My Fall Book List

Hi Bookworms. I hope you had a nice week. It went by in a flash, didn’t it? I’m trying to get things done out in the yard before the colder weather sets in. And I have a few more golf and tennis outings left. As you can see, some of the trees and bushes have turned color here and others are still green. So things are midway into their turning and it feels like fall. Actually we woke up this morning to our first overnight frost. Brrr. We should have picked our last vegetables from the garden yesterday but hopefully some are salvageable. Summer is officially over now, argh.

Which raises the question: does fall weather make for better reading days? Perhaps so I think … as I might not be as busy when things shut down. We will see. I have posted my Fall TBR list below. It’s not edged in stone or anything— so things can change, but I wanted to make a reading list nonetheless since I enjoy list-making, lol. Are you a list maker?

Anyways you probably saw that the Booker Prize shortlist came out last week. I have read two that made the list: Elizabeth Strout’s novel The Things We Never Say and Douglas Stuart’s novel John of John. Both are good, but I sort of think Marlon James’s novel The Disappearers might be favored to win when the prize is announced on Nov. 9. There’s been much critical fanfare surrounding that book.

Still what about the others? I’ve added Rebecca Perry’s novel May We Feed the King to my TBR. It’s supposed to be good historical fiction — a debut novel that made the shortlist! — about a museum curator who becomes absorbed in the medieval world of a reluctant monarch. I don’t think I will add Luke Kennard’s novel Black Bag or M. John Harrison’s novel The End of Everything for now, but I might change my mind later. I was sad and a bit surprised to see that Emma Cline’s novel Switzy did not make the shortlist. Hmm, what a bummer!  But I still plan to read it. 

And now it’s time to peruse my Fall TBR list … in which I’ve tentatively chosen to read 10 new releases over the next three months (Oct., Nov. Dec.) to be mixed in with several older backlist books that I want to read. For now, I won’t list or name the backlist books as those might be subject to change. Of the new releases, I have read and liked most of these authors before. What are your thoughts on these (below)? 

• Switzy by Emma Cline (out in Sept.) — I liked her previous two novels. This one is said to be quite different – about a man with dementia.
• Solace in Winter by Mary Lawson (out Nov. 10) — from a wonderful Canadian author who now lives in London. This novel is set during a Canadian winter in 1969.
• Stations by Louise Kennedy (out Nov. 3) — from a wonderful Irish author whose first novel Trespasses was a hit. 
• May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry (out Sept. 29) — this historical debut novel (!) is on the shortlist for the 2026 Booker Prize.
• Shadow Before the Flame: the Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War by Catherine Grace Katz (Sept.) – her first history The Daughters of Yalta was a knockout.
• Brawler: Stories by Lauren Groff (Feb. 2026) — this was on my summer list and I still haven’t gotten to it yet. 
• The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar (out Sept. 29) — there’s much hype surrounding this autofiction book, a followup to his debut Homeland Elegies. I must try this author.
• Partita by Barbara Kingsolver (out Oct. 6) — her first novel since her award-winning Demon Copperhead. I will be hearing Kingsolver speak later in October, woohoo.
• Every Story Is a Story by Imbolo Mbue (out Oct. 6) — Her first novel Behold the Dreamers wowed me but her second not so much. This is her third.
• Dodge City by Patrick deWitt (out Sept. 29) – another Canadian author I can’t skip … a novel about a U.S. man fleeing the Vietnam War draft for Canada in 1967. 

Possible subs:  Sunrise by Tea Obreht, The Barman of the Ritz by Phillippe Colin, Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus, and The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters.

And lastly a quick review of a book that made its way onto my summer list.

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson / Pam Dorman Books / 347 pages

3.6 stars. This beachy kind of read turned out sort of to miss its mark with me … as I didn’t care too much for this group of friends based in Greenhead, Mass., but I did appreciate that Jenny Jackson adds some zest and funny lines to her characters’ lives who are all going through some changes in their relationships.

Caroline Lash, a young writer, 28, meets eco-scientist Van Whitaker on the train over a jelly donut … who she ends up falling for … but then Van learns his ex-girlfriend Bailey is pregnant which complicates things. Not to mention, Bailey has gone thru her share of guys and sees Van as just a close friend, or is he? There’s also Augusta and her husband Colin (parents of three), whose matters are delved into when Augusta finds some unknown underwear in their couch; and Fran and her husband RJ (parents to two boys) who’ve never bothered to get married but then hit the rocks and reassess their commitment to one another. This group of friends is plenty for one summery beach read …or headache, whichever you might feel more. You’ll need to apply some sunscreen accordingly to get through these tangled relationships.

The author Jenny Jackson is vice president and editorial director of fiction at Knopf publishing, so she knows a thing or two about books. Though maybe it might seem a bit surprising that she has written this breezy kind of beach read, a followup to her popular debut Pineapple Street. Some parts of The Shampoo Effect were funny which saved it a bit for me along with Marin Ireland narrating the audiobook, and it does end on endearing notes for the characters, but I might need to air my beach towel for a while before trying her again.

That’s all for now. What about you — do you know any of these books and what do you think?  Cheers.  Ps. The Virginia creeper plant on the post above turns the reddest color we get in the yard and alerts us that our days of warmth are numbered, lol. Also be careful to those on the East Coast who are in the path of the nor’easter storm. That’s a deluge.