SAN JOSE, Calif. — There's something about fall that says "books." Maybe it's because publishers save some of their most interesting and appealing titles for fall. This year, they're giving us books from such big-name writers as Amy Tan, Salman Rushdie, E.L. Doctorow, Tracy Kidder, Frank McCourt, Jane Smiley and Joan Didion. Here are some new books you may want to cozy up with.

FICTION

Big names:

"Get a Life" by Nadine Gordimer — A man's life is changed by his battle with cancer. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; November)

"Memories of My Melancholy Whores" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez — The Nobel laureate's first work of fiction in 10 years. (Knopf; November)

"Ordinary Heroes" by Scott Turow — A man learns the truth about his father's World War II experiences. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; November)

"Saving Fish From Drowning" by Amy Tan — American travelers have a strange experience while lost in the Burmese jungle. (Putnam; October)

"Shalimar the Clown" by Salman Rushdie — The murder of a former ambassador to India reveals his complicated personal and political history. (Random House; September)

"Slow Man" by J.M. Coetzee — In the new novel by the Nobel laureate, a man adjusts to the loss of his leg. (Viking; September)

"Truth and Consequences" by Alison Lurie — The Pulitzer Prize winner tells a tale of mate-swapping in academia. (Viking; October)

"A Wedding in December" by Anita Shreve — Startling secrets are revealed when old friends meet for a wedding. (Little, Brown; October)

"Where Three Roads Meet" by John Barth — Three novellas by the National Book Award winner. (Houghton Mifflin; November)

Promising newcomers:

"Faith for Beginners" by Aaron Hamburger — The misadventures of an American wo-man and her gay son in Israel. (Random House; October)

"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" by Yiyun Li — Short stories by a Berkeley, Calif., writer about people coming to terms with their lives in contemporary China. (Random House; September)

The past imagined:

"Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" by Anne Rice — A novel about Jesus' childhood and youth. (Knopf; November)

"Dancing in the Dark" by Caryl Phillips — A fictionalized account of the life of pioneering black entertainer Bert Williams. (Knopf; September)

"The Darwin Conspiracy" by John Darnton — The author of "Neanderthal" blends Darwin's own life with the story of contemporary Darwin scholars. (Knopf; September)

"The Great Stink" by Clare Clark — A Victorian engineer battles corruption and murder as he works on rebuilding London's sewers. (Harcourt; October)

"The Last Days of Dogtown" by Anita Diamant — The lives of the residents of a 19th-century Massachusetts village, by the author of "The Red Tent." (Scribner; 9/13)

"The March" by E.L. Doctorow — A novel about Sherman's Civil War campaign in Georgia. (Random House; September)

"The Painted Drum" by Louise Erdrich — An antiques dealer traces the history of an Ojibwe artifact. (HarperCollins; September)

Mystery, fantasy, fun:

"Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman — A follow-up to his best-selling "American Gods." (William Morrow; September)

"The Camel Club" by David Baldacci — High-level intrigue and murder in Washington, D.C. (Warner Books; October)

"Cinnamon Kiss" by Walter Mosley — A new Easy Rawlins mystery. (Little, Brown; September)

"The Diviners" by Rick Moody — A satirical novel about the production of a TV miniseries. (Little, Brown; September)

"Dog Days" by Ana Marie Cox — A political satire by the creator of the Wonkette blog. (Riverhead; October)

"Fan-Tan: A Novel" by Marlon Brando and Donald Cammell — Adventure tale by the late actor and his screenwriter-director collaborator, edited by David Thomson. (Knopf; September)