Welcome to fall, dear friends. The air is crisp when the day breaks, carrying with it a hint of rain (some mornings more so than others). We have started rummaging around in the closet for sweaters, long-sleeved shirts, and fuzzy socks. Our reading has . . . well, honestly, our reading habits haven’t changed. We’re still stacking books and making castles and generally having a sweet time with our imaginary friends. Let’s see what sort of new and old friends are arriving this week.
First up is Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to Die, the latest Thursday Murder Club Mystery. At this point, Osman’s books need little introduction (a quartet of septuagenarians fight crime; shenanigans happen), and we’re happy to report that The Last Devil to Die maintains the high level of mischief-making with its banter and bickering among the leads. Definitely a treat for this fall. Highly recommended.
Meanwhile, Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko team up with illustrator Wallace West for Dogtown, a whimsical story about Chance (a real dog), Metal Head (a robot dog), and Mouse (a mouse). All Metal Head wants is a real home, you know, and even if he’s made from metal bits and wire, he’s still a dog. Chance and Mouse help Metal Head escape from the shelter where they all live, and what comes next is a heartwarming story about second chances and friendship.
And speaking of second chances, John Scalzi is back this week with Starter Villian, the story of Charlie, a divorced substitute teacher with fading dreams of opening a pub downtown. But then his long-lost uncle Jake dies, leaving his entire empire to Charlie, and, well, things get complicated. Why? Because Jake was a supervillain, and even death isn’t enough to put off his enemies. Now Charlie’s in charge, and he’s got to figure out how to make all the supervillain toys work, negotiate a deal with a bunch of unionized dolphins, and deal with talking cats. Oh, and there’s a henchperson, who is always right there. Talk about space issues.
And speaking of space issues, here is Daniel Mason’s North Woods, a book about a tract of land. It starts innocently enough with a pair of Puritan lovers who hop the fence of their colony and hie off for the woods, where they start their lives together in a humble cabin. Then, over the years and years, a succession of other visitors spend time in these woods, and Mason unfolds a tale that moves back and forth through time. It’s a ghost story. It’s a moving bit of ecofiction. It’s a dazzling display of literary pyrotechnics. It’s a book about love and forgivenness and hope and madness. It leaps off the table within minutes of us putting it down. It’s one of those books, apparently. Plan accordingly.
And while we’re mentioning books that have those book club stickers on them, Nathan Hill’s Wellness is out this week. Wellness is the story of the modern American relationship: awkward, funny, heartbreaking, and doomed in so many ways. Which makes it a satire, of course, until it gets maudlin on you, and then it turns into a book that everyone will talk about when they run out of ordinary things to talk about. It’s about art and the challenges of parenting and cults disguised as mindful support groups. It’s about love. It’s about the hysteria of home renovation. It’s about us, in other words, but wittier.
And speaking of introspection and insight, Sy Montgomery returns with Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell. Sy and illustrator Matt Patterson visited the Turtle Rescue League, where they met hundreds of turtles who were recovered from shell-shattering injuries, the sorts of injuries that turtles normally don’t return from. However, the Turtle Rescue League takes a longer view of things, and as Montgomery and Patterson spend time with these slow-moving creatures, they have an opportunity to consider the hurried pace of their own lives.
Montgomery’s natural history books are equal parts memoir and meditative philosophical musings. This time around, the question they are considering is: How can we make peace with our time? We don’t know if there’s an answer to be found in Of Time and Turtles, but we suspect the journey is as important as the destination.
And speaking of journeys, Karl Ove Knausgaard is back with a new novel this week. The Wolves of Eternity is a sprawling exploration of the responsibilities we might have toward one another as well as the limits of what we can truly comprehend about being. It’s—well, come on, it’s a Knausgaard novel. Marvelously written navel gazing is part of the appeal here, and The Wolves of Eternity doesn’t disappoint.
And here is Lisa Perrin’s The League of Lady Poisoners, an illustrated history of dangerous women. This one is for the true crime fans in your house, and it focuses on two dozen infamous killers throughout history. But that’s not all! The book is also marvelously designed and illustrated, making it not only a curious history book, but also a nice-looking gift . . . for the poison aficionado in your life?
And speaking of poison and murder and animals shooting blood from their eyes as a defense mechanism, here is Brass Monkey's latest offering. A cube of Truly Terrifying Trivia.
Look at it. It's filled with the most random bits of true crime trivia and generally creepy sh*t you don't want to know. Or maybe you already know it all, which is only going to validate that concern all your friends have about your hobbies. So, you know, plan accordingly. Are you going to fess up to the depths of your knowledge or are you going to pretend you don't know about animals that vomit blood from their eye sockets?
And speaking of eyes, here’s the second volume of Murdle, the hottest new addictive puzzle-solving book. It’s even better than the first one because it’s purple! More logic puzzles! More brain teasers! More cleverness! Make sure you have a good eraser on your pencil!
Oh, and if you have a few bills burning a hole in your wallet and some extra space on your shelf, then you’ve got room for yet another edition of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. What makes this one better than the last half-dozen you’ve bought? This one has fancy edges AND illustrations by the author. It’s like someone in the marketing department said, “Gosh, that Fourth Wing book blew up because we put dragons on the page edges. What else do we having lying around that we could pretty up and make a buck or two or twelve?”
So, yes. It has all the same words as previous editions, but it’s in a fancier package that will beautify your shelves. But only if you store it . . . facing backwards . . . don’t overthink it!
And while we’re on the subject of stories with deep fanbases, here is Max Evry’s A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune, an Oral History. Sure, it’s 560 pages about the best worst SF masterpiece ever put to film, but the real treat is the black satin ribbon and the red foil gilded page edges. This is a sure-fire winner!
And since we’re all a-gog about the pretties, here is Cecilla Lattari’s Herbana Witch: A Year in the Forest. It’s a year-long companion to working with the natural world to further your own magical education. This one is delightfully illustrated by Alice Guidi. Definitely worth taking a peak at while you’re perusing over the interesting books in our thinkie nook.
Which reminds us that we’ve got a lovely selection of books from The School of Life in this nook. They’re all self-help books, but their approach is to focus on one topic exclusively. The books are carefully curated and designed, and the topics are somewhat usual, while also being earnest in their focus. For instance, On Self-Hatred: Learning to Like Oneself. It’s an aggressive approach to examining yourself, but one that doesn’t shy away from really getting into it. This one is all about the gentle compassion we should have with ourselves, and by extension, the rest of the world.
And with that in mind, take care of yourselves this week. Remember to stretch once in a while. Bend down and offer a small snack to a bird or squirrel. Listen to the birds as they relay the stories they’ve heard on the wing (especially the chatter from the Gab Tree—you’ll know it if you pass by it!). Finish something. Start something else. Find joy in motion.
