About Time You Read: 10 of the Best Book Releases September 2019By Francesca Brooking
September is closing in and with it the turn of the season. Whether you’re excited for the cooler temperatures or need one last escape, a good book is always the answer. From biographies to French fiction and long-awaited sequels, tales of tantalising cuisines and an evening with Meryl Streep in Japan, here are the top new book releases this month:
1. Bill Cunningham: On the Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography by The New York Times
Author: The New York Times
What: A fashion icon in his own right, Bull Cunningham’s photography captured the evolution of style, trends and the everyday both in New York City and Paris. In this official collection of photographs put together by The New York Times, he explores 50 years of fashion from the beginning of the 1970s and continuing until his death in 2016. These photographs (many never seen before) chronicle the impact of the 1980s transit strike, the rise of casual Fridays in the 1990s and the sadness of 9/11. Enriched with essays, this book provides an insight into Cunningham’s influences and subjects such as Anna Wintour, Vanessa Friedman, and Ruth La Ferla. On the Street is a timeless representation of Cunningham’s commitment to capturing the here and now, fashion and beyond.
Release date: 3rd of September 2019
2. Conde Nast: The Man and His Empire by Susan Ronald
Author: Susan Ronald
What: Written with the cooperation of his family on both sides of the Atlantic, Susan Ronald depicts the man behind the magazine empire. The biography follows Conde Nast’s life in New York City and how he soon became the highest-paid executive in the United States, acquiring Vogue in 1909 and Vanity Fair in 1913. Working alongside his editors, Edna Woolman Chase at Vogue and Frank Crowninshield at Vanity Fair, he built the first international magazine empire, introducing fashion, art and style to the American audience. Conde Nast was a legend on the international fashion scene, and his Park Avenue apartment decorated by Elsie de Wolfe became a frequent gathering place for the major artistic figures of the time. Nast launched the careers of icons such as Noel Coward, Cecil Beaton and Dorothy Parker and left behind a legacy and media powerhouse that endures today.
Release date: 3rd September 2019 (United States – but you can pre-order from Foyles here and it will be dispatched on the US publication date).
3. Dishoom from Bombay with Love by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar and Naved Nasir
Author: Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar and Naved Nasir
What: Dishoom: From Bombay with Love is a cookbook filled with over 100 recipes from the much-loved restaurants. Learn the secrets behind their much sought-after south Bombay comfort food such as the Bacon Naan Roll, Black Daal, Okra Fries, Jackfruit Biriyani, Chicken Ruby and Lamb Raan, along with Masala Chai, coolers and cocktails. As you discover the Dishoom menu, the cookbook will bring the cuisine of Bombay to life. This cookery book, embellished with beautiful photographs and stories, will transport you to Dishoom’s most treasured corners of Bombay and immerse you in a feast for the senses.
Release date: 5th September 2019
4. Girl by Edna O’Brien
Author: Edna O’Brien
What: This new novel by the legendary Irish writer, Edna O’Brien, tells the story of a young girl abducted and married into the Nigerian terrorist group, Boko Haram. Portraying the realities of social, sexual and religious oppression faced by women, Edna O’Brien’s narrator witnesses and suffers the horrors of a community of men governed by a brutal code of violence. Only a young girl herself, she is soon forced to learn how to survive as a woman with a child of her own. Just when all hope seems lost, she’s offered an escape but finds herself in a landscape of trials and terrors, and a society in denial about her trauma. Edna O’’Brien’s deeply sensitive and moving novel questions how to comprehend the barbarism of our enemies and learn forgiveness for the atrocities committed in the name of ideology.
Release date: 5th September 2019
5. A Beginner’s Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations by Pico Lyer
Author: Pico Lyer
What: Pico Lyer’s A Beginner’s Guide to Japan is a playful and profound guidebook taking you through brief and surprising glimpses of Japanese culture. Living in Kyoto for more than thirty-two years, he shows how an evening with Meryl Streep, a walk through a ghostly deer park and a visit the local Apple service centre can open up his adopted home in fresh and invigorating ways. The guidebook delves into animist culture, love hotels and fashion while exploring how every stereotype is turned on its head. Sometimes provocative, he brings Japan to life for both the first-time visitor and the jaded foreign resident.
Release date: 5th September 2019
6. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Author: Margaret Atwood
What: Readers of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (first published in 1985) will finally be able to find out Offred’s fate in the author’s electrifying new sequel, The Testaments. Ending The Handmaid’s Tale on an ambiguous note, Margaret Atwood has been tantalising her readers for decades about what became of her narrator and now the wait is almost over. Set fifteen years after The Handmaid’s Tale and unconnected to the Emmy award-winning television series, The Testaments reveals her vision of Gilead’s future for the very first time.
Release date: 10th September 2019
7. An Opinionated Guide to Vegan London by Sara Kiyo Popowa and Sam A. Harris
Author: Text by Sara Kiyo Popowa and photography by Sam. A Harris
What: If you’ve ever wanted to know where the capital’s best vegan hangouts were, then look no further than An Opinionated Guide to Vegan London. The brilliant places in this guide (both vegan and vegan-friendly) will entice even the most traditional foodies with sumptuous food pairings and stylish interiors. Created with the expert insight of north London-based blogger, artist, recipe developer and photographer, Sara Kiyo Popowa and travel and food photographer, Sam A. Harris, this is an unashamedly opinionated guide to the very best ethical vegan eateries in London. Whether it’s junk food, fine dining, superfood bowls or sweet treats, this vegan food guide is a must for anyone who cares about the planet as much as their taste buds.
Release date: 19th September 2019
8. The Confession by Jessie Burton
Author: Jessie Burton
What: Hailed as one of the finest prose writers of the past decade Jessie Burton returns with her new novel The Confession. One winter’s afternoon on Hampstead Heath in 1980, Elise Morceau meets the bold and successful novelist, Constance Holden and quickly falls under her spell. Elise follows Connie to LA, but whilst Connie thrives on the glamour and the heat of this new world, Elise flounders. After overhearing a conversation at a party, the world is turned on its head and she makes a decision that changes her life forever. Three decades later, Rose Simmons is seeking answers about her mother who disappeared when she was a baby. Having learned that the last person to see her was Constance Holden, a reclusive novelist who withdrew from public life at the height of her fame, she’s drawn to her door in search of a confession.
Release date: 19th September 2019
Gotta Get Theroux This: My life and strange times in television by Louis Theroux
Author: Louis Theroux
What: Louis Theroux’s autobiography, Gotta Get Theroux This reveals the man behind the enigma so often on our TV screens. He takes the reader on a journey through his life and unexpectedly successful career. After nervously accepting the BBC’s offer for his own series, he went on to create an award-winning documentary style that has seen him come face-to-face with a diverse world of racist US militias and secretive pro-wrestlers, the violent gangs of Johannesburg and extreme drinkers in London. Filled with wry observations, larger than life characters and self-deprecating humour, this is Louis: insightful, honest and at his very best.
Release date: 19th September 2019
10. Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq
Author: Michel Houellebecq
What: First published in France, Michel Houellebecq’s long-awaited novel, Serotonin is, at last, hitting our shelves this September. Sharply funny, Seratonin is a scathing and provocative remark on globalisation, modern society and the pharmaceutical industry. Set in France, Florent-Claude Labrouste feels like he’s dying of sadness. His girlfriend hates him and his career at the Ministry of Agriculture is coming to an end. His only relief comes in the form of a pill, Captorix. Recently released for public consumption, it’s a brand new anti-depressant that alters the brain’s release of serotonin. On an idyllic vision, he abandons his life in Paris and returns to Normandy where he used to work promoting regional cheeses, and where he was once in love. But instead of happiness, he finds a rural community devasted by globalisation, European agricultural policies and farmers longing to return to what they remember as the golden age. Provocative, controversial but absolutely brilliant, Michel Houellebecq’s Serotonin will be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
Release date: 26th September 2019
