Fall Reading

It’s a magical time of year--fall break converged with my library holds all coming in at once. Here’s a list of most of the books that I loved reading in October.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

I love Liane Moriarty. I don’t think I’ve ever read one of her books that didn’t please me. There is always a twist that I didn’t see coming, and there are always characters for whom I am really pulling, and as a reader who values plot and character highly, her books just never let me down. In this one, Joy, an Australian mom and wife, disappears one night after a fight with her husband Stan, who instantly becomes the prime suspect in her murder while their four children try to decide what they really ever knew about their parents, and also what they knew about the mysterious young woman who appeared at their house the year before. It was a fantastic story that fit the Liane Moriarty motif of complicated marriages and dysfunctional families.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

This was probably my favorite romance of the year. A Book of the Month Club selection that I passed and chose a completely forgettable book, this book is a STEM-loving delight. Olive, a grad student at Stanford, tries to convince her romantic best friend that she is in a relationship, and winds up fake dating Adam, a professor in her department. Shenanigans ensue and lead to love, but this book had a more serious undertone than I expected, taking a peek at the reality of life in high-level academia, and particularly at the difficulty for women in STEM fields. (Open-door romance.)

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Doerr is one of my favorite authors. His novel All the Light We Cannot See and his memoir Four Seasons in Rome are gorgeous, and Cloud Cuckoo Land is no exception. It’s a novel that defies description. Even the novel summary on the book flap did not do it justice. It’s a sweeping novel that traces the effect of a Greek myth from the siege of Constantinople in 1453 to a little library in Idaho in 2020 to an interstellar ship in the future, and is a beautiful love song to books and the ways they hold us together, both as individuals and as communities. It’s both sad and moving, and I loved it.

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

This one is, I guess, a memoir, although not in the traditional way. Kate Bowler was 35 when she found out she had Stage 4 cancer. This book is both a chronology of that journey and an examination of what it means to be a whole human, no matter your circumstances. It’s such a good book.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Aleisha is a reluctant summer librarian, trying to make some money while waiting for the rest of her life to start and give herself something to do to avoid her difficult home life. Mukesh Patel has just lost his wife and doesn’t know what to do with his life anymore, except that he knows he doesn’t want to become henpecked by his three daughters. Guided by an anonymous reading list, the two of them begin to read through classic novels and live through how the books, and their discussions of the books, open up their worlds. 

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

I knew this was a crime novel, but it was more entertaining than I expected! It’s another that I wish I had more time to re-read before it had to go back to the library. It’s about a New York City furniture salesman who is “bent,” but not crooked...or is he? I don’t usually like crime novels, but I really enjoyed this one.

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis

Noelle and Sam are strangers trapped on the same highway in a snowstorm who forge a strong connection. What will happen when fate throws them together again? I loved Louis’s book Dear Emmie Blue, and could not wait to read this one. It did not let me down.

The Ex  Hex by Erin Sterling

When Rhys Penhallow breaks Vivi’s heart, what choice does she have but to curse him? But what happens when he comes back and she can’t break the curse? This was another open-door romance and a terrifically fun Halloween read.

It’s not a complete list of my October reading, but it’s a great start. What have you been reading?