In the fall, publishers come out with their prestige titles, aware that folks are looking for holiday gifts but also that the big book awards soon will be announced the National Book Awards, for example, are presented in late November. The following selection of promising fall books has been gleaned from publishers catalogs and trade buzz. The announced months of publication may change check with your bookseller.

Here are five books that sound like they might be hits with people who give and receive gifts and with people who give awards.

This season is especially crowded with books about Sept. 11 memorials, reminiscences, analyses, investigations. On the strength of the excerpts published in Atlantic Monthly, I suspect its going to be hard to find one more fascinating than American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center (North Point Press; October), by William Langewiesche. The access Langewiesche was granted to the site of the collapsed towers gives his account of the rescue and cleanup efforts a unique immediacy.

Of the novels that have generated the most publishing-industry buzz, few sound more intriguing than Middlesex (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; September), by Jeffrey Eugenides. Its about three generations of a Greek-American family, centering on a girls discovery that shes not a girl or not just a girl: Shes a hermaphrodite. This is the second novel by Eugenides; his first was The Virgin Suicides.

Second novels are especially important to writers whose debuts were successful: They want to prove they werent just one-hit wonders. Zadie Smiths first book, White Teeth, was a critical and commercial smash when it was published in 2000. Her new novel, The Autograph Man (Random House; September), is already a finalist for Britains sought-after Booker Prize. Its about an autograph dealer and his pursuit of the signature he most covets, with satiric glances at contemporary England and the cult of celebrity.

Sandra Cisneros 1983 debut, The House on Mango Street, won the American Book Award and is much loved, so there are high expectations for her new novel, Caramelo (Knopf; September), a multigenerational saga of a Mexican-American family. A Spanish-language edition is being published simultaneously.

Another year has passed, and still no new Harry Potter book. (Maybe next year, say the rumors.) Which leaves the field open for a surprising challenger to J.K. Rowlings throne: California author Michael Chabon, who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Chabons first childrens book, Summerland (Miramax; October), is billed as for all ages. A lot of it has to do with baseball, but the word is that its darker than its title suggests, involving battles against monsters who threaten the world. Chabon already has a couple of sequels in the works.

FICTION
The big names this fall range from A (Alice McDermott) to Z (Zadie Smith). Weve also included some first-timers whose books sound interesting, and a selection of popular fiction.

Big names
The Autograph Man, by Zadie Smith (Random House; September) second novel by the author of the acclaimed White Teeth.

Blessings, by Anna Quindlen (Random House; September) an abandoned infant changes peoples lives in this novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist.

Blue Shoe, by Anne Lamott (Riverhead; October) a divorced mother of two comes to terms with her past.

The Book of Illusions, by Paul Auster (Henry Holt; September) novel about a professors involvement with a mysterious silent film star, by the author of Timbuktu.

Caramelo, by Sandra Cisneros (Knopf; September) multigenerational saga of a Mexican-American family by the author of The House on Mango Street.

Child of My Heart, by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus; December) a coming-of-age story by the author of the National Book Award-winning Charming Billy.

The Crazed, by Ha Jin (Pantheon; October) novel set in China at the time of the Tiananmen Square uprising, by the National Book Award winner for Waiting.

The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber (Harcourt; September) in Victorian England, a prostitute becomes involved with an upper-middle-class man and his family.

Great Dream of Heaven, by Sam Shepard (Knopf; October) short stories by the actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

In the Hands of Dante, by Nick Tosches (Little, Brown; September) a novel about the theft of a manuscript of the Divine Comedy.

July, July, by Tim OBrien (Houghton Mifflin; October) story of the reunion of a college class of 1969, by the author of the National Book Award-winning Going After Cacciato.

The Last Girls, by Lee Smith (Algonquin; September) alumnae of a Virginia college reunite 35 years after they went down the Mississippi River on a raft.

The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt (Knopf; October) a girl tries to discover who murdered her brother in this novel by the author of The Secret History.

Lullaby, by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday; September) thriller about a song that kills people, by the author of Fight Club.

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus; September) novel about a Greek-American family by the author of The Virgin Suicides.

The Miracle, by John LHeureux (Atlantic Monthly; October) a priest questions his faith after witnessing what appears to be a miracle.

A novel by Dave Eggers (McSweeneys; September) at press time, the new novel by the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was still untitled, but orders for it could be placed at www.mcsweeneys.net.

Seek My Face, by John Updike (Knopf; November) a 79-year-old artist is interviewed about her life and career in Updikes 20th novel.

The Seven Sisters, by Margaret Drabble (Harcourt; November) a woman tries to radically change her life in this novel by the author of The Peppered Moth.

The Story of Lucy Gault, by William Trevor (Viking; September) a novel, set in Ireland, thats being described as Chekhovian.

Summerland, by Michael Chabon (Miramax; October) the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay publishes a book for all ages.

International voices
Baudolino, by Umberto Eco (Harcourt; October) a 13th-century adventurer searches for the legendary Prester John in this novel by the author of The Name of the Rose.

The Cave, by Jose Saramago (Harcourt; November) novel by the Portuguese Nobel Prize laureate.

Family Matters, by Rohinton Mistry (Knopf October) story of a Bombay family by the author of A Fine Balance.

Ignorance, by Milan Kundera (HarperCollins; October) novel about exiles returning to Prague, by the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

One Mans Bible, by Gao Xingjian (HarperCollins; September) novel about the Cultural Revolution by the Nobel Prize winner.

Debuts
Cloud of Sparrows, by Takashi Matsuoka (Delacorte; October) epic novel set in 19th-century Japan.

Down to a Soundless Sea, by Thomas Steinbeck (Ballantine; October) short stories by John Steinbecks son.

The Piano Tuner, by Daniel Mason (Knopf; September) first novel, set in 19th-century Burma, by a med student at the University of California-San Francisco.
Swan, by Frances Mayes (Broadway; October) the first novel by the San Francisco writer famous for her memoirs about Tuscany.

The Tapestries, by Kien Nguyen (Little, Brown; October) novel set in the court of the last king of Vietnam, by the author of the memoir Unwanted.

When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka (Knopf; September) novel about the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II.

Popular fiction
Blackwood Farm, by Anne Rice (Knopf; October) vampires and witches in ancient Athens, 19th-century Naples and the contemporary American South.

December 6, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster; October) the Gorky Park authors novel is set in Tokyo just before Pearl Harbor.

From a Buick 8, by Stephen King (Scribner; September) a sinister automobile turns up in a small Pennsylvania town.

No Way to Treat a First Lady, by Christopher Buckley (Random House; September) comic novel about a first lady accused of killing her philandering husband.
Only Child, by Andrew Vachss (Knopf; October) Burke enters a world of seamy filmmaking.

Q Is for Quarry, by Sue Grafton (Putnam; October) the latest Kinsey Millhone mystery.

Reversible Errors, by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus; November) new legal thriller by the author of Presumed Innocent.

Tricky Business, by Dave Barry (Putnam; October) the columnists second novel deals with misadventures aboard a gambling ship.

NONFICTION
Titles related to the events of last Sept. 11 dominate the falls non-fiction list, along with an abundance of histories, biographies, memoirs and other books.

Sept. 11 and after
American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center, by William Langewiesche (North Point; October) the story of the rescue and cleanup efforts at Ground Zero.

The Eagles Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World, by Mark Hertsgaard (Farrar, Straus; November) the San Francisco writer puts a post-Sept. 11 spin on what he learns in a trip around the world.

The Heart of a Soldier: A Story of Love, Heroism, and September 11th, by James B. Stewart (Simon & Schuster; September) life and death of a Vietnam vet who was a security guard for Morgan Stanley in the World Trade Center.

Leadership, by Rudolph Giuliani (Miramax; October) the former New York mayors book, previously announced as a summer release, will contain a minute-by-minute account of his experiences on Sept. 11.

The Lions Grave: Dispatches From Afghanistan, by Jon Lee Anderson (Grove; November) by one of the first Western journalists to get into Afghanistan after Sept. 11.

Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World after September 11, by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus; September) collection of columns by the two-time Pulitzer winner.

110 Stories: New York Writes After September 11, edited by Ulrich Baer (New York University Press; September) reminiscences, stories, poems by New York writers such as Paul Auster, Jennifer Belle and Art Spiegelman.

On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald and 9/11, by Howard Lutnick and Tom Barbash (HarperCollins; September) history of the company that suffered the most casualties in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Out of the Blue: A Narrative of September 11, 2001, by Richard Bernstein and the staff of the New York Times (Times Books; September) based on the Times Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage.

Theater of War, by Lewis Lapham (New Press; September) the Harpers editor offers a dissenting view of American military and foreign policy.

Biographies and memoirs
Ambushed, by Ian Stewart (Algonquin; October) memoirs of a reporter, a Knight Fellow at Stanford, who covered the conflict in Sierra Leone.

Benjamin Franklin, by Edmund S. Morgan (Yale; September) biography by the editor of the Franklin Papers.

Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, by Janet Browne (Knopf; September) second volume of her acclaimed biography.

A Daring Young Man: A Biography of William Saroyan, by John Leggett (Knopf; November) life of the Northern California playwright.

Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott, by David Ritz (Da Capo; October) biography of the androgynous jazz singer.

Finders Keepers: The Story of a Man Who Found $1 Million, by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly; October) the author of Black Hawk Down tells the story of Joey Coyle, whose good luck turned sour.

I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It, by Charles Barkley with Michael Wilbon (Random House; November) memoirs of the NBA superstar and aspiring politician.

A Lawyers Life, by Johnnie Cochran with David Fisher (St. Martins; October) memoirs, and reflections on race and the legal system, by O.J. Simpsons attorney.

The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired, by Francine Prose (HarperCollins; September) the women behind Samuel Johnson, Rilke and John Lennon, among others.

A Long Way From Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland, by Tom Brokaw (Random House; November) memoirs of the TV news anchor.

My Losing Season, by Pat Conroy (Doubleday; October) memories of the 1967 basketball season at the Citadel, by the author of The Great Santini.

Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, by Daniel Ellsberg (Viking; October) his celebrated conversion from hawk to dove and its consequences.

A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking, by Samuel Fuller (Knopf; October) the film directors memoirs, with an introduction by Martin Scorsese.

Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir, by John McCain with Mark Salter (Random House; October) in this sequel to Faith of My Fathers, McCain talks about the Senate and his run for the presidency.

History and society
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, by Tony Horwitz (Henry Holt; September) a Pulitzer-winning journalist follows the route of Cooks voyages.

A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, by Carol Berkin (Harcourt; September) a historians account of the framing of the Constitution.

The Far Side of Eden: The Ongoing Saga of Napa Valley, by James Conaway (Houghton Mifflin; October) environmental and business clashes in the wine country, by the author of Napa.

First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life, by Kenneth W. Starr (Warner Books; October) the former special prosecutor looks at the courts role.

First Great Triumph: How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power, by Warren Zimmerman (Farrar, Straus; October) how Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Hay, Elihu Root and Alfred T. Mahan put the United States on the international stage.

Hey, Waitress! The USA From the Other Side of the Tray, by Alison Owings (University of California; September) a study of the lives of American waitresses.

Holocaust: A History, by Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt (Norton; September) a comprehensive new history of the Holocaust.

In the Devils Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, by Mary Beth Norton (Knopf; October) a Cornell history professor demythologizes the era of witch-hunting.

Joined at the Heart: The Transformation of the American Family, by Al and Tipper Gore (Henry Holt; November) a position paper for someones future candidacy?

The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought, by Jerry Z. Muller (Knopf; November) a history of capitalism as an idea, from classical Greece to the present.

Natashas Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, by Orlando Figes (Holt/Metropolitan; October) a survey of Russian arts and literature in the past three centuries.

Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, by Margaret MacMillan (Random House; October) behind the scenes at the creation of the Treaty of Versailles.

Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of
Power, by Alexandra Robbins (Little, Brown; September) inside the Yale secret society to which the Bushes belonged.

Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston, by Howard Bryant (Routledge; September) a former San Jose Mercury News reporter writes about Bostons racism and the Red Sox.

Essays
American Studies, by Louis Menand (Farrar, Straus; November) writings on history, literature, politics and other topics by the Pulitzer Prize winner for The Metaphysical Club.

Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Minds, by Harold Bloom (Warner
Books; October) appreciations of historys most creative people.

How to Be Alone, by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus; October) essays on literature and society by the author of The Corrections.

The Partly Cloudy Patriot, by Sarah Vowell (Simon & Schuster; September) essays by the National Public Radio commentator.

Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002, by Salman Rushdie (Random House; September) reflections on literature, politics, religion, rock music and soccer.

Nature, science, technology and medicine
A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola, by John Frederick Walker (Atlantic Monthly; October) story of a species endangered by hunters, politics and war.

The Demon in the Freezer, by Richard Preston (Random House; October) the author of The Hot Zone on the return of smallpox.

The Founding Fish, by John McPhee (Farrar, Straus; October) the New Yorker writers history of the shad.

The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin, by Ellen Ruppel Shell (Atlantic Monthly; October) a look at the obesity pandemic.

The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria, by Michael Shnayerson and Mark Plotkin (Little, Brown; September) examination of a potential health crisis.

Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space, Charting Cosmic History, and Guarding the Earth from Interplanetary Peril, by Timothy Ferris (Simon & Schuster; September) the science writer reports on the achievements of amateur astronomers.