The Book Report: Ron Charles' latest picks (Nov. 2) Guest AuthorNovember 2, 2025 at 9:20 PM 0 By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles As autumn blows in, here are four fascinating new books — including one work of history that's wilder than fiction. / Credit: Pegasus Caroline Lea's "Love, Sex, and Frankenstein" is a gripping reimagining of how young Mary Shelley created her classic novel. Lea brings to life that dark summer on Lake Geneva with Lord Byron and her lover, Percy Shelley, in 1816. It's a feverish mix of jealousy, genius, and gothic electricity.
- - The Book Report: Ron Charles' latest picks (Nov. 2)
Guest AuthorNovember 2, 2025 at 9:20 PM
0
By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles
As autumn blows in, here are four fascinating new books — including one work of history that's wilder than fiction.
/ Credit: Pegasus
Caroline Lea's "Love, Sex, and Frankenstein" is a gripping reimagining of how young Mary Shelley created her classic novel.
Lea brings to life that dark summer on Lake Geneva with Lord Byron and her lover, Percy Shelley, in 1816. It's a feverish mix of jealousy, genius, and gothic electricity.
Timed perfectly with Guillermo del Toro's new film about "Frankenstein," Lea's novel captures the thunder and thrill of a young woman awakening to her own awesome power.
READ AN EXCERPT: "Love, Sex, and Frankenstein"
"Love, Sex, and Frankenstein" by Caroline Lea (Pegasus), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
/ Credit: MCD
With his new novel, "The Wayfinder," Pulitzer Prize-winner Adam Johnson delivers an epic set almost a thousand years ago in Polynesia.
The story follows a bold young woman and two sons of a king through storms, myths, and an empire on the brink of chaos.
Layered with legend and political intrigue, Johnson's dazzling adventure feels both ancient and modern — a meditation on storytelling, survival, and the fragile state of the natural world.
READ AN EXCERPT: "The Wayfinder" by Adam Johnson
"The Wayfinder" by Adam Johnson (MCD), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
/ Credit: Knopf
"A Guardian and a Thief," by Megha Majumdar, takes place in India, in a climate-ravaged city of the near future. One morning, a mother preparing to move her family to America awakens to discover that a starving young man has stolen all their passports — plunging her into seven days of desperation and moral reckoning.
A finalist for a National Book Award, this taut, breathless novel offers a searing story about scarcity, privilege, and the costs of hope.
READ AN EXCERPT: "A Guardian and a Thief" by Megha Majumdar
"A Guardian and a Thief" by Megha Majumdar (Knopf), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
/ Credit: Viking
Andrew Ross Sorkin's new book, "1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History - and How It Shattered a Nation," looks back almost a century to the nation's most infamous market collapse.
Through the lives of financiers and speculators, Sorkin recreates the panic and the mania that swept across Wall Street. It's a gripping, cinematic account of greed and illusion, and a timely reminder of how quickly exuberance can turn to catastrophe.
READ AN EXCERPT: "1929" by Andrew Ross Sorkin
"1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History - and How It Shattered a Nation" by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Andrew Ross Sorkin (Bio Site)
That's it for the Book Report. For these and other suggestions about what to read this fall, talk with your local bookseller or librarian.
I'm Ron Charles. Until next time, read on!
For more info:
Ron Charles, The Washington PostSubscribe to the free Washington Post Book World NewsletterRon Charles' Totally Hip Video Book ReviewBookshop.org (for ordering from independent booksellers)
Produced by Robin Sanders and Cameron Jimenez. Editor: Chad Cardin.
For more reading recommendations, check out our library of previous Book Report features from Ron Charles:
The Book Report (Aug. 31)The Book Report: Ron Charles on new summer reads (July 20)The Book Report (May 25)The Book Report (March 9)The Book Report (January 26)The best books of 2024The Book Report (October 13)The Book Report (July 14)The Book Report (June 2)The Book Report (April 28)The Book Report (March 17)The Book Report (February 18)Ron Charles' favorite novels of 2023The Book Report (October 22)The Book Report (September 17)The Book Report (August 6)The Book Report (June 4)The Book Report (April 30)The Book Report (March 19)The Book Report (February 12, 2023)The Book Report: Ron Charles' favorite novels of 2022The Book Report (November 13)The Book Report (Sept. 18)The Book Report (July 10)The Book Report (April 17)The Book Report (March 13)The Book Report (February 6, 2022)The Book Report (November 28)The Book Report (September 26)The Book Report (August 1)The Book Report (June 6)The Book Report (May 9)The Book Report (March 28)The Book Report (February 28)The Book Report (January 31, 2021)
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Published: November 02, 2025 at 04:01PM on Source: LUCIE MAG
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