What to Read in September

I considered a back-to-school theme for September’s what to read theme, but that stopped appealing when I thought how much no one wants to be handed more work to do at the beginning of the school year. Maybe I’ll do that next year. Instead, I’m going with a writing theme. Why? Because I am already gearing up for Nanowrimo. Backing it up, October will be novel planning month (either Nanoplamo or, as I’m calling it this year, Octnoplamo). Because of some project deadlines, that makes September editing month for me (just this year, but we’ll see). I am calling it Sepnoedmo and I am aware the acronym doesn’t quite work. It sounds right. And I am neck-deep in writing books so maybe you should be too.

These are some of my favorite books on the writing process and craft, for editing, planning, writing, and even getting your work out there. There are so many great books (and classics) I haven’t read yet.

On Writing , Stephen King Bird by Bird , Anne Lamott Zen in the Art of Writing , Ray Bradbury Save the Cat! Writes a Novel , Jessica BrodyOutlining Your Novel, K. M. WeilandThe Business of Being a Writer, Jane Friedman

This list is low on craft books because I am finishing up the editing phase of my top-priority project and looking forward to trying to find an agent… and selling it. So it’s a lot of that. I have tabled Wonderbook (Jeff VanderMeer) and left A Swim in the Pond in the Rain (George Saunders) on the shelf. Just for this season; I’ll return to them. This list is more for taking what you’ve already written and getting it ready for submission and then navigating after that. Many of them were recommended in the appendix of The Business of Being a Writer.

The First Five Pages, Noah LukemanThe Writers’ Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals, Moira Anderson AllenSave the Cat! Writes a YA Novel, Jessica BrodyHow to Write a Mystery, Mystery Writers of America, Lee ChildOpen Page, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative WritingRefuse to Be Done, Matt BellGet Signed, Lucinda HalpernBefore and After the Book Deal, Courtney MaumFormatting and Submitting Your Manuscript and Get a Literary Agent, Chuck SambuchinoThe Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, Arielle EckstutThe Forest for the Trees, Betsy LernerThe Portable MFA in Creative Writing, NY Writers’ WorkshopThe Modern Library’s Writer’s Workshop

These are the titles that “everybody” is looking forward to being published in September:

The Life Impossible, Matt HaigHere One Moment, Liane MoriartyThe Hitchcock Hotel, Stephanie WrobelThe Booklover’s Library, Madeline MartinWe’re Alone, Edwidge Danticat (short story collection)Quarterlife, Devika RegeAdam and Evie’s Matchmaking Tour, Nora NguyenCreation Lake, Rachel KushnerFinal Cut, Charles Burns (YA graphic novel)The Gates of Gaza, Amir Tibon (memoir)The Empusium, Olga Tokarczuk (Nobel prize translation)Intermezzo, Sally RooneyThe Women Behind the Door, Roddy DoyleColored Television, Danzy SennaLovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson (memoir)Somewhere Beyond the Sea (The House in the Cerulean Sea sequel), T. J. KluneNexus, Yuval Noah HarariEntitlement, Rumaan AlamPlayground, Richard Powers

These are the book I will be reading for book clubs this month:

The Chocolate War, R. CormierA Magic Steeped in Poison, Judy I. LinNorth Woods, Daniel MasonThe Sun and the Void, Gabriela Romero LaCruzThe Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley

These are the books I will be attempting to squeeze in because of book events I am attending:

Digger Volume 1, Ursula VernonA Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. KingfisherThe Dutch House, Ann PatchettBel Canto, Ann PatchettTom Lake, Ann Patchett

Cat’s Cradle, Kurt VonnegutThe Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’FarrellTwelfth Night, William ShakespeareTwelfth Knight, Alexene Farol FollmuthMartyr!, Kaveh Akbar

Never mind. I’m going to include some back-to-school recommendations in the spirit of the season. Also because I am working on an edit of a Ninth Grade Language Arts curriculum I taught a few years back. (Someone else is using this curriculum this year.) These are my top recommendations for ninth grade English, then. Note: they are a little on the masculine side because I had all boys in my class. Also, I consider ninth graders to still be in the same developmental stage as seventh and eighth graders—plus I had some real reluctant readers—so these novels tend to be shorter and easier than what you might normally see in high school reading. If you want a stretch, head down to The Lord of the Rings or the Shakespeare.

The Invisible Man , H. G. Wells The Hound of the Baskervilles , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle A Christmas Carol , Charles Dickens March , John Lewis American Born Chinese , Gene Luen YangMacbeth, William Shakespeare (Folger’s) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , Douglas AdamsThe Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Paul ZindelThe Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway Anne of Green Gables , L. M. Montgomery Bridge to Terabithia , Katherine Paterson Where the Red Fern Grows , Wilson Rawls When You Reach Me , Rebecca Stead The Giver , Lois Lowry The Princess Bride , William Goldman The Book Thief , Marcus ZusakThe Maze Runner, James DashnerA Monster Calls, Patrick NessThe Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman The Truth About Horses, Christy CashmanTreasure Island, Robert Louis StevensonLord of the Flies, William GoldingCall of the Wild, Jack LondonCaptains Courageous, Rudyard KiplingRed Badge of Courage, Stephen CraneAdventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark TwainAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain Old Yeller , Fred Gipson The Great Gatsby , F. Scott FitzgeraldTo Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Hunger Games , Suzanne CollinsBorn a Crime, Trevor Noah The Hobbit , J. R. R. TolkienThe Lord of the Rings trilogy, J. R. R. Tolkien The Screwtape Letters , C. S. Lewis