10 books you should read in September, including Stephen King’s Fairy Tale and Alex Ross’ Fantastic Four: Full Circle

Also check out All The Women In My Brain And Other Concerns, a candid collection of personal essays from Emmy Award-nominated actress Betty Gilpin

By Cat Auer | August 24, 2022 | 9:00am

Books News Fairy tale

10 books you should read in September, including Stephen King’s Fairy Tale and Alex Ross’ Fantastic Four: Full Circle

Clockwise from bottom left: How Not To Drown In A Glass Of Water (Image: Macmillan); Fantastic Four: Full Circle (Image: Abrams ComicArts); Rules Of Engagement (Image: Berkley Books); Fairy Tale (Image: Scribner), Ducks (Image: Drawn & Quarterly); The Furrows (Image: Hogarth); The Storm Is Here (Image: Penguin Press); All The Women In My Brain And Other Concerns (Image: Flatiron) Graphic: Libby McGuire

Every month, a deluge of new books comes flooding out from big publishers, indie houses, and self-publishing platforms. To help you navigate the wave of titles arriving in September, The A.V. Club has narrowed down the options to 10 books we’re most excited about, including a trope-twisting dark fantasy novel from horror master Stephen King, an interdimensional journey through the Negative Zone with Marvel’s original superhero squad, and a collection of comical musings from GLOW star Betty Gilpin.

Stay True: A Memoir, Hua Hsu (September 27)

The title of professor and New Yorker writer Hua Hsu’s affecting memoir comes from a sign-off he and his friend Ken used in emails and letters, a way to say goodbye that arose from an inside joke. Sincere, funny, wistful—the phrase “stay true” reflects the tone of the book and also its goal: to honestly remember a lost friend. The two met as freshmen at Berkeley in the late 1990s, a time when teenage Hsu was building his identity, seeking connections over the bands he loved and the zine he published. They bond over smoking, thrifting, late-night drives around the Bay with mixtapes booming. Then, the summer before their senior year, Ken is killed in a carjacking, his death devastating Hsu and their tight-knit circle of friends. Grappling with the loss reshapes Hsu, changes him, as he deals with grief and guilt and the desperate need to never forget the sound of his friend’s laughter—to stay true to him.

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