5 Smart New Books To Read This Fall

This fall’s slate of fantastic new releases includes all sorts of intense, intelligent books that are an absolute pleasure to read—and just might teach you something, too.

Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Simpson’s short-story collections, like Islands of Decolonial Love, are amazing and this debut novel from the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer is no different. Framed as a response to Susanna Moodie’s racist 1852 memoir, Roughing It in the Bush, this gorgeous book both heals and delights. (Out now.)

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

It’s a shame there’s no award for uncanny timing: Donoghue’s latest novel is about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918—and yes, she finished it pre-COVID. The book follows three women over three days working in a cramped maternity/fever ward in Dublin, and the result is a dark and shining wonder. (Out now)

Best Canadian Essays 2020 ed. Sarmishta Subramanian

A superb collection of national thinkers, crackling with insight on the issues of the age: dating on apps while living with your parents; how Palestinian activism is swallowed by free speech wars; the value of beauty as a form of resistance; and just what we’re supposed to do with Michael Jackson. (Out now.)

Stoop City by Kristyn Dunnion

A woman’s dead girlfriend shows up as a ghost, and their dysfunctional, cheating relationship resumes where they left off. Normal stuff, right? In this tender and brilliant story collection, filled with lying real estate agents and desperate teenage girls, life is as funny as it is bleak. (Sept. 22)

Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi

Electric and moving, this debut novel is one of the best of the year. Kehinde and Taiye are twin sisters long separated as adults. Kambirinachi is their mother, whom the twins have returned home to Nigeria to see. An aching and stellar book about trauma, food, silence, queer love and forgiveness. (Sept. 15)