America,” to former Middle East envoy Brett McGurk’s “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the Oct. 7 Hostages” to Akbar Shahid Ahmed’s study of Biden’s Gaza war policies, “Crossing the Red Line.”
asserted
offerings → revisit → Line
Even Bob Woodward, who for decades released timely exposés of sitting presidents, is passing on current politics.
asserted
who → release → politics
In “Secrets: A Reporter’s Memoir,” he reflects on presidents and White House sources dating back to the Nixon administration and the Watergate scandal that made him famous..
asserted
him → reflect → administration
“Because he's going more into his own life, I expect he'll have a different and broader audience than for his other books,” DeVito says.
asserted
DeVito → go → books
A feast of fiction
Novelists Barbara Kingsolver and Hernan Diaz, co-winners three years ago of the Pulitzer Prize, will share honors again as two of the featured authors in a busy season.
asserted
Kingsolver → share → season
Kingsolver's “Partita,” about a onetime musical prodigy drawn again to her past, is the first since “Demon Copperhead,” her Pulitzer-winning retelling of Charles Dickens' “David Copperfield.”
asserted
Partita → draw → Copperfield
Meanwhile, Diaz has followed his Pulitzer-winning “Trust” with the dystopian, Dickensian “Ply,” about a young thief in a chaotic future society.
asserted
Diaz → follow → society
Diaz says he met Kingsolver at the Pulitzer ceremony, where the two drank bourbon and bonded over literature and other common interests.
asserted
two → say → literature
“I don't think literature is a race or a tennis tournament,” Diaz says.
asserted
Diaz → think → ?
“I think the more good books that are out there, the richer the conversation becomes and the more readers are engaged.”
asserted
readers → think → ?
Fiction sales have been solid in 2026 and will likely remain high if only because the two most prominent romantasy authors, Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas, have new books coming.
asserted
books → remain → 2026
Maas is releasing “A Court of Splintered Harmony,” the sixth volume of “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” with the seventh installment scheduled for early next year.
asserted
installment → release → year
Yarros' “Threshing Day” compiles 13 stories featuring characters from her Empyrean series, and her stand-alone “Peculiar Stars” finds protagonist Callista Moran stranded on an island after a sailing accident and discovering unexpected sides to herself.
asserted
Moran → compile → herself
The new fiction list also features Nobel laureate Jon Fosse's latest, “Vaim Hotel,” and three contenders for the Booker Prize — Marlon James' “The Disappearers,” Emma Cline's “Switzy” and Rebecca Perry's “May We Feed the King.”
uncertain
We → feature → King
The book most primed for gossip is Rachel Cusk's “Life of M,” a meta-novel about a movie star who may or may not be based on Natalie Portman.
uncertain
who → prim → Portman
The season's longest-awaited novel is likely Chad Harbach's “The Brightness”: The parallel and intertwining lives of two close friends in their 20s is his first novel since his acclaimed 2011 debut, “The Art of Fielding.”
asserted
lives → await → Fielding
Yiyun Li, Edwidge Danticat, Kate Atkinson, Deesha Philyaw, Diane Williams, Laleh Khadivi, R.F. Kuang and Norah Labiner also have fiction coming out.
asserted
fiction → have → ?
Fans of Stephen King (and the late Peter Straub) can look forward to “Other Worlds Than These,” the final “Talisman” novel.
asserted
Fans → look → These
Alice Hoffman launches a new series with “The Witches of Cambridge” and Brandon Sanderson has begun “Blightfall,” written with Janci Patterson.
asserted
Sanderson → launch → Patterson
S.A. Cosby's “Truth to Power” is a Marvel Crime novel featuring superhero/sleuth Luke Cage.
asserted
Truth → feature → Cage
Celebrities share their stories
asserted
Celebrities → share → stories
A trio of Oscar-winning superstars will tell their stories this fall: Sylvester Stallone's “The Steps,” its title a reference to the actor's iconic upward run in “Rocky”; Michael Douglas' “One Helluva Ride,” which the actor and producer has called a corrective to the blurry legends of fame; and Dustin Hoffman's “Look at Me,” promoted by publisher Simon Six as “an intimate memoir about art, ambition, family, friendship, love, aging, and the mysteries of a creative life.”
asserted
actor → win → life
Gloria Steinem looks back on her early years in “An Unexpected Life” and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick reflects on his activism in “The Perilous Fight.”
asserted
Kaepernick → look → Fight
Eric Dane’s “My Book of Days” comes out just months after the “Grey’s Anatomy” star died from ALS.
asserted
star → come → ALS
Poetry for all times
Ancient poetry seems new again thanks to Christopher Nolan's adaptation of “The Odyssey,” which has placed editions by Emily Wilson and the late Robert Fagles high on bestseller lists.
asserted
which → seem → lists
Wilson has a new book out this fall, “Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea,” essays that cover everything from Greek tragedy to “slut-shaming” Helen of Troy to the “sly laughter” of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's “WAP.”
asserted
that → have → B
In “Cloud Runner,” former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo tries to express what she acknowledges may be inexpressible, the death three years ago of her daughter, Rainy Ortiz: “I have lost my girl./Some
uncertain
I → try → daughter
things do not belong in words,” Harjo writes.
asserted
Harjo → belong → words
Jennifer Franklin channels the mind of James Joyce’s gifted, ill-fated daughter Lucia in the collection “A Fire in Her Brain.”
asserted
Franklin → channel → Brain
New work is also expected from Layli Long Soldier, Tina Chang, Patricia Lockwood, Dalia Taha, Avis Blackbird and Hieu Minh Nguyen.
asserted
work → expect → Soldier
The anthology “Other Legacies” features tributes from Rae Armantrout, Edward Hirsch and other prizewinners to such lesser-known poets as Rachel Loden, Julia de Burgos and Stephen Jonas.
asserted
anthology → feature → Loden
Another writer enriched by a Nolan movie — Kai Bird, co-author of “American Prometheus,” the biography adapted into “Oppenheimer” — has co-written “American Scoundrel,” the story of lawyer/political fixer/Trump mentor Roy Cohn.
asserted
co → enrich → Cohn
In “The Rush,” award winner Nathaniel Philbrick revisits the 19th century quest for gold.
asserted
Philbrick → revisit → gold
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
