Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth Macy
When it comes to deeply reported stories about the modern American South, in my mind, nothing tops the work of the badass reporter Beth Macy. In her book Factory Man, she covered Southern furniture manufacturing and the pressure companies face to move business overseas; and her 2018 book, Dopesick, literally changed the way Americans think about the opioid crisis. Now, we get to learn Macy’s own origin story, beginning with her job as a paper girl in 1970s Urbana, Ohio. A couple years ago, Macy graced G&G’s pages with this personal ode to the restorative power of gardening—we can’t wait to learn more about what keeps her mind, hands, and heart moving.
—CJ Lotz Diego, senior editor
Recipes from the American South by Michael W. Twitty
It’s been eight years since Michael W. Twitty’s The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, a groundbreaking book that elevated the conversation around the roots of Southern food. This fall he returns with Recipes from the American South—a 400-plus page opus for home cooks. With more than 260 recipes, the book ranges far and wide to explore the “multicultural gumbo” of influences that have shaped the region’s cuisine. There’s no shortage of Southern cookbooks, but this one looks like it might just make the best case yet that Southern food contains multitudes.
—Dave Mezz, deputy editor
Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood
Much belatedly, I read the Savannah-based Patricia Lockwood’s crackling 2017 memoir, Priestdaddy, this summer, and it rearranged the atoms in my brain, particularly in the lobes housing “how to write a metaphor” and “how to be funny.” I immediately wanted to read everything she’d ever written, and was thrilled to see that her next novel, Will There Ever Be Another You, comes out in late September. Even better, she’ll be appearing at the Charleston Literary Festival on November 14. Date, circled.
—Amanda Heckert, executive editor
Palaver by Bryan Washington
Out in November, the fourth book from the much-lauded Kentucky-born, Texas-raised author promises a sincere family drama that spans generations and continents, traveling between Japan, Jamaica, and Houston. Written with Washington’s signature heart and humor, the novel has already been longlisted for this year’s National Book Award and is at the top of my list for the fall.
—Caroline Sanders Clements, senior editor
Death of the First Idea by Rickey Laurentiis
New Orleans’ literary scene is on fire right now, fueled, in part, by the incendiary genius of writers like Rickey Laurentiis. Her National Book Award–longlisted poetry collection, Death of the First Idea, is a lyric expression of the evolution of her identity—and America’s—over the last decade. Her language, contrapuntal and sharp-tongued, speaks of and through the body with an immediacy that can’t be ignored.
—C. Morgan Babst, author and contributor
Wrecking Ball: Race, Friendship, God, and Football by Rick Bass
The lauded author Rick Bass has written for G&G over the years, covering, among other Southern topics, the Ryman theater and his favorite stretch of the Gulf Coast. The editors are excited to spend some time with his latest book, which covers three seasons with the Texas Express, a semiprofessional football team full of characters with both heart and grit.
Devouring Time by Todd Goddard and True Nature by Lance Richardson
The writers Jim Harrison (1937–2016) and Peter Matthiessen (1927–2014) might have seemed, on the surface, to have little in common. What the two men did share, however, was a fierce love of wild landscapes, both exterior and interior, and an equally fierce hatred of what Matthiessen called the “monoculture that spreads like a plastic sheet across the world, stifling the last indigenous whiffs and quirks and colors.” Todd Goddard’s Devouring Time chronicles Harrison’s life and work; Lance Richardson’s True Nature captures Matthiessen’s. Both are top-notch: sensitive, probing, admiring, but never fawning, and exhaustively researched. The men’s flaws go unscrubbed and their contradictions unsmoothed. Both books send you back to their works with freshened eyes and a hungry heart.
—Jonathan Miles in his review in G&G’s October/November 2025 issue
Iron in the Blood: How the Alabama vs. Auburn Rivalry Shaped the Soul of the South by Jay Busbee
This is a book for anyone whose Bama pride runs deep, who bleeds burnt orange and navy, or who just loves a good romp through sports history. Busbee, a longtime sportswriter, starts with the first Iron Bowl in 1893 and marches downfield through a cast of memorable characters (Bear Bryant, of course, but also the likes of Ken Stabler, Pat Sullivan, and Harvey Updyke) and momentous games. It’s fast-paced and funny and makes a compelling case that college football actually did change the South.
—Elizabeth Florio, digital editor
Steak House by Eric Wareheim with Gabe Ulla
A few years ago, I moved from one great steak house town to another: New York City to Houston. Now, as a Texas resident, I’m more obsessed with the genre than ever. I can’t wait to pour myself an ice-cold martini and pore over the pages filled with nostalgia, evocative photography, and classic recipes. And yes, the Lone Star State gets plenty of love.
—Bao Ong, Houston Chronicle restaurant critic
Secrets of Southern Gardening: Pro Tips for Success by Jenks Farmer
I’m lucky to count the plantsman Jenks Farmer as a frequent source for gardening tips, an idea-bouncer for the stories I write and edit in G&G, and a personal friend. Through his latest beautiful book, Secrets of Southern Gardening, Farmer can be your go-to plant pal as well. The book begins with a beautiful cover photograph of his crinum lily farm near the Georgia/South Carolina border, and then zips through like a fascinating conversation, covering soil health, pests, propagating plants, and my favorite chapter—an ode to nighttime gardening and evening pollinators.
—CJ Lotz Diego
Angels at the Gate by Sheri Joseph
Next up on my nightstand: Angels at the Gate by Atlanta-based author Sheri Joseph. Set on a misty mountaintop campus that channels her alma mater, Sewanee, the novel drops us into the 1980s, where Leah Gavin is unraveling the eerie death of a classmate. Joseph described the work: “It’s my effort at a memoir in which everything is true, except for all of the people and all of the events.” Sign me up.
—Kinsey Gidick, contributor
Sonora by Jenni L. Walsh
If you loved the nineties film Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, you’re going to love this novel based on the true story of one of the first female horse divers, Sonora Carver, who was the inspiration for the film. Sonora’s diving tour took her through the South in the 1920s, to now-bygone fairs and amusement parks in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Charlotte, and I loved how Walsh brought these forgotten places back to life through Sonora’s story.
—Joy Callaway, novelist
House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home by John T. Edge
A longtime contributor to G&G, John T. Edge is the most dogged restaurant road warrior I know. Whether it’s a new barbecue spot or a seventy-year-old small-town burger joint, chances are he’s been there. And now we get a look at his own journey with his memoir, House of Smoke. From his childhood in Georgia and the complicated lessons he took from his family to his rise as one of the most prominent voices in Southern food—and the new lessons he learned when his world turned upside down—the book is a deeply honest account of a Southerner’s reckoning with the past and himself.
—Dave Mezz, deputy editor
This Earthen Door: Nature As Muse and Material by Amanda Marchand and Leah Sobsey
We know Emily Dickinson as a celebrated poet, but during her lifetime she was also a botany student and prolific gardener, collecting and preserving more than four hundred plants in her herbarium. In this project by the Canadian photographer and educator Amanda Marchand and North Carolinian artist and professor Leah Sobsey, the two women grew plants from Dickinson’s garden and extracted pigments from sixty-six flowers to make anthotypes. The result is a remarkable, beautifully bound work of art that pays homage to Dickinson’s garden with stunning sun-bleached prints in gorgeous colors from the natural world. It’s inspiring me to interact and make art from my own garden in an entirely new way.
—Gabriela Gomez-Misserian, digital producer
Art Work: On the Creative Life by Sally Mann
“Art is seldom the result of true genius,” Sally Mann wrote in her extraordinary 2015 memoir, Hold Still, “rather it is the product of hard work and skills learned and tenaciously practiced by regular people.” In that book, which was about, among other things, how she became one of the nation’s most celebrated photographers and interpreters of the American South, Mann proved she was a clear-eyed and precise stylist of prose as well as photography. Some of its finest passages were about the production of art, and so I cannot wait to read this newest book of Mann’s, which focuses explicitly on the creative process.
—Nic Brown, author and contributor
All These Ghosts and Dead Man Blues by Silas House
I’m eagerly awaiting two new books by national treasure Silas House: his first poetry collection, titled All These Ghosts, and his first murder mystery, written under the pseudonym SD House and titled Dead Man Blues.
—Wiley Cash, novelist
Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love by Samin Nosrat
Years ago, the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat cookbook author and TV star Samin Nosrat taught me—and millions of other fans—how to roast a whole chicken brined in buttermilk. It’s still one of my go-to recipes. And it turns out Nosrat, who lives in California, has a soft spot for other Southern foods, as she told me in a 2020 interview. “When I first learned about pimento cheese, I was like, okay, this is the most amazing thing,” she said. “Then I learned what a Lowcountry boil is, and I love the idea that you can just dump everything out on a table.” I can’t wait to fork into her new cookbook, which is all about building community through food. —CJ Lotz Diego
The Age of Grievance by Frank Bruni
Like many folks these days, I’m living in two worlds. One has gone nuts and in the other, I try to act as though nothing’s going on at all. In the first world I’m reading The Age of Grievance by North Carolina homeboy Frank Bruni. He tries to explain to us why everyone is so furious. His analysis is astute: “Pomeranian au poivre was grievance cuisine.”
—Bill Smith, chef and contributor
Dog Show by Billy Collins
The bard of observational humor and two-time U.S. Poet Laureate (and Winter Park, Florida, resident) is releasing a book of verse completely dedicated to dogs in November. I repeat: DOGS! —Amanda Heckert
Joyride by Susan Orlean
I’ve been so excited for this memoir—the longtime New Yorker nonfiction writer Susan Orlean takes readers along for an adventurous journey through her epic reporting career. The common threads are her curiosity and natural instincts for a good story with even better characters, such as a rare orchid poacher and animals of all sorts. For G&G this past summer, Orlean wrote about the hundredth anniversary of the Chincoteague Pony Swim in Virginia (a joyous career highlight for this editor).
—CJ Lotz Diego
Gabba Gabba We Accept You, The Wondrous Tale of Joey Ramone by Jay Ruttenberg, illustrated by Lucinda Schreiber
The best children’s books can be enjoyed just as thoroughly by the adults. Ruttenberg’s fantastic tale of Joey Ramone describes his path to punk, and the bravery required to be oneself, with equal parts wisdom and humor. Schreiber’s impressive illustrations complement the book’s gently subversive vibe.
—Hunter Kennedy, contributing editor
Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries by Jeremy B. Jones
I’m really excited for Jeremy B. Jones’s new memoir, Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries, which is a haunting yet often funny unwinding of Jones’s ancestor’s secret life as it was recorded in coded diaries dating back to the nineteenth century.
—Wiley Cash
Unfurled: Designing a Living Home by Hilton Carter
The prolific author and plantsman Hilton Carter penned his sixth and most personal book yet, opening the doors to the Baltimore home he shares with his wife and two daughters. Carter fans will love these deeper looks into his motivations, and rejoice that there are still plenty of helpful tips and hard-earned wisdom for plant care, design ideas, and gorgeous garden photography.
—CJ Lotz Diego
Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama by Alexis Okeowo
When Alexis Okeowo, a girl from Montgomery, Alabama, stepped onto the Princeton campus her freshman year, “it didn’t take long to realize [she] was an anomaly of sorts,” she writes in her new book, Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama. For eighteen-year-old Okeowo, Alabama was home; for many around her, it was a monolith, a place to stereotype and misunderstand. The New Yorker staff writer dives deep into her childhood in Montgomery, blending memories of growing up within an immigrant family alongside the state’s history—reaching back to indigenous origins of the Muscogee—to tell the story of her state with nuance and care. And if there’s anything I love, it’s learning as I read and picking up a good memoir rooted in place—and Okeowo hits both marks as an expert storyteller and teacher.
—Gabriela Gomez-Misserian
The Mad Wife by Meagan Church
What happens when a 1950s housewife, trapped in a life as artificial as her Jell-O salads, fixates on uncovering her perfect neighbor’s secret—only to discover a darker truth about herself? The Mad Wife, by the North Carolina author Meagan Church, is an immersive exploration of motherhood, mental health, and the myth of perfection.
—Joy Callaway
The High Heaven by Joshua Wheeler
As school goes back in sessions and the cicadas slow their screaming, is there anything better to read than a bildungsroman? How about a Space Age bildungsroman by Josh Wheeler, gonzo-genius author of the radioactive essay collection Acid West? The High Heaven tracks the spiritual evolution of Izzy Gently as she escapes the UFO doomsday cult of her childhood for the Texas panhandle—a land of ranchers and rocket tests—and finally moves on to New Orleans, where she cares for those who can’t see the moon.
—C. Morgan Babst
Never Flinch by Stephen King
Stephen King’s latest horror novel is at the top of my reading list as temperatures drop and spooky season begins. Holly Gibney makes yet another appearance in his writing, this time protecting an outspoken women’s rights activist from a dangerous stalker. King’s attention to detail and real-world comparisons will make for a thrill to remember.
—Kristen Roberts, social media intern
The New Book: Poems, Letters, Blurbs, and Things by Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni’s The New Book promises to be a powerful send-off from one of the world’s most celebrated poets. Blending poems, letters, and reflections, it draws on her family history, her fierce political voice, and a life richly lived. Giovanni, who passed away last December, spent thirty-five years teaching in the English department at Virginia Tech, where I had the privilege of studying under her. I can’t wait to read this final work from a true literary giant.
—Emily Daily, newsletter editor
American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback by Seth Wickersham
Catnip for any football fan: ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham goes long on the most revered position in sports, chronicling what it takes to go from kiddie pads in Pop Warner to the NFL Hall of Fame, thanks to access to college standouts like Arch Manning and best-of-all-timers like John Elway, Johnny Unitas, and Arch’s uncle Peyton.
—Amanda Heckert
Braided Heritage: Recipes and Stories on the Origin of American Cuisine by Jessica B. Harris
In Jessica B. Harris’s gorgeous new cookbook, she weaves together a trio of major culinary influences: Native American, European, and African, plus many subgroups within them. “Each brought much to the bubbling cauldron of cultures that would spawn the nation’s food,” she writes. “The result, as we all know, is savory and varied indeed.” She peppers in words from her many food-world friends and beyond, threading in colorful photography and recipes to prove her tasty points: venison stew seasoned with mushrooms; succotash in which she substitutes African okra for lima beans; classic New Orleans pralines. Read an interview with the author, and find three of her recipes, here.
—CJ Lotz Diego in her G&G review
The Cook’s Garden by Kevin West
Kevin West, the “grandson of East Tennessee farmers and Smoky Mountain hillbillies,” shepherds The Cook’s Garden readers not from farm to table but deeper: from seed to serving dish. His slab of a book guides you through planning a garden, tending it, and, with 125-plus recipes, cooking from it—gorgeously, often sublimely.
—Jonathan Miles in his G&G review
Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón
Ada Limón, who recently completed her tenure as U.S. poet laureate, conveys the natural world’s beauty and delights in her gorgeous Startlement: New and Selected Poems. Isn’t it a joy that one of our finest wordsmiths knows talk has its limits, that phrases can’t precisely convey the chatter of birds or how wind hums? As she writes in “Mortality”: “Language, I love it, but it is of the air / and we are of the earth.”
—CJ Lotz Diego in her review in G&G’s October/November issue
Lynn Wyatt by Ronda Carman
If Texas had a crown to bestow, it would rest on the head of Lynn Wyatt. At her storied River Oaks residence and French Riviera retreat, she befriended and hosted Elton John, Truman Capote, Princess Grace, Duchess Sarah Ferguson, Mick Jagger, and Liza Minnelli. Now, her royal highness of Houston is receiving her due in Ronda Carman’s new book, aptly titled Lynn Wyatt.
—Kinsey Gidick, in a recent G&G article
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