Fall Reads that WOW

Fall is my favorite time of the year for reading. During the summer, my love of reading is often interrupted by getaways to the beach, dinners with friends and family visits. Come fall my life slows down, allowing me to read for long periods of time without interruptions.  I can linger over beautifully crafted sentences or meditate over poetry collections or books on social change.

Here are my picks for fall books to treasure. By offering a variety of genres, I’m hoping there is something for every reader.

FICTION

Lucy by the Sea

For those lazy weekends when you want a page-turner, there’s Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, set in the early days of the pandemic. Lucy’s, former husband, William, persuades her to leave Covid-plagued Manhattan to join him in Maine to ride out the lockdown.  In a conversational tone, Lucy shares with the reader her musings on aging, family and finding solace on Maine’s coastline.

Elizabeth Strout grew up in Maine and now divides her time between her Manhattan apt and her Maine country home

Night of the Living Rez

Morgan Talty’s debut collection of 12 stories describes life on the Penobscot Indian Reservation in Maine.  Talty writes about the intergenerational trauma that runs through his family: “There was no escaping how these problems faced us all.”  A New York Times reviewer was so blown away by this book, he concluded that Talty has won himself a place among the great Native American writers.

An Experiment in Love

A charming early Hillary Mantel novel that centers on two young University women in the 60’s, who try to navigate their way in the world during the second wave of feminism.  I found it to be funny and wise with appealing characters. Mantel fans, who lament her sudden death this past September and the prospect of no future Mantel books, can take heart: there is a trove of early Mantel books like Every Day is Mother’s Day, to satisfy your Mantel appetite.

Shrines of Gaiety

The latest book by Kate Atkinson, another popular British writer, who has drawn fans from her series about detective Jason Brodie.  In Shrines she writes vividly about nightclub life in London following World War I.  It’s lighter than some of her earlier books, offering a pleasant escape for when you want one.

Kate Atkinson

MEMOIR

The Years

Written by Annie Ernaux, the French writer who won this year’s Nobel for literature. Her memoir opens in 1940, the year of Ernaux’s birth, and covers her years as an academic, while referencing important historical events and popular culture. She writes in snippets, suggestive of the way memories randomly appear in our lives. Her confessional tone is gripping.

Annie Ernaux (The New Yorker)

SCIENCE FICTION

Our Missing Hearts

Celeste Ng’s dystopian suspense novel consumed an entire weekend for me.  I resonated with the novel’s parallels to the increasing Right-wing direction of our country, while finding hope among the brave resisters who paint hearts on city streets to remind their neighbors of the power of love to turn the tide.

SPIRITUALITY

Sacred Nature

Karen Armstrong, the noted religious scholar, has written a prayer to nature, encouraging the reader, concerned about global warming, to readdress their relationship to nature.  Amstrong insists it’s not enough to recycle and walk more. She encourages the reader to spend 10 minutes a day in nature to deepen their appreciation of all living things.

CLIMATE CHANGE

All We Can Save

This valuable collection of essays by 60 different women climate activists was edited by two young climate feminists, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Kathrine K. Wilkinson. It’s a worthy companion piece to Armstrong’s call to revere nature.  Once we have a new, sacred relationship to nature, we can move into actions to address climate change.  All We Can Save is chockfull of inspiring and hopeful actions centered on climate justice, which address poor women and women of color globally.

POETRY

Balladz

The latest collection by Sharon Olds, now 80, and one of our most important living poets. Olds writes candidly about grief and little everyday joys.  Her bold honesty has made her one of our most important and popular living poets.

The formidable Sharon Olds (The New York Times)