The 10 most popular books on Book Riot in September 2024

Speaking of book prizes, this is shortlisted for the 2024 Book Prize, which we announced in a news story and covered twice in our book news newsletter Today in Books. Here’s how Erica recommends it: “The latest from poet and novelist Michaels is both haunting and ethereal. It begins in 1917 when John, a British soldier, barely holds on to his life on a battlefield in France. As he lies there, memories play out: his childhood on the coast, chance encounters in pubs and time spent in hot pools with loved ones. When he returns home, he reunites with his artist wife Helena and reopens a photography business. But the past keeps resurfacing, in his own trauma, but also in another way: he can see vague images of the loved ones of photographed subjects. As the story progresses – including both fictional and historical figures such as the Curies – the thin space between life and death is explored by John and generations of his descendants.