Top 10

Between the River and the Railroad Tracks: A Memoir

Nicole R. Fleetwood. Little, Brown, Nov. 17 ($30, ISBN 978-0-316-56430-4)

Fleetwood interrogates how her hometown of Hamilton, Ohio, went from a positive example of Rust Belt grit to a violent, poverty-stricken community gripped by religious extremism.

Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness

Lars Anderson. Celadon, Sept. 29 ($32.99, ISBN 978-1-250-36030-4)

In this in-depth portrait of legendary quarterback Tom Brady, Sports Illustrated reporter Anderson unpacks the athlete’s self-professed “sick” obsession with football from childhood.

Cormac McCarthy: A Legacy Revisited

Tracy Daugherty. St. Martin’s, Oct. 6 ($35, ISBN 978-1-250-34872-2)

Biographer Daugherty zeroes in on the toll Cormac McCarthy’s unyielding work ethic took on his personal relationships.

Death of an Ordinary Man

Sarah Perry. Mariner, Oct. 6 ($28, ISBN 978-0-06-348056-8)

For her nonfiction debut, the Essex Serpent novelist delivers an ode to her late father-in-law, detailing his final months and exploring the value of a simple life well-lived.

Fictional Selves: A Memoir

Kyle MacLachlan. Crown, Sept. 29 ($34, ISBN 979-8-217-08632-0)

Twin Peaks actor MacLachlan shares how David Lynch’s mentorship affected his life and career, and pulls back the curtain on his best-known performances, from Blue Velvet to Showgirls.

A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving: Lessons on Love, Care, and Survival

Virginia Eubanks. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Aug. 11 ($32, ISBN 978-0-374-61179-8)

After Eubanks’s partner was physically assaulted, the author developed PTSD from taking care of them. Here, she describes the condition and contextualizes it using an extended metaphor about kayak rescue.

Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming

Abdelrahman Elgendy. Hogarth, Sept. 1 ($30, ISBN 979-8-217-15360-2)

Elgendy, a former political prisoner in Egypt, details how his involvement in student protests in Cairo during the 2010s landed him and his father in the Scorpion, a notoriously brutal prison complex, for six years.

Secrets: A Reporter’s Memoir

Bob Woodward. Simon & Schuster, Nov. 24 ($32, ISBN 978-1-6680-0823-2)

The Pulitzer-winning journalist discusses his Illinois childhood, military service, and the stories behind some of his most explosive reporting, from breaking the Watergate scandal to profiling President Donald Trump.

The Seer: Toni Morrison Among the Ruins

Farah Jasmine Griffin. Penguin Press, Jan. 12 ($30, ISBN 978-0-593-49110-2)

Combining biography, memoir, and scholarship, literary critic Griffin takes a kaleidoscopic look at her friend Toni Morrison’s oeuvre and its influence on American culture.

An Unexpected Life: A Memoir

Gloria Steinem. Random House, Sept. 22 ($30, ISBN 978-0-593-97817-7)

The feminist pioneer details her book-obsessed childhood, a stint in India in the late 1950s, and her rise to prominence as a women’s rights activist, paying tribute to the writers and thinkers who inspired her along the way.

Longlist

37 Ink

Great and Unfortunate Things by Jason Arday (Aug. 11, $29, ISBN 978-1-6680-8557-8) documents how the author went from a nonverbal autistic child to one of the youngest-ever professors at the University of Cambridge.

Abrams

Sez I to Myself: The Collected Essays of Frank and Malachy McCourt by Frank and Malachy McCourt, edited by Tom and Jonah Allon (Sept. 8, $30, ISBN 978-1-4197-9098-0), compiles essays from the late author of Angela’s Ashes and his brother, Malachy, many of which were initially published in their neighborhood newspaper on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Alcove

Ungrateful Immigrant Daughter: A Memoir from the Child of a Mail-Order Bride by Katya Suvorova (Sept. 29, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89242-685-5). The author reconsiders her bumpy Texas childhood after discovering her Eastern European mother’s decades-old ad in a mail-order bride catalog.

Anchor Canada

Red Pockets: A Tale of Inheritance, Ghosts and the Future by Alice Mah (Jan. 5, $23 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-385-70247-8) recounts Mah’s return from Scotland to her ancestral home in South China to visit her relatives’ graves, and muses on global failures to care for the dead.

Blackstone

For My Sister Nicole: Love Shouldn’t Hurt—What to Know About Domestic Violence by Denise Brown (Oct. 6, $29.99, ISBN 979-8-228-47652-3). Nicole Brown Simpson’s older sister addresses her sibling directly in this account of the author’s work at domestic abuse shelters that doubles as an ode to Nicole’s life.

Bloomsbury Academic

The Girl Who Would Be Marilyn Monroe: An Intimate Portrait of the Young Norma Jeane by Tony Castro (Sept. 17, $32, ISBN 979-8-216-44864-8). This biography of the much eulogized movie star focuses on her unstable California childhood.

Catapult

Jealousy: A Memoir by Sarah Haas (Nov. 10, $27, ISBN 978-1-64622-344-2). While cyberstalking her ex, Haas considered which parts of their relationship made her most jealous, prompting broader reflections about the role of jealousy in art and culture.

Celadon

Main, Middle & Gay: A Chef Finds His Place in the World Against All Odds by Patrick O’Connell (Sept. 15, $30, ISBN 978-1-250-43638-2). Decorated chef O’Connell recalls growing up queer in the 1950s and learning to love food in this memoir titled after three intersecting streets in the town of Little Washington, Va.

Dey Street

Sitcom: A Memoir by Chuck Lorre (Oct. 13, $32, ISBN 978-0-06-356986-7). The showrunner for The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men discusses how he conceived and sustained some of the most successful TV comedies of all time.

Doubleday

Will and Attention: A Memoir by Meghan O’Gieblyn (Oct. 6, $30, ISBN 978-0-385-55157-1) charts the author’s arc away from and then back toward Christianity and drinking, both of which had transformed for her by the time she returned.

Dutton

Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith by Jamie Fisher (Aug. 25, $34, ISBN 978-0-593-47566-9). Through interviews with Elliott Smith’s friends and family, Fisher pieces together a portrait of the intensely private indie artist.

Suffer a Witch: A Memoir by Joy McCullough (Aug. 18, $30, ISBN 978-0-593-85590-4). In this memoir-in-verse, poet and YA author McCullough documents the sexual abuse she suffered as a teenager at the hands of a youth pastor, connecting her struggle to be believed to women accused of witchcraft throughout history.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

And If I Die Before I Wake: A Memoir by George M. Johnson (Nov. 10, $30.99, ISBN 978-0-374-39526-1). The author of the YA memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue makes their adult debut with this account of their HIV diagnosis, struggles with addiction, and dizzying moment in the spotlight when their book faced school board challenges in 2020.

Gallery

We Thought They’d Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family by Tony Shalhoub, with Josie Adams (Oct. 27, $30, ISBN 978-1-6682-2772-5). Blending recipes, personal anecdotes, and lore from the annual Shalhoub family reunion in Wisconsin, the actor and his daughter discuss the importance of food in their family.

Grand Central

Never Say Die: A Memoir by Ke Huy Quan (Sept. 15, $32.50, ISBN 978-1-5387-7699-5) recaps the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom actor’s rise from Vietnamese refugee to child star, then Oscar winner for his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Hanover Square

The Rothschilds: The Untold Family Story by Harry Freedman (Dec. 8, $32.99, ISBN 978-1-335-00097-2). This sweeping family biography illuminates the lives and legacy of the famously influential banking dynasty, from their fights against antisemitism to their professional breakthroughs.

Harper

But What I Really Want to Do Is Direct: My First Picture Shows: 1965–1971 by Peter Bogdanovich (Nov. 17, $35, ISBN 978-0-06-344361-7) draws from Bogdanovich’s journals to detail the late filmmaker’s preparations for his breakthrough feature, The Last Picture Show, and his years as a New York City film critic.

HarperOne

Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis’s Trans Pioneer by Julie Kliegman (Aug. 18, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-06-343958-0). Sports journalist Kliegman recounts the career of trans athlete Renée Richards, who, in 1977, made headlines for her successful campaign to compete in the women’s bracket of the U.S. Open.

Knopf

Abandoning a Cat: A Personal Story by Haruki Murakami, trans. by Philip Gabriel (Oct. 20, $26, ISBN 979-8-217-20869-2). Originally published in the New Yorker, this brief narrative explores Murakami’s strained relationship with his father, a devout war veteran who wrote haiku but felt little kinship with his son.

Roll the Calls: A Memoir by Ari Emanuel (Sept. 22, $35, ISBN 979-8-217-20934-7). Emanuel, the inspiration for Ari Golden on HBO’s Entourage, offers a foul-mouthed look at the ins and outs of life as a top-tier Hollywood agent.

MCD

Weird Era: How Pitchfork Changed Music Forever: A Memoir by Ryan Schreiber (Dec. 1, $30, ISBN 978-0-374-60550-6). Pitchfork founder Schreiber documents the birth and meteoric rise of the Chicago-based music publication from 1996 until its acquisition by Condé Nast in 2015.

Morrow

Daphne & Me by Jane Leeves (Oct. 20, $29.99, ISBN 978-0-06-342695-5). The Frasier actor charts her path from British ballerina to costar of a blockbuster American sitcom.

New York Review Books

Ambivalence: An Education by Brian Dillon (Sept. 8, $16.95 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89623-110-3) chronicles the Irish writer’s adolescence from 1987 to 1995, a period following his mother’s death when he began reading boundary-pushing books by the likes of Virginia Wolfe and Samuel Beckett.

Norton

Grant: The Making of a Legendary Military Leader by James Lee McDonough (Nov. 17, $39.99, ISBN 978-1-324-13042-0). This biography of the former U.S. president focuses on his leadership during the Civil War.

One World

Work in Progress by Devon Rodriguez (Sept. 29, $32, ISBN 978-0-593-73448-3). The most followed visual artist on Instagram and TikTok discusses how his rough childhood in the Bronx informed both his portraiture and his drive to become well-known.

Other Press

The Chessboard: A Memoir by Jean-Philippe Toussaint, trans. by Ruth Diver (Oct. 13, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63542-472-0), traces the novelist’s attempts to finish a book in the coastal Belgian city of Ostend. Along the way, he sifts through memories of his 1960s childhood, his studies of Stefan Zweig, and chess games with his father.

Penguin Press

Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind by Thomas Meyer, trans. by Shelley Frisch (Aug. 11, $35, ISBN 978-1-9848-7843-4). German biographer Meyer profiles the legendary thinker, tracing her childhood in a German Jewish family, her escape to Paris and then New York City, and her fraught relationship with Martin Heidegger.

Putnam

Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy by Laurence Leamer (Oct. 20, $32, ISBN 979-8-217-04840-3) uses the late
president’s notorious love affairs to illuminate his ambitions and shortcomings as a leader and a human being.

Random House

The Sensualist: Essays on Pure Pleasure by Gary Shteyngart (Nov. 17, $29, ISBN 979-8-217-15537-8). The novelist’s first essay
collection features previously published work, including his much-discussed Atlantic piece, “Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever.”

Three Tenses: A Transmission from the Nineties by Ed Park (Aug. 11, $28, ISBN 979-8-217-15494-4). The novelist and former executive editor at Penguin Press blends fact and fiction in these missives he discovered on a floppy disk while cleaning out his childhood home in New York City.

Seven Stories

Hotel Casanova: And Other Brief Texts by Annie Ernaux, trans. by Alison L. Strayer (Oct. 6, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-64421-573-9), collects 12 mostly autobiographical short stories written by the Nobel Prize winner between 1984 and 2006, and ranging in subject matter from baby-sitting to sex to death.

Simon & Schuster

The Gospel According to DMX by DMX (Nov. 17, $27, ISBN 978-1-6682-4771-6) compiles the late rapper’s writings on music and spirituality in a volume designed to resemble a Bible.

Simon Element

Once Upon a Trainwreck: The Fall and Rise of a Child Star by Christy Carlson Romano (Oct. 6, $29, ISBN 978-1-6680-8221-8). The star of Kim Possible and Even Stevens discusses how the people-pleasing she learned as a Disney child actor led to an early adulthood plagued by addiction and bad relationships.

St. Martin’s

Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea (Nov. 3, $31, ISBN 978-1-250-43892-8) recaps Dench’s stage and screen careers, from her school nativity play to her eight Oscar nominations and stint in the James Bond franchise.

Tiny Reparations

The Bookshop Woman: My Year Transforming Lives—One Book at a Time by Nanako Hanada, trans. by Cat Anderson (Sept. 15, $29, ISBN 979-8-217-04555-6). Tokyo bookshop manager Hanada recalls joining a social club after the dissolution of her marriage and recommending to her fellow members books that would change each of their lives.

Torrey House

Animals Taught Me Everything by Pam Houston (Oct. 13, $18.95 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89092-048-5). The novelist shares how her love of and cohabitation with a variety of furry creatures has shaped her philosophies on life, love, work, and death.

Tuttle

The Tiger Man’s Daughter: A Memoir of Loss and Belonging by Geia Laconi (Sept. 15, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8048-5997-4). The author unpacks a family legend that she’s descended from Indonesian tigers.

Univ. of Nebraska

Rare Good: Essays on Art, Autism, and Astonishment by Steve Edwards (Oct. 1, $21.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-4962-4626-4) chronicles Edwards’s attempts to chase new, transcendent experiences after he was diagnosed with autism in his mid-30s.

Washington Square

The Blue Hours: My Summers and Winter in Antarctica by Stephanie Krzywonos (Dec. 1, $30, ISBN 978-1-6680-6432-0). After the death of her best friend, the author became a worker in Antarctica for several summers and survived one of the continent’s famously harsh winter seasons.

Verso

John Berger: From Life by Tom Overton (Sept. 15, $34.95, ISBN 978-1-80429-844-2). Overton paints a comprehensive portrait of the Booker-winning novelist and critic based on conversations between the two before Berger died in 2017, as well as extensive interviews with his family and dives into his catalog.

Zibby

Desire Feeds the Feast: A Memoir by Tarajia Morrell (Nov. 3, $28, ISBN 979-8-9942206-1-0). James Beard Award winner Morrell discusses her privileged, food-centric New York City upbringing, her days as a 1990s club kid, and her attempts to make it as an actor in Hollywood.

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