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Books

Thu Nov 6 2025

Clare Mulroy | Books Reporter

Happy Thursday, booklovers!

If you're like me, the arrival of November triggers mild panic. The realization there aren't many days left on the calendar to plan and shop for holidays and end-of-year events can feel overwhelming.

The good news? There are plenty of new books offering an escape, whether as an audiobook in your ear as you run around town or a hardcover cracked open after a long day.

15 books we think you should read this month

Covers courtesy of Macmillan, Sourcebooks, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins

If you're into celebrity books, check out new titles from Michael J. Fox, Tim Curry, Malala Yousafzai, Lukas Gage, Cameron Crowe and Judd Apatow.

If fiction is more your style, there's the whimsical "The White Octopus Hotel" by Alexandra Bell, the thought-provoking "A Guardian and a Thief" by Megha Majumdar and the paranormal romance "Remain" by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan.

Here are a few of our new favorites:

🕸'The Widow' by John Grisham: In Grisham's first whodunit, troubled small-town lawyer Simon nets his wealthiest client yet, an elderly widow seeking a new will. But just as Simon starts to doubt her story, he finds himself a murder suspect, a crime he certainly didn't commit. Can he save himself and uncover the truth?

👑'Bog Queen' by Anna North: An American anthropologist in northern England discovers a 2,000-year-old body, immaculately preserved, in a bog. North balances the nitty-gritty of anthropological work with the mystery of an Iron Age druid, unraveling how she ended up the titular "bog queen."

🔎'The Black Wolf' by Louise Penny: The latest addition to Penny's Armand Gamache series opens as Chief Inspector Gamache and his team realize the domestic terrorist attack they thought they stopped was merely the beginning of an even deeper conspiratorial espionage plot.

💘'Female Fantasy' by Iman Hariri-Kia: Both satirizing the romance genre and leaning in, this story follows Joonie, a copywriter by day and fanfic enthusiast by night. The disappointing men she dates don't measure up to her book boyfriend, the sexy merman protagonist of her favorite fantasy series. After she discovers he has a real-life inspiration, Joonie journeys to track him down.

What books do you plan to read before the year is over? I'd love to hear from you at cmulroy@usatoday.com or by reaching out on Instagram. Thanks for reading USA TODAY Books this week!