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Here is the first of a series of fall recommending reading lists… Notice those titles that seem to appear again and again… This week, the Wall Street Journal introduces their fiction picks for fall:

A GATE AT THE STAIRS, Lorrie Moore

Sept. 1, Knopf

Fans of Lorrie Moore have waited more than a decade for a new novel from the author of “Self-Help” and “Birds of America.” Ms. Moore returns with a post 9/11, coming-of-age novel that’s stamped with her characteristic blend of wit, humor and tragedy. The first-person narrative unfolds from the perspective of Tassie Keltjin, a Midwestern college student who becomes a part-time nanny for a white couple’s adopted, mixed-race daughter.

The Anthologist, Nicholson Baker

Sept. 8, Simon & Schuster

Novelist Nicholson Baker’s latest work is narrated by a heartbroken poet who is struggling to write the introduction to a poetry anthology. The poet, Paul Chowder, muses on the lives and work of poets such as Tennyson, Roethke and Yeats, and reflects on his own writing and failed relationship.

The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown

Sept. 15, Doubleday Books

Harvard symbologist and Vatican nemesis Robert Langdon returns in Dan Brown’s sequel to his bestseller “The Da Vinci Code.” The publisher is fiercely guarding against plot leaks, and the book’s official Web site has little information beyond the enigmatic phrase “All Will Be Revealed,” and a clock counting down the seconds until the book is released.

The Year of the Flood , Margaret Atwood
Sept. 22, Nan A. Talese

Margaret Atwood’s post-apocalyptic novel begins in the aftermath of a natural disaster that wiped out most of humanity, fulfilling a prophecy by a latter-day religious leader named Adam One. Survivors include a trapeze artist who is trapped inside a sex club and a devotee of Adam One who is barricaded in a spa where, luckily, many of the treatments are edible. Ms. Atwood has written a one-hour musical theater piece to accompany the book, which will be performed during her book tour.

Nocturnes , Kazuo Ishiguro

Sept. 22, Knopf

Five pieces of short fiction by the Booker prize-winning author of “Remains of the Day” are thematically linked by music. The first-person narratives feature a washed-up singer, a saxophonist who’s recovering after plastic surgery in a Beverly Hills hotel and a young cellist whose cello tutor claims to be a virtuoso but mysteriously never plays.

Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby

Sept. 29, Riverhead

Pop music figures heavily—once again—in this latest novel by Mr. Hornby, author of “High Fidelity” and “About a Boy.” The book’s heroine, Annie, is having doubts about her boyfriend Duncan, who is obsessed with a reclusive folk singer. Annie captures the folk singer’s attention when she writes an online critique of his latest album.

Generosity: An Enhancement, Richard Powers

Sept. 29, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Richard Powers delivers another idea-driven narrative involving a bizarre syndrome (his previous novel, “The Echo Maker,” dealt with Capgras syndrome, the belief that a loved one has been replaced by an imposter). In “Generosity,” which centers on the search for a happiness gene, a writing professor discovers that one of his students has hyperthymia, a rare trait that generates euphoria.

The Wild Things, Dave Eggers

Oct. 1, McSweeney’s

Fans of Maurice Sendak’s iconic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” are bracing themselves for Dave Eggers’s new take on the story—a novelization, based loosely on the children’s book and published by Mr. Eggers’s imprint McSweeney’s, plus a big-screen version, which he co-wrote with director Spike Jonze.

Chronic City , Jonathan Lethem

Oct. 13, Doubleday

Jonathan Lethem, author of Brooklyn-centric novels “The Fortress of Solitude” and “Motherless Brooklyn,” takes Manhattan with his new novel, “Chronic City,” which features a listless former child star whose astronaut girlfriend is trapped in space. There’s also a tiger on the loose, a mysterious chocolate smell engulfing the city and a menagerie of colorful characters, including the brilliant but paranoid Perkus Tooth and the petite, irascible ghostwriter Oona Laszlo.

The Museum of Innocence Orhan Pamuk

Oct. 20, Knopf

The new novel from the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author is set in the hedonistic world of Istanbul’s Westernized aristocracy. Mr. Pamuk explores modern Turkey’s identity crisis through the story of Kemal, the son of a wealthy family, who falls in love with a store clerk.

Last Night in Twisted River John Irving
Oct. 27, Random House

Mr. Irving’s 12th novel starts in 1954 in a New Hampshire logging settlement and spans five decades. The plot is set in motion when a 12-year-old boy and his father become fugitives after the boy mistakes the constable’s girlfriend for a bear and bludgeons her with a frying pan. Mr. Irving says on his Web site that he wrote the last sentence first, as he often does, and worked his way backward.

The Humbling, Philip Roth

Nov. 2, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In Philip Roth’s 30th book, a washed up stage actor in his 60s laments his loss of talent. The protagonist, Simon Axler, imagines that audiences are laughing at him and fears he has lost the ability to pretend he is someone else.

The Original of Laura Vladimir Nabokov

Nov. 17, Knopf

The draft of Nabokov’s final novel will hit shelves more than 30 years after his death, following his son’s decades-long deliberation over whether to publish the novel or destroy it in accordance with his father’s wishes.

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