September Preview

Greetings, it’s been a while. I was away a bit in August and now I’ve returned; see Stella in the woods at left. The tennis tournament in Toronto was fun and went fairly well — I made it to the quarterfinals in the main draw then the semis in the consoles — not bad for an old girl.

It’s hard now to believe it’s Labor Day weekend. Sadly summer has flown by quickly but it’s not over just yet. I suspect too we might have some Indian summer days ahead this fall. We deserve it, our summer here in general has been wetter and cooler than usual, which I know seems odd in this day and age, but at least we haven’t been socked in with smoke from wildfires. Still our tomato plants are confused and have stayed green this season. So come on September, it’s up to you to yield a bumper crop. 

September is my favorite month especially since: it’s my bday month, it’s usually pretty outside and because of all the new releases. I didn’t exactly have a great reading month in August due to preoccupied days, but I hope to remedy that this month. I’m still working my way through Donna Tartt’s lengthy novel “The Goldfinch,” in which I’m meandering through Theo’s days in Las Vegas. Ha, people warned me about this period in the novel — that it would never end — but I think I’m almost through it and I haven’t flipped out just yet. Meanwhile I’m mixing in other reads, notably Tea Obreht’s new novel “Inland,” which is shaping up to be quite a Western. More on that later. 

And now let’s look at what’s coming out in September. Undoubtedly there’s many big-named authors with novels due out, including: Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Ann Patchett, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Stephen King, Alice Hoffman, Emma Donoghue, Tracy Chevalier, and Jacqueline Woodson among others. Whoosh, it’s an all-star cast and I don’t intend to stray far from these for my picks.

Only one is from someone new — it’s Lara Prescott’s debut novel “The Secrets We Kept” — which looks to be quite the true life-inspired story — about two secretaries-turned spies whose CIA mission it is to smuggle “Doctor Zhivago” out of the USSR so that Boris Pasternak’s novel could be published around the world (which it was in 1957).

Hmm it sounds interesting, and combines Pasternak’s personal story with the tale of the two women who risked their lives to get his novel out of the country. And who can forget the movie “Doctor Zhivago”? It’s a wonderful classic too, so count me in for this tale behind the novel.

Next up, I’m excited about Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Testaments,” which as you know, is the long-awaited sequel to her 1985 classic “The Handmaid’s Tale.” I last read The HT in 2017 — back when I didn’t know Atwood was going to be writing a sequel — and I saw Season 1 of the TV series, so my mind is fresh about the grim story of Offred’s circumstances.

The sequel picks up Offred’s story 15 years later with the “explosive testaments” of three female narrators from Gilead. I know some people are apprehensive that Atwood made a sequel and think she should have left The HT alone, but it seems during these crazy political times the pros outweigh the cons and the time is apt for such a treatise. 

I need to jump on reading “The Testaments” when it comes out Sept. 10 as I’m hearing Atwood talk and read from the book on Sept. 29. The cool thing is the book has been under a strict worldwide embargo so there have been no advance copies, no real Goodreads ratings, no leaks as far as I know. It’s all been tight-lipped and secretive about what’s in it …. and yet the book has already made the Booker Prize longlist.  So go figure, some people must have read it.  

There’s also nonfiction writer Ta-Nehisi Coates’s first foray into fiction — “The Water Dancer” coming out, which is sure to get a lot of attention. Coates’s 2015 bestseller “Between the World and Me,” which I listened to the author read on audio, was definitely a strong, good cup of coffee, so I’m curious if this one will be similarly powerful.

It’s said to be a slavery narrative about a protagonist with a magical gift who gets involved with helping to liberate others on the Underground railroad. Apparently, like Colson Whitehead’s 2016 book, it takes an imaginative spin on the Underground’s history and would be interesting for me to read and compare together, since I need to get to both.

Then there’s Ann Patchett’s latest “The Dutch House” — about a 1920s mansion outside of Philadelphia and the lives of the broken family that occupies it. Set over five decades the story traces three generations of a family and explores the “bonds between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go.”

Hmm, I haven’t read Patchett since her 2011 novel “State of Wonder” which seems different than her recent fiction that deals more with family connections. I enjoyed “State of Wonder” set in the Amazon but maybe I need to try out her sprawling family novels like this one. What say you? Which is your favorite Patchett book?

Last in book picks this month is a tie between Salman Rushdie’s new novel “Quichotte” — a satire that is said to skewer Trump’s America good— and Jacqueline Woodson’s novel “Red at the Bone” — about an unexpected teenage pregnancy that “pulls together two families from different social classes, and exposes their private hopes, disappointments, and longings.” I have not read much from either of these prized authors but I hope to remedy that in the future.

I wonder though if Rushdie’s novel about a modern-day Don Quixote will be too over-the-top crazy in its quest and road trip across America or just right. Heaven knows, I’m all for lampooning the current era, I just don’t know if it’ll be too farcical and jumpy a storyline to see the trees through the forest so to speak. But I guess I’ll have to read it to find out. The Woodson book is more serious in nature — though I’m curious to check it out since I hear the author writes about young people so well. Both books look quite good.

As for movies in September, it’s about time for “The Goldfinch.” Will I finish the novel before its arrival on Sept. 13? Who knows, but I’m enjoying its story so far about a boy whose mother is taken from him and a painting that seems to hold his fate. The cast looks pretty alluring, with among others: Nicole Kidman starring as Mrs. Barbour, Ansel Elgort as the boy Theo Decker, and Jeffrey Wright as Hobie. Hopefully it’ll be the movie adaptation of the year, but we will have to wait and see about that.

Whatever it is, the movie’s appearance surely gives me incentive to finish the big book before I see it. I wouldn’t want the storyline given away by the movie … no, no, no, no.  

There’s also another mysterious space/sci-fi movie called “Ad Astra” that looks to be a bit spooky. Brad Pitt stars as an astronaut who goes into space in search of his lost father, whose experiment threatens the solar system. Uh-oh I hate when that happens.

Count me in as I usually see the space flicks. Whether it’s Clooney in space, or Matt Damon up there, or Ryan Gosling taking the first step, or Tom Hanks commanding the module — I will see it.  Now it’s Brad Pitt’s turn — it was bound to happen. I don’t think he’s been in an earlier space movie, not to my immediate knowledge. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Lastly in movies this month is a tie between a documentary about singer Linda Ronstadt called “The Sound of My Voice,” which looks quite good especially since Linda was huge in Southern Cal during my youth in the 1970s — and the biographical movie “Judy” about Judy Garland starring Renee Zellweger in the lead role.

Wow Renee has come back out of nowhere it seems and is putting herself on the line with this one. In addition to the movie, she’s set to release her first solo album covering songs by Judy Garland. That seems to take guts, does it not? Liza Minnelli though seems none too pleased by the movie, saying on Facebook that she did “not approve nor sanction it in any way.” Too bad. I’ll likely see it anyways.  

As for albums in September, there’s many to check out including those by The Lumineers, Liam Gallagher, Brittany Howard, Keane, the Zac Brown Band …. and even Chrissie Hynde has an album of jazz covers due out. It’s a bit hard to believe and much softer than her rock days. These all seem worth checking out, but I’ll pick the new country music group: The Highwomen’s self-titled debut album as my choice this month. Wow they are a star-studded lineup of singers and have a pretty cool version of Fleetwood Mac’s song “The Chain” as well as their own song “Redesigning Women,” which are fun to hear. See for yourself. 

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