October Preview

Hi all. We’ve made it to October, wow. It’s really fall now. The plants and trees are changing color. The Virginia creeper across the trellis out front has already turned red, and we’ve had a few overnights of frost. It’s almost time to put the vegetable garden to bed here, but still we might have a few 70-degree golden afternoons left, which will feel like bliss. Meanwhile my thoughts go out to all the people struggling after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. It looks terrible in parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, and I hope they find some relief soon. The loss of life is stunning and awful to hear. Charity Navigator is a good place to look where to send support.

On a happier note, there’s plenty of reading challenges going on over the next two months. This month I signed up for a read-along of Somerset Maugham’s novel Of Human Bondage over at Ti’s blog Book Chatter. Since it’s a long classic, we have the entire month to read and chat about it and dip into all things Maugham. Perhaps I’ll also read one scary novel for the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenge, or continue on with reading Booker Prize nominees. There’s also various other bookish challenges for next month including: nonfiction November, Norway in November, German reads, and my read-along of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend with Tina over at the blog Turn the Page. So I guess it’s time to gear up and get ready.

But first let’s see what’s releasing this month. There’s new notable books coming out by Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Sequel), Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Message), and Michael Connelly (The Waiting) among others. Are you seeing a pattern with these titles? Also Al Pacino has a memoir (Sonny Boy) coming out as well as the late Russian activist Alexei Navalny’s posthumous memoir Patriot. I’m looking at these and a couple others, including Louise Erdrich’s novel The Mighty Red (due out Oct. 1), which according to Publishers Weekly follows the indigenous folks of the Red River Valley of North Dakota … “in a captivating tale of love and everyday life amid environmental upheaval and the 2008 financial crisis.” Erdrich is a gem of storyteller, but I have only read one of her novels so far — The Night Watchman from 2020, which I liked. So I might give this one a try too.

I’m also looking at Canadian author Tammy Armstrong’s book Pearly Everlasting (due out Oct. 1), which Publishers Weekly says is an enchanting novel about a “spirited teenage girl who sets off through the woods of 1934 New Brunswick, Canada, to rescue the bear she considers her brother …. in an adventure that brims with folklore and superstition, as Pearly musters the courage to overcome her fears.”

This novel received a starred review from Kirkus and takes place during the Great Depression from a remote logging camp. The author is a poet who lives in a fishing village in Nova Scotia. Since I need to read more Canadian authors and Pearly Everlasting includes a bear, I’m game for it, lol.

In what to watch this month, it seems there’s not too many TV series to check out perhaps other than Season 2 of The Diplomat (starting Oct. 31 on Netflix) starring Keri Russell. We didn’t make it through Season 1 as Russell was great as always, but the storyline seemed to get a bit crazy.

But there are several movies that look good (it’s not all about the new Joker film with Joaquin Phoenix), including the family-friendly film My Penguin Friend (available to stream Oct. 1), which appears to be endearing and is based on a true story about a lost penguin and a heartbroken Brazilian fisherman. Though if it’s creepy you’re looking for this Halloween season, try the new Salem’s Lot movie on HBO Max starting Oct. 3. It hasn’t received great reviews, but Stephen King is tweeting about it and it’ll likely get you into an October mode.

There’s also the movie A Different Man (due out Oct. 4) about a guy who undergoes facial surgery for a disfiguring condition but then becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life. It’s won awards at various film festivals and the trailer reminded me a bit of the 1980 film The Elephant Man loosely based on the real life of a deformed man named Joseph Merrick.

Am I dating myself? That one was very good and looks similar to the condition the man has in the new film, which stars Sebastian Stan as the afflicted guy. Yet A Different Man is listed as a black comedy psychological thriller film, so we’ll have to see how it plays out.

Next up is the latest movie starring Saoirse Ronan titled The Outrun (due out Oct. 4) about a young woman recently out of rehab for alcoholism, who returns to the beauty of the Orkney Islands off Scotland, where she grew up, to try to come to terms with her past.

It looks like a winner especially if you like Ronan’s films, and of course she’s had many great ones over the years including: Lady Bird, Little Women, Brooklyn, On Chesil Beach, and Atonement among others. She’s a star and has just got married this summer to actor Jack Lowden who plays River Cartwright in the TV series Slow Horses, so that’s pretty exciting, right?

But perhaps the biggest movie this month is Conclave (due out Oct. 25), based on the novel by Robert Harris, about a Cardinal who when tasked with leading the way to selecting a new pope later finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the foundation of the Church.

Ralph Fiennes stars as the Cardinal, and actors Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini also make appearances. It could be a whopper of a psychological thriller if it lives up to the book, so we will see … and the cinematography in Rome should be great too. Could it be Oscar material?

And lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Coldplay, Finneas, Bon Iver, Tears for Fears, and Leon Bridges among others. I’ll pick Coldplay’s new one called Moon Music due out Oct. 4. It’s the group’s tenth studio album and will be followed by a world tour. It’s also going to be aired in theaters around the globe for a listening event on Oct. 2 & 3. Now here’s the band’s single Feels Like I’m Falling in Love from Glastonbury.

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to this month?