As the nights become a little cooler, and the days get a bit shorter as Summer passes through to Autumn, our thoughts become quieter and more reflective as we turn inward to prepare ourselves for the change of seasons.
There’s nothing quite like transitioning into a new season with a good book. Autumn is all about acclimating, and aligning your mind, body, and spirit with the coming of Winter. Autumn benefits from a little hibernation to prepare for the change, and what’s better than throwing a light rug over your lap while you transport yourself to somewhere new, through a good book. This Autumn, let us help you make the transition to the next season a little easier with some of the best new books on offer.
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Young Mungo is an exceptional follow-up to Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain. A dangerous love story between two young men, Mungo and James, it’s set in the violent world of Glasgow’s housing estates. Young Mungo is a gripping and honest story about masculinity, the invisible but tight constraints of the family unit, and the violence faced by so many queer people living within a sectarian environment.
PATRICK STUART
YOUNG MUNGO
Meiko Kawakami– All The Lovers in the Night
Mieko Kawakami’s latest novel is sweet, and subtle, and leaves a lasting impact long after you’ve read the last page. Set in contemporary Tokyo, the story centers around Fuyuko, who lives alone and seems to like it that way. But deep down, she knows it’s not sustainable, and that in order to change things, she is going to have to step out of her comfort zones. Bravely, Fuyuko steps out, and it is on one of her outings that she has a chance encounter with a physics teacher, Mr. Mitstka, who befriends Fuyuko and gives her the opportunity to change her life.
MEIKO KAWAKAMI
ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT
Martha Wainwright – Stories I Might Regret Telling You
One of the most anticipated books of the year, following up Pulitzer prize-winning Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House is a thrilling, speculative exploration of the near future. It takes a kaleidoscopic approach to form, encompassing multiple perspectives and humanity’s intersection with technological communication. An intensely cerebral and inspiring collection of narratives about the essence of connection.
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT
STORIES I MIGHT REGRET TELLING YOU
Emily St. John Mandel – Sea of Tranquility
In a story that travels time, and captures the present-day climate with virtuosic beauty, the Sea of Tranquility is a unique and captivating novel that investigates the idea of parallel worlds and possibilities. The story follows eighteen-year-old Edwin St. Andrew crossing the Atlantic in 1912, and Olive Olive Llewelyn, a famous writer in another century, who is far away from her home, beautifully woven together into a time travel mystery. Detective, Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, is hired to investigate a series of events that have created an anomaly in time, which takes him to a childhood friend from the Night City who has the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.
EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL
THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY
James Patterson – The Red Book
The highly-anticipated sequel to The Black Book. Billy Harney, the newest member of Chicago PD’s strike force, is used to getting shot at, or being accused of murder by his fellow cops, as though it’s all a matter of course, that goes hand in hand with breaking a case. So, when a drive-by shooting turns political, he raises his hand to lead the investigation. In a quest to bring to light the evil hiding deep within his city, Harney discovers with some reluctance that he has to return to his own troubled past to serve justice.
JAMES PATTERSON
THE RED BOOK
Tabitha Carvan – This is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch
This is not actually a book about Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s a funny, intelligent, and liberating book about women, what we love, and how we love after we leave adolescence. Drawing upon her personal experience of falling for the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch while stuck at home with two young children, Carvan invites the reader to relearn if you will, the instinctive resistance to experiencing pleasure after a certain age, to ultimately find your passion, whatever it may be, and love it as though your life depends on it.
TABITHA CARVAN
THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
