14 New Books for September
Here are the works by authors on and of the West—including Under Story, Open the Floodgates, and For Customers Only—that we’re most excited to see published this month.
UNDER STORY, BY CHLOE BENJAMIN
In her third novel, a genre bender, Benjamin asks how far we would go for love. Laurel Salter, a divorced young mycologist with immense promise, has suffered a tremendous loss. Grieving, she chooses to disappear from her old life and takes a job as a dishwasher at McMurdo Station, a research base in Antarctica—where she is mesmerized by a strange dome made of light, the Arc. When her physicist ex-husband, Eli, arrives to study the Arc, they revisit his theory of time, and she comes to believe she has discovered another universe and perhaps a way to fix her past. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, September 1
SWITZY, BY EMMA CLINE
Cline plumbs the unraveling mind of David, a retired executive with Alzheimer’s disease, during the last days of his life. A trip to Zurich becomes a pivotal journey: He finds he can’t recognize his own handwriting. As he remembers traces of his past and the compromises and little choices he made to become successful, he finds himself interrupted by the many obligations he still has to fulfill, including dinners with his daughter that feel more like appointments. In these pages, the unsettling mystery of selfhood unfolds. Switzy has been long-listed for the Booker Prize. Random House, September 8
WE NEVER CALLED IT FRISCO, BY JED PERL
Perl’s debut novel is set in the San Francisco and Berkeley art scene of the 1950s and ’60s. Marcia Lang is a sharp-tongued, combative critic who dies and leaves everything she had to her lover, Burt, a poet and publisher. Among other things in her estate, Marcia bequeaths Burt a memoir in progress titled We Never Called It Frisco, and Other Stories of My Earlier Years—Marcia liked to skewer their friends after parties, and her book continues that tradition. Burt sets out to reconstruct Marcia’s life and finish her memoir, both for her and for the city she called home. Coffee House Press, September 8
DON’T SAY PALESTINE: HOW THE MEDIA MANUFACTURED CONSENT FOR GENOCIDE, BY ASSAL RAD
Activist and Middle East historian Rad has noticed a worrisome pattern when Western media outlets cover the genocide in Palestine: When reporting on Israel, newspapers tend to use active language and humanizing terms, while coverage of Palestinians relies on passive language and euphemisms. Rad notes, for example, that Israeli children are described as “children,” while Palestinian children are often described as “people under 18.” Don’t Say Palestine is a daring exposé and scalpel-sharp work of criticism revealing the harm imposed by Western media’s linguistic obfuscations and selective storytelling. Vintage, September 8
STORY TELLING: A WRITING LIFE, BY ISABEL ALLENDE
After publishing more than 25 books across a multitude of genres, past California Book Club author Allende shares how she did it. Story Telling draws on her accomplishments, mistakes, and lessons learned—offering insight into a storyteller who has used writing to make sense of the chaos around her. In these 192 pages, Allende shares the wisdom she has gained through decades of writing, making this not so much a guide to the craft but a means of understanding how entwined writing is with her life. Ballantine Books, September 15
NATURAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE LOGIC OF CONSCIOUSNESS, BY ANTONIO DAMASIO
From the mind of neuroscientist Damasio comes an ambitious exploration of the origins of human consciousness. Drawing on decades of neurobiology research, Damasio persuasively argues that our primal sensations—fear, hunger, and thirst—rather than our higher-level cognitive functions, are the same feelings that shape our sense of self. Considering everything from bacteria to artificial intelligence, Damasio combines science and philosophy to examine what makes us uniquely human: individuality, consciousness, and dissatisfaction. Pantheon, September 15
OPEN THE FLOODGATES, BY NINA SCHUYLER
In this exquisite, original, and stylish fable—written in particularly well-crafted prose in passages that seek to establish the consciousness of a river in California—Schuyler reimagines the relationship between the human and nonhuman worlds, including a river’s right to argue for its own existence in court. This posture changes the meaning and implications of pollution, prompting questions about the power of a body, autonomy, and whether, if it could speak, nature would approve of how we treat it. Reverberations Books, September 15
FOR CUSTOMERS ONLY: PUBLIC BATHROOMS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICAN INEQUALITY, BY BRYANT SIMON
Earlier in American history, businesses and other spaces prided themselves on state-of-the-art public restrooms. Through comprehensive research, historian Simon convinces us that this began to change as people became increasingly wary of who was using these shared toilets: LGBTQ people, unhoused people, and, after the civil rights movement, BIPOC communities. For Customers Only reveals the American public bathroom’s striking history, while analyzing how it has become a symbol of inequality, exclusion, and control. University of Chicago Press, September 21
MY HUNGRY GHOSTS: ESSAYS AND INCANTATIONS, BY MAY-LEE CHAI
In her wide-ranging 12th book, award-winning author Chai gathers lyrical and precise pieces of varying lengths that circle Chinese and Buddhist teachings about “hungry ghosts.” Hungry ghosts can be understood as beings or ancestors who become forgotten in memory but linger in liminal spaces of time. Through the lens of autobiography, Chai examines her biracial identity, her loved ones, family lore, racism and violence, both American and Chinese culture and history, and even climate change. Blair, September 22
RACIST BY DESIGN: TWO CENTURIES OF U.S. IMMIGRATION CONTROL, BY KELLY LYTLE HERNÁNDEZ
Racist by Design traces the origin of the American immigration system to the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s, when the United States banned Haitian immigration to prevent ideas of a free Black republic from circulating, while allowing exceptions to the prohibition for former Haitian enslavers. Past California Book Club author Hernández details how eugenicists and Jim Crow segregationists shaped the system we have today and argues that the only way to dismantle the system is to expose it. W.W. Norton & Company, September 22
FEMALE LIFE ON PLANET EARTH, BY LALEH KHADIVI
It’s been almost 10 years since the last installment of Khadivi’s critically acclaimed Kurdish trilogy. In Female Life on Planet Earth, she writes about Heti, an ordinary Iranian American woman working in Los Angeles and raising two teenage daughters. When her mother, Ana—an active parent and a cheerful, ambitious woman—dies, Heti receives a mysterious package containing photographs of her mother’s secret youth. Among them are stills of Ana in front of a burning building and wielding a gun. As the anniversary of her mother’s death approaches, Heti gathers the women in her life who knew Ana to ask them who she really was. Ecco, September 22
MIDNIGHT’S DAUGHTER, BY SARITA SARVATE
In this deeply moving memoir, Sarvate chronicles her decades-long search for freedom, identity, and belonging. Her upbringing changes when her mother experiences a health setback, forcing Sarvate to step into the role of caregiver—and her freedom becomes even more constrained when she enters an arranged marriage. Seeking to escape the patriarchal forces determining her life, Sarvate leaves for graduate school at UC Berkeley, where she builds a new life and eventually becomes a successful writer. Vine Leaves Press, September 22
DODGE CITY, BY PATRICK DEWITT
After a fistfight gets Lee Clarke kicked out of UCLA—and subsequently removed from the deferment list—he begins a road trip to Canada to escape the Vietnam War draft. Traveling in a new Jaguar with only a suitcase and a bag of drugs, Clarke winds through the United States, stopping in four towns where he reflects on his family members. This sixth novel by deWitt explores family, human behavior, war, and a country divided. Ecco, September 29
THE KING OF ALOE VERA, BY TOMAS MONIZ
Seventy-five-year-old Rey has lived in his home in San Francisco’s Mission district for most of his life. Over time, he loses his wife, spends his days working at the library, and watches his beloved neighborhood change around him. When he learns that he will be forced to move into a retirement home at the end of the month, he meets Q, who is down on her luck and open to connection. As they both grieve, they form a friendship. Moniz gracefully explores Latino identity, aging, and the kinship that can develop across generations. Algonquin Books, September 29
Elizabeth Casillas is an associate editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.
Katie Hulse is a graduate of UC Berkeley who has previously written for Bay City News and the Daily Californian.
The Art of Falling
California Bestsellers List (August 27, 2026)
Down and Out in Sacramento
California Bestsellers List (August 20, 2026)
