Kick off fall with the Monitor’s 10 best books of September

The Life Impossible, by Matt Haig

Matt Haig’s tender second novel after “The Midnight Library” revisits the question of how to live your best life. When a retired, widowed math teacher in England inherits property on a Spanish island from a former colleague who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances, she can’t resist the unsolved problem. 

Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout’s warmhearted novel brings together her best-loved characters, including Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and Lucy Barton, in the fictional town of Crosby, Maine. “Tell Me Everything” is about how stories about others’ lives – and how really listening – help us understand and connect.

Colored Television, by Danzy Senna

Jane has one year to finally finish her second novel, but can she balance professional ambition with marriage, motherhood, and her yearning for stability? Danzy Senna takes a searing look at personal authenticity, the struggles of a creative life, and the powerful impact of racial identity.

Playground, by Richard Powers

Richard Powers intertwines the stories of school buddies Todd and Rafi, troubled geniuses both; trailblazing diver and scientist Evie; and South Pacific-born artist Ina. Whether considering the excitement of discovery, community sovereignty and control, or free thought and artificial intelligence, the novel offers a boatload to ponder. It’s a plea for play – and responsibility.

The Fallen Fruit, by Shawntelle Madison

Since the late 1700s, the Bridge farm in Virginia has offered a haven for its freeborn Black owners. But there’s a caveat: A child born to each Bridge man will fall back in time. As the novel opens, Cecily, a mother in 1964, begins investigating her ancestors’ time-traveling troubles. It’s an engaging take on freedom and free will.

Katharine, the Wright Sister, by Tracey Enerson Wood

Tracey Enerson Wood’s historical novel pays joyful tribute to the sister of Wilbur and Orville Wright, the unsung heroine behind their discovery of flight in 1903. She helped mastermind the Wright family’s rise from humble beginnings to worldwide fame and fortune.

Paris in Ruins, by Sebastian Smee

Impressionism emerged in late-1860s Paris. But the movement took off only after the horrors of the Franco-Prussian War drove artists to create works focused on the impermanence of life. This deeply researched and well-written book combines art and biography with political and military history to shed fresh light on the origins of this seminal period in modern art.

Reagan: His Life and Legend, by Max Boot

Forty years after Ronald Reagan’s last run for the White House, journalist and foreign policy analyst Max Boot constructs the most extensive biography to date of the 40th U.S. president. Boot points to Reagan as a public figure who was famously difficult to know, though the author does his best to capture the 20th century’s most dominant conservative by talking with Reagan’s associates. 

America First, by H.W. Brands

H.W. Brands delivers a stirring account of the tumultuous period before the United States entered World War II. The prolific historian focuses on the rivalry between President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who supported intervention, and celebrated aviator Charles Lindbergh, an isolationist ardently opposed to American involvement.

Keeping the Faith, Brenda Wineapple

Historian Brenda Wineapple delves into what is known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. The 1925 court case wrangled with not only the theory of evolution, but also access to ideas, respect for religion, and the tensions between science and theology in ways that are remarkably familiar today.