September already and the promise of dark evenings and mellow Autumn hangs just around the corner. Summer may be coming to an end but our passion for books and bookshops still burns bright. Help us celebrate the good ol’ high street bookshop this month and join in the Books Are My Bag party in bookshops everywhere, on 14September. Before you do that though, here’s what else is going on at Lovereading this month...

Author of the Month – Stuart MacBride

Our Author of the Month is one of Tartan Noir’s finest sons. Stuart MacBride’s gruesome, gritty and gripping detective series has won him many awards and fans the world over. If you haven’t discovered the underworld adventures of Aberdeen detective, Logan McRae … now’s the time! If you liked Rebus, you’ll love this! His latest book, Close to the Bone, is full of burned bodies, copycat killers, office politics and personal vendettas and is unputdownable!  

Read All About It!! – September Books of the Month

We love September. Blackberry bushes are bursting with fruit and so is our bookshelf! We’ve plenty of great titles selected as Books of the Month for you to pick but special mention has to go to: The Coffee Shop Book Club - A collection of short stories from bestselling authors in aid of Breast Cancer Care, a very important cause. Giving to charity has never been so pleasurable!

Are Books Your Bag?

BOOKS ARE MY BAG is a nationwide campaign to celebrate bookshops that Lovereading is very proud to support as we have always looked to emulate, online, the amazing service that local bookshops give readers – and now more than ever they need your support. So, on 14 September bookshops nationwide will be throwing a Big Bookshop Party to mark the launch of Books Are My Bag. Why not get involved by visiting your local book shop to buy a book – perhaps after having a look at some recommended reads on Lovereading and on Lovereading4kids? Visit Lovereading to find your local bookshop or the Books Are My Bag website for more info.

Oh! What a Lovely Waugh – September Guest Editor

Journalist, columnist, restaurant critic, screenwriter and agony-aunt, Daisy Waugh is a master of many trades! She’s a pretty great novelist too, as it goes! Author of several highly acclaimed titles (as varied as her resume), her last two books are all set in Hollywood’s silent era. If you loved The Artist or The Great Gatsby, then these are for you! Daisy has also shared some of her own favourite reads with us and you will find them here. Her latest, Melting the Snow on Hester Street, is a compelling and sumptuously evocative portrait of love, fame and survival.

Newly harvested – September Debuts

Need something new and exciting to read – look no further than our crop of debuts on the shelf below.

Three is a Magic Number – Sarah Harrison Trilogy

Sarah Harrison has written children's books, short stories, articles and scripts as well as many bestselling novels. Now here’s a chance to discover her fantastic trilogy – should keep you going until winter!

The Flowers of the Field Sarah Harrison A family history through the devastating effects of the First World War.

A Flower That's Free Sarah Harrison The epic story continues though the turbulence of World War II.

The Wildflower Path Sarah Harrison Secrets return, generations later, with terrible consequences.

Maxim-ise your choice! - The Maxim Jakubowski Selection

Maxim Jakubowski, our Crime, Sci-Fi and erotica guru, has been one of Lovereading’s editorial experts for many years providing ad hoc selections of his favourite books. Excitingly, as of this month, he is becoming a more regular contributor to Lovereading and will be making a monthly selection of personal favourites so that you can find the cream of the crop at the click of a button! Neat, huh? He's even breaking his selection down into his Book of the Month, his Highly Recommended title and Other Favourites. Even neater, huh? Here's what's on the table this month: BOOK OF THE MONTH - I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes - A smashing first novel from the screenwriter of Dead Calm and the Mad Max movies. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Joyland by Stephen King – the horror master’s first foray into the crime genre … and it’s brilliantly chilling! Visit the category to see all of Maxim’s September Selections.

Fifty Shades of Who? Vina Jackson’s Triumphant Return!

Lovers of erotic, romantic fiction will be thrilled to hear that the great master (or is that mistress?) of the passion genre and Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, Vina Jackson, author of the Eighty Days quintet is back with Mistress of Night and Dawn - Full of magic, passion and intrigue: a stand-alone love story like no other.

Hungry after Hunger Games – Try the Lorien Legacies

Four books, one Earth and a battle to save humanity. Written for young adults but with the power to grip older ones just as much, we LOVE this dystopian earth-endangered series by Pittacus Lore that began with the book, now film, I am Number Four. Now, Pittacus Lore is a Loric Elder, from the Planet Lorien, which is three hundred million miles away. He is approximately ten thousand years old. He has been to earth hundreds of times, and he is here now. Now you know.  

End of the Chapter - Elmore Leonard dies aged 87

Following the sad news of the death of crime writer Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Out of Sight), we wanted to celebrate his incisive, sparse and gripping work. As tributes resound from other greats in the genre, this is an opportunity to revisit some classic crime writing which will live on forever, and read a special article about his '10 rules of writing' Find out more.

Food for Thought? – Student Cookbooks

As the new intake prepares to go off to University, we think that every student should add at least one of these three essential cookbooks to their reading list: Read on for hand-picked selections in the categories you have told us you like to be kept up to date with. Click here to update them.