Fall Reading Begins With October New Releases

Plus, in case you missed it, a newsletter celebrating the wonderful world of Three Pines and Inspector Gamache

Hi friends,

Autumn has arrived, according to the calendar, but here in North Texas, it feels like summer still. It’s in the high 90s, but I hear cooler weather is on the way. Hopefully, this will be the last hot weather of the year. I envy those who live in the country’s regions where the weather cools, the leaves change color, and it really feels like fall when the calendar tells you it is fall.

I had a three-day weekend last weekend, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. There was a birthday celebration with family and lots of yummy food; I finished a couple more books and got caught up on my TV for the week. I feel somewhat rested and ready to go again for the next deadline in three weeks.

I had good intentions to preview the last half of September’s new books (there were some really good ones), but September slipped away from me, and it’s now almost October. Let’s move on from September and look ahead to October. I have only read two of these books, but I have put the rest on my TBR. There is one that I’m still not too sure about, but I’ll give it a shot. I’ve read good things about all of them, so let’s get started.

A Place to Land by Lauren K. Denton (10-4-22) - I’m a big reader of Women’s and Southern Fiction, and one of my favorite WF authors is Denton. I’ve read three of her previous books and put this one on my TBR as soon as I saw it. From the publisher, “Told in alternating points of view, this is women’s fiction with a southern slant and a thread of romance.” Family, secrets, and a rich history place it firmly on my TBR. I hope it is as good a read as it sounds like it will be.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (10-4-22) - From Stephen King, “Firmly written and well-executed . . . Our Missing Hearts is a meditation on the sometimes accidental power of words.” I’ve read Ng’s previous two books and enjoyed both, and I was excited about this one until I read that it is dystopian. One reviewer says, “it’s a heartbeat away from just now,” and I’m trying to keep an open mind as I don’t usually read/enjoy dystopian books. I have it on hold through Libby, and I will try it because of who the author is.

Miss Del Rio by Barbara Mujica (10-4-22) - I gravitate towards books about people and places that I don’t know much about, and I can definitely say that I’d never heard of Dolores del Rio before reading this book. She was the first major Latina star in Hollywood, and her fictional hairdresser tells this story. It started a little slow, but the storyline kept me turning the pages once I got into it. The story told of her upbringing in Mexico, and how she got to Hollywood, and I learned so much about that era in Hollywood and about the actress. For me, the history of it was the best part as I was learning about a time period and a woman that I’d never heard of before.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Boylan (10-4-22) - I’ve read several of Picoult’s books before, and I looked forward to reading this one. I enjoyed it as I was reading it, but unlike her previous books, I had to read the book description to refresh my memory enough to write about it now. That doesn’t make it a bad book, and I did enjoy it while I was reading it; it just wasn’t memorable as her books usually are to me. In looking at some of the early reviews, I wonder if maybe it just wasn’t the right time when I read the book. Perhaps having another author involved changed the book just enough to make it not memorable to me as her previous books were. I don’t want to dissuade you from reading this if you are a Picoult fan, as many have read it early and are raving about it being like her earlier books.

I Miss You, I Hate This by Sara Saedi (10-11-22) - I have written in the past about my love of Young Adult fiction, and I can’t wait to read this one. It’s about two girls from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds and the friendship formed in their first year of high school. It’s about friendship, diversity, and heartache; it’s about feeling like you have to live up to something more than you are capable of living up to. Then the pandemic hits, and everything the girls thought their senior year would be isn’t anymore. I’ve been hesitant to read books set during the COVID pandemic, but I’ll make an exception for this one. I know YA isn’t for some, maybe most adults, but sometimes a YA book sheds light on a perspective we wouldn’t normally think about, much less understand. I’m planning on an upcoming newsletter on several YA books I’ve enjoyed and heartily recommend; this may also land on that newsletter after I read it.

Bad Vibes Only by Nora McInerny (10-11-22) - I’ve never read a McInerny book before, nor have I listened to her podcast “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,” and until last week, I had barely heard her name, and I’m wondering why I haven’t done either before now. She was a guest on the SharonSaysSo podcast (podcast now called Here’s Where it Get’s Interesting), and she said on that episode that she “writes funny books about sad things, and her work sits at the intersection of the absurd and the awful.” That self-description made me sit up and take notice and head to the library via Libby and put this one on hold. She’s had a lot of loss in the last decade, leading to her books, TED talk, and podcast. This book of essays is said to be “raw and humorous in the spirit of Jenny Lawson and Samantha Irby.” I’ve been looking for something different to read lately, and I think this one just might be it.

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In my September new release newsletter, I mentioned the new short-run newsletter, Notes from Three Pines. This newsletter examines and celebrates all things Louise Penny and Inspector Gamache, and in case you missed it, the link to the first issue is below. We have some wildly creative authors in the Bookstacker community, and I can’t wait to read what they have put together for us as we count down to Penny’s newest Three Pines novel in November 2022.

Welcome to Notes From Three Pines

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What does Autumn look like in your life and location? Do you have any traditions from your parents or other family members that you have continued with your family? My family wasn’t the best for celebrations and traditions, so I always want to know more about what gives other people joy from their family traditions.

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While reading is mostly a solitary endeavor, it’s so much fun to have other readers to talk books with. I appreciate each and every one of you and enjoy reading your comments. I always get such good book recommendations from you when I ask for them, but you don’t have to wait until I ask; you can give me suggestions anytime you want to, just by commenting on any newsletter. I hope you have a great reading week. Happy reading!

Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. That means that if you click through and purchase anything, I may earn a small commission. This costs you nothing and helps me feed my voracious reading habit, and for that, I thank you.