October brings 10 great titles for fall reading

If you thought September was a busy book month, get ready for October. These 10 titles will give you a great start on your fall reading.

• “The Butterfly Girl: A Novel,” by Rene Denfeld (Oct. 1)

We first met Naomi, a talented investigator, in 2017’s “The Child Finder.” She returns here in a story that involves the homeless Celia, who lives on the streets of Portland, which is also where Naomi is searching for a sister she barely remembers. Chilling, suspenseful and yet full of hope, Denfeld’s second mystery is as satisfying as her first.

• “Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick,” by Wendy Wood (Oct. 1)

Many authors have written about habits but Wood is also a premier scientist in psychology, working on how habits affect and are affected by the human mind. Top tip: Willpower isn’t enough. But through her research, Wood explains what does work.

• “Grand Union,” by Zadie Smith (Oct. 8)

Nineteen stories make up this collection in which the multitalented Smith (“White Teeth”) mixes genres with aplomb. Whether she’s spinning sci-fi (“Meet the President!”), horror (“The Canker”) or reliable literature fic (“Just Right”), Smith’s stories show a smart, curious writer at play.

• “On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey,” by Paul Theroux (Oct. 8)

Theroux has taken many trains but for his travels around Mexico, he decided to drive. The choice was wise, as it allowed him to visit villages and landmarks he might otherwise have missed. Whether it’s Frida Kahlo’s legendary Blue House, border towns or coastline, Theroux presents a Mexico riddled with problems and gifted with beauty.

• “Erosion: Essays of Undoing,” by Terry Tempest Williams (Oct. 8)

“We need not lose hope,” writes Tempest Williams, an environmental activist and writer. “We just need to locate where it dwells.” Her new essay collection focuses on how the Earth and human beings have unraveled. The author includes the spiritual without assuming its transcendence.

• “Your House Will Pay,” by Steph Cha (Oct. 15)

Nearly 30 years after his sister Ava was killed, Shawn Matthews finds himself a suspect in the drive-by shooting of the woman responsible. Grace Park, that woman’s daughter, searches for answers — and when she and Shawn discover that those answers are hidden in a tangle of racial violence, the two attempt to find the truth. This L.A. noir mystery ties past and present together without resorting to easy answers.

• “Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA,” by Amaryllis Fox (Oct. 15)

Fox joined the CIA during graduate school at Georgetown after developing an algorithm that could predict terrorist hot spots around the world. After a stint as an analyst, she was selected as an operative. She’s walked the walk in Shanghai and other places, but after she married a fellow agent and had a daughter, she decided to quit and work for peace.

• “Girl,” by Edna O’Brien (Oct. 15)

In “Girl,” O’Brien turns to Nigeria and a protagonist named Maryam, whose abduction recalls the girls of Chibok, taken by Boko Haram in 2014. While the author writes about a culture wholly different from her own, she does so not just with grace and compassion but with Nigerian songs, tales and myths.

• “All This Could Be Yours,” by Jami Attenberg (Oct. 22)

How can the story of a hardened criminal, his abused and complicit wife and their psychologically wrecked progeny be tender, compassionate and funny? Attenberg works literary magic, turning a terrible past into a healthier future.

• “The Beautiful Ones,” by Prince (Oct. 29)

The iconic musician’s book consists of four parts, framed by authorized writer Dan Piepenbring’s research: First, lyrical musings about his journey; second, a scrapbook of photos and writings; third, images showing his self-creation; leading up to the final section, his treatment for “Purple Rain.”