The second and concluding part in a look at notable books being published next month:

Invisible by Paul Auster
Three narrators tell a story spanning 40 years in Auster’s latest, about which Kirkus said, “More than a return to form, this might be Auster’s best novel yet.” Oct. 27

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
In a project guaranteed (designed?) to generate controversy, the gonzo cartoonist tackles the gonzo Old Testament. Oct. 19

Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
Fourteen previously unpublished stories by the legendary writer. Oct. 20

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
The Nobel Prize winner’s latest is set in 1970s Istanbul, and concerns a wealthy scion torn between his equally prominent bride-to-be and an average woman he passionately loves. Oct. 20

Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter with the Gospels by Mary Gordon
Feeling alienated from many other Christians, Gordon closely reads the Gospels to decide if she has “invented a Jesus to fulfill my own wishes.” Oct. 27

The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy by Bill Simmons The massively popular ESPN writer and hoops junkie produces a thorough (and thoroughly opinionated, I’m sure) account of pro basketball’s past, present and future.

Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker by James McManus
The best-selling author of Positively Fifth Street offers a comprehensive history of poker, from its global antecedents to today’s wildly popularized game. Oct. 27

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan
An account of a 1910 forest fire, the largest in American history, and the president and volunteers who tried to stop it. Oct. 19

The American Civil War: A Military History by John Keegan
The esteemed military historian turns his sharp eye to America’s defining struggle. Oct. 20

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood
The latest addition to the essential Oxford History of the United States series. Oct. 26

The Queen Mother: The Official Biography by William Shawcross
The “definitive” biography (it better be, at 1,120 pages) of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Oct. 27

Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
A new collection of pop-culture overanalysis by the voice of a generation (for better or worse). Oct. 20

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
The mega-best-selling author’s sprawling twelfth novel starts in 1954 at a logging settlement in New Hampshire. Oct. 27

Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C. Heller
A biography of the woman who launched a million libertarians. Oct. 27

Liver by Will Self
Self’s new fiction takes the form of four long stories set in and around London’s Plantation Club. Oct. 27

The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of “Proper” English, from Shakespeare to South Park by Jack Lynch
Charting the evolution of our language and the fascinating obsessives who have played a part — Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, et al. Oct. 27

Revolution 1989 by Victor Sebestyen
A new account of the collapse of the Soviet Union’s European empire. Oct. 27