Hi bookworms, how are you? We’ve made it to May, which is usually the beginning of our spring planting season here. It’s getting so green, yay.

A few days ago, I said goodbye to California and my relatives and returned home. Not easy to say goodbye after a good trip but here I am. It was a bit of a whirlwind as I managed to visit a few places while there including the beach, the desert, and the big city of L.A. Most importantly, was my grandniece’s first birthday party … where 10 other babies came over to celebrate, lol. My grandniece is nearly walking now and she’s on the move! There’s no stopping her. On one of my evenings, I captured this picture of the sunset.

Meanwhile after visiting my hometown inland, I later made the long trek to the L.A. Public Library to renew my non-resident library card. It’s a great thing to have with so much digital book content (!) but not sure why they require renewing in person each year. Have they not heard of online renewal? Whatever the case, I managed to get the coveted card and bid adieu to downtown. While in the area I had to navigate such busy freeways as the 10, the 101, the 110, and the 405. Was I on the 60? I probably was. But not sure we need to be driving much with the gas prices as high as they are.

And now let’s see what’s releasing this month. May is a big month for books, and such notable authors with novels out include: Matt Haig, Ruth Sepetys, Michael Connelly, Sarah Damoff, Katherine Center, Kathryn Stockett, and Martha Wells among others. I’m looking at these and a few others below that have caught my eye.

First off is Elizabeth Strout’s new novel The Things We Never Say about a married high school teacher who confronts despair and loneliness and later charts a new course when his son confides a secret to him. It sounds wistful and poignant and features a new character in Artie Dam, aged 57, who’s outside of Strout’s previous book series. Apparently Strout’s done with her beloved characters: Lucy Barton, the Burgess Boys, and Olive Kitteridge … but wait, not fully! In her new book: Artie picks up the novel Olive Kitteridge, which affects him in ways … so alas, Strout dovetails yet again. Yay.

Next is the new novel by previous Booker winner Douglas Stuart titled John of John (due out May 5) that follows a closeted gay young man who returns from college to his Scottish childhood home on Hebrides island to an insular community of sheep farmers and weavers and a fraying family and father with expectations.

It sounds like another winner from Douglas Stuart, who for whatever reason, I haven’t read yet. His other two novels were said to be very bleak, but this one perhaps is a bit less so. According to Kirkus Reviews: in this “Stuart again taps profound human truth” with his gift for creating vibrant characters and settings. So what are we waiting for?

Also I’m looking at Eve J. Chung’s new novel The Young Will Remember (due out May 5) about a Chinese American journalist who becomes trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War and must try to survive from an older North Korean woman who takes her in and thinks she’s her long-lost daughter.

Marjan Kamali calls it: “a searing portrait of war’s moral failures” and “a revealing exploration of women during the Korean war.” I meant to read Eve Chung’s compelling debut Daughters of Shandong when it came out in 2024 and so now I have both to read. Apparently Eve Chung is a Taiwanese American human rights lawyer who lives with her family in New York … and writes in her spare time?

On the screen this month there’s a number of movies to peruse … but if you’re looking for a TV series perhaps The Other Bennett Sister on BritBox will engage you starting May 6. In movies, Devil Wears Prada 2 (due out May 1) is likely to be big and it’s been advertised a lot. You recall the original movie from 2006 and now 20 years later here are the same actors in the sequel.

I don’t think it’ll be as good as the first, but still I am curious to see where it goes. Its plot is that two decades after Andy Sachs (Ann Hathaway) left Runway magazine she’s laid off from her newsroom job and returns to work for Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) at Runway once again. Stanley Tucci is back as Priestley’s right hand man, and Emily Blunt as an executive at Dior. Even such actors as Lucy Liu and Kenneth Branagh appear in spouse roles and Lady Gaga drops in as herself. I hope #2 Prada will be fun and have some laughs.

Also Remarkably Bright Creatures based on the 2022 bestselling novel by Shelby Van Pelt will be coming out as a movie on Netflix on May 8. (The novel sold over 2 million copies!) Actress Sally Field plays Tova, the elderly caretaker at an aquarium in the Northwest who sets off to help a young man (played by Lewis Pullman) find his father. You might recall from the novel that Tova makes a connection with the octopus — Marcellus — at the aquarium and he plays an endearing role.

The movie might be a little saccharine in places, but it’s likely worth a swirl. How often do we get to see Sally Field anymore? The film was shot in Vancouver, Canada … standing in for the fictional Sowell Bay in Washington state, which is in the book.

Next is the spy-ish movie Jack Ryan: Ghost War on Prime May 20. This is a continuation of the TV series of Jack Ryan with John Krasinski. In it he reunites with his old CIA operatives to fight an enemy that apparently has their number.

Also two movies out on May 26 look promising. Brendan Fraser plays President Eisenhower in the movie Pressure as he risks everything to launch D-Day — the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history. It’s adapted from a stage play about the tense 72 hours leading up to Ike’s decision to go ahead with the plan. Also the movie Tuner staring Leo Woodall looks a bit twisty about a talented piano tuner who learns he has the aptitude to crack safes, which turns his life upside down. The British actor sure seems to have gained a fanbase since his days on The White Lotus, eh?

And lastly in music for May, there’s new albums releasing by such artists as the Black Keys, Kacey Musgraves, Jack Johnson, Ryan Bingham, Tori Amos, Paul McCartney, and Willie Nelson among others. Wow that’s quite a line-up. I need to investigate some of these. I like the bluesy rock of the Black Keys. And Peaches! is the duo’s 14th studio album (out May 1). You can listen to the single Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire here.

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

Hi Bookworms. How is your spring coming along? We have winter here trying to stick around, with 5 to 10 cm of snowfall forecasted today through Monday. I have to remind myself it’s good for the drought, otherwise I’m so ready for spring. It’s almost April for goodness sakes.

It can be a pretty month in places with plenty of bloom (down south), but April also gets a bad wrap for being the tax month, which isn’t fun, especially if you have to file in two countries. It’s usually sort of a brown month up here, so it’s a good time to go away. And luckily I have a one week trip planned to Southern California near the end of the month to meet up with family and to celebrate my grandniece’s first birthday.

If I didn’t have that trip, I’d likely have flown to one of the No Kings rallies in the U.S. yesterday. I hope some of you had a great day speaking up for democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and peace among other things. It’s so important. The turnout was excellent and I hope it sends a strong message … that people aren’t just going to roll over and let everything go to hell in a handbasket in U.S. cities and the country. I saw Wake Up America signs and many other really good signs from afar, but I would’ve liked to have been there in person. I hope you’ll share your photos if you were there.

Last night, we saw the movie Project Hail Mary at the theater … and eeeek I didn’t think it was half as good as The Martian movie. It lost some of the suspense (and science) of the novel …. judging from what my husband said. He read and liked the book and I still have only read The Martian.

Still it has some charm with Ryan Gosling. But it felt a bit to me for a younger audience and it was quite sentimental sort of like “ET in Space” or “Ted Lasso in Space.” It wasn’t really for me, but I know some have really liked it, so see for yourself. I will stick to getting to the book (and all its science, lol) sometime.

And now let’s see what’s coming out this month. There’s a plethora of new fiction, including those by such well-known authors as Emma Straub, Rachel Khong, Maria Semple, T.C. Boyle, Jane Smiley, Sally Hepworth, Tom Perrotta, Anthony Horowitz, and Mark Helprin among others.

I’ve been looking at these and I’m a bit curious too if Ben Lerner’s new novella Transcription (due out April 7) will be any good. It follows a narrator who breaks his phone while attempting to record a final interview with his 90-year-old artist mentor, “forcing him to reconstruct the interaction, blending themes of technology, memory, and pandemic-era life.” While I’m not usually a big fan of “autofiction” where the author’s the protagonist, I might try Lerner again after years ago liking his quirky 2014 novel 10:04.

Next is Julia Langbein’s novel Dear Monica Lewinsky (due out April 14) about a 40-year-old woman who looks back on how an affair with a college professor decades earlier when she was a student abroad in France derailed so much of her life. Told in flashbacks of her six weeks in France in 1998, it’s interspersed with her prayers to Lewinsky and retellings of the lives of historical martyrs that paid a price.

Said to be both funny and a feminist examination of female desire and male power, author Kevin Wilson blurbed: it’s a “fascinating novel about the past, reckoning with … the person you once were and still somehow continue to be. It’s incredible that Julia Langbein navigates this territory with such humor.” So count me in.

There’s also Willy Vlautin’s new novel The Left and the Lucky (out April 14) about an unlikely friendship between a lonely 40-something house painter, Eddie Wilkens, and Russell, his next door neighbor in Portland, Ore., who’s an eight-year-old boy struggling with a difficult home life. While Russell’s life disintegrates, he begins to wait in Eddie’s backyard for him to get off work, where he’s introduced to a world of misfit characters and an old dog that seal Russell and Eddie’s bond.

Bleak but uplifting, the novel is said to be a realistic portrayal of American life and an examination of how circumstance shapes our lives and our need for human connection. I have not read Vlautin before but his critically touted novels often champion the underclass and those overlooked.

For honorable mentions this month, I’m also looking at these notable novels to check out:

• Honey in the Wound (out April 7) by Jiyoung Han — about a mysteriously gifted Korean family confronting the brutality of Japanese colonialism.
• Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead (out April 14) by Mai Nguyen — about a grieving mother who surprisingly finds hope working at a funeral home. And:
• Last Night in Brooklyn (out April 21) by Xochitl Gonzalez — about “two Brooklyn women who forge identities and careers in their rapidly gentrifying borough” … from the bestselling author of the novel Olga Dies Dreaming. Have you heard of these?

On the screen this month, there’s the TV series adaptation of The Testaments (on Hulu, starting April 8), which Atwood wrote as a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. I’ve read the books, which are eye-opening forebodings, but watching the dystopian story about the prospects of the women in Gilead might be a bit too bleak or scary right now. So perhaps the fifth and final season of Hacks might have a few laughs (on HBO Max, starting April 9). Or maybe Season 2 of Beef (on Netflix starting April 16), which involves dueling couples, might be a good diversion. The new season stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan among others.

Then there’s always Season 2 of the British crime show Criminal Record (on AppleTV, starting April 22). I just watched the first episode from Season 1 and I like that actress Cush Jumbo (formerly of The Good Wife and The Good Fight) is one of the detectives. The show is gritty and there’s lots of scenes from the streets of London. Have you seen any of these shows?

A couple other new series I’m sort of on the fence about: The Audacity (on AMC, starting April 12), which stars Zach Galifianakis among others, is a drama series that takes a satirical hammer to the rich techies of Silicon Valley.

While Margo’s Got Money Troubles (on AppleTV+, starting April 15) is based on the 2019 novel by Rufi Thorpe about a young single mom (played by Elle Fanning) who creates an online persona to keep afloat in which she dabbles in sex work. Nick Offerman and Michelle Pfeiffer star as her parents and Nicole Kidman as a lawyer trying to help her. It should be a doozy.

Lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Holly Humberstone, the Arkells, the Foo Fighters, Bruce Hornsby, Ringo Starr, and Noah Kahan among others. I’ll pick Noah Kahan’s new album The Great Divide coming out April 24. It’s his fourth studio album and features the song Porch Light, which you can hear here. Noah grew up on a tree farm in Vermont and now lives in Massachusetts. He’s been a singer/songwriter to watch.

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to? Have a great week.

Hi All, we’ve made it to March! Does it feel like spring where you are? Or are you still under a layer of snow? We had some snow last week but now it’s forecasted to be in the 50s this week … so it looks like a massive melt is already on. The only trouble is mud season is not that glamorous. The dogs paws constantly have to be toweled off whenever they come in from being outside, but at least it’s one step closer to spring. Meanwhile over the weekend I was busy officiating the U12 provincial indoor tennis tournament here, so I’m a bit late posting my March Preview. But it was a good event and the kids behaved and played plenty of tennis.

Of course, my mind is also on all that is happening in the Middle East. War is a scary, dangerous thing and I don’t think it should be up to any one person or executive branch to decide on waging a major conflict. I thought that’s what Congress was for. Who knows what will happen, but I hope that it won’t turn into a lengthy expanding awful dreadful thing. Don’t you miss the good old days when it was just the Olympics?

Let’s turn to books and new releases for a brief diversion. March has much on the horizon including new fiction from such notable authors as Tana French, Colm Toibin (stories), Yann Martel, Louise Erdrich (stories), Elizabeth Berg, Mieko Kawakami, M.L. Stedman, and Cecile Pin among others.

You can see Tina’s good review of Cecile Pin’s novel Celestial Lights (due out March 24) here — about a man who becomes an astronaut and reflects back on his life. And I read an advanced copy of Stedman’s novel A Far-Flung Life (out on March 3), which was an absorbing — albeit grim — family epic set in 1958 on a remote sheep station in Western Australia. After tragedy strikes the family, an incident follows that turns into a dark secret that has ramifications for all. It plays out in somber kinds of ways.

Other novels I’m looking at this month include Woody Brown’s debut Upward Bound (due out March 31) about the interlocking lives of residents and workers at a care facility for autistic and other disabled adults in Southern California. Each chapter tells a member’s story that draws you in.

I’m not exactly sure why this book appeals to me right now but from all the praise it’s received it sounds like quite a moving and illuminating portrait of a community often overlooked. The author — who apparently was the first nonspeaking autistic graduate of UCLA — is said to capture the humanity of his characters in insightful, funny, and tender ways. I’ll be checking it out.

Next up I can’t decide between Karan Mahajan’s novel The Complex (due out March 10) and Frances Crawford’s gritty crime novel A Bad Bad Place (out March 3). The Complex is about a prominent family from Delhi who amidst political upheaval in India are constantly at odds with one another. It looks to be a weighty novel with a large cast of various dispersed family members from an author I’ve liked before from his 2016 novel The Association of Small Bombs.

While A Bad Bad Place is said to be a coming-of-age novel about “a young working-class girl in 1979 Glasgow who happens upon the body of a murdered woman—and must face an insular community desperate for answers, as well as herself.” It’s said to be an exciting debut from a new voice in crime fiction, so I’ll be looking at that as well.

There’s also Tara Menon’s debut novel Under Water (due out March 17) about a woman’s attempts to move on after surviving the 2004 tsunami in Thailand … just as she experiences Hurricane Sandy bearing down on New York City in 2012. It’s a story said to involve a close friendship with a person the woman grew up with in Thailand and the natural world they explored together there.

Author Katie Kitamura says it’s: “A novel of remarkable delicacy and power … about grief, friendship, home, and longing.” The cover is beautiful too, so what are we waiting for. Apparently the author Tara Menon grew up in Singapore and now teaches English at Harvard University.

On the screen in March, Nicole Kidman takes on the role of forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta in the eight-part TV series Scarpetta (on Prime, starting March 11), which is based on the crime novels by Patricia Cornwell. In the series, Scarpetta juggles her complicated relationship with her sister Dorothy (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) while trying to catch a killer. I remember when Cornwell started writing these crime books set in Virginia (her first being Portmortem in 1990) … and I moved there in 1993. They were sort of scary or chilling — Scarpetta’s crime cases, but I haven’t read one in many years.

Then the Academy Awards are on March 15, if you plan to watch any of the nominees. We saw the ping-pong movie Marty Supreme with Timothy Chalamet, which was a bit weird, but I sort of want to see the movie Hamnet. Though the big movie of the month is Project Hail Mary (coming out March 20) based on the novel by Andy Weir, starring Ryan Gosling as science teacher Ryland Grace who wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from Earth. He’s on a mission to save the planet — but will he be able to do it?

Leave it to Canadian Ryan Gosling to try, lol. The great German actress Sandra Huller will play his superior in the movie and the head of the Hail Mary project. I still haven’t gotten around to the novel, which everyone has really liked, but the movie should be a winner too.

Also for those reading the Alexandre Dumas classic The Count of Monte Cristo, the eight-part TV series will begin March 22 on PBS. (It was originally released in Europe in Dec. 2024 but now it’s finally here.) This time actor Sam Claflin stars as Edmund Dantes who is wrongly jailed, and Jeremy Irons plays Abbé Faria, his mentor in prison.

Apparently this famous and popular classic has seen at least 15 TV and movie productions over the past century. I remember as a kid loving the 1975 movie version with Richard Chamberlain, who I think will always be the real Edmond to me, lol.

Other TV series to look for this month include: Season 5 of For All Mankind (on AppleTV+ starting March 27) and a sort of funny one called Bait (on Prime, March 25) about a struggling actor played by Riz Ahmed who learns shockingly that he’s being considered for the role of the next James Bond, which lands him with a full-blown existential crisis and conspiracy at the same time.

Also there’s the four-part TV series The Lady (on BritBox, March 18) that tells the story — based on true events — of Jane Andrews who came from humble beginnings to work as a dresser for the Royal family, only to get caught up in a murder trial that ended her fairy tale dreams. If that’s too dishy for you, you can always watch the three-part documentary on naturalist Henry David Thoreau starting March 30 on PBS.

Lastly in music for March, there’s new albums by such notables as Harry Styles, Morrissey, James Blake, the Black Crows, Kim Gordon, The New Pornographers, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, David Gray, and Melissa Etheridge among others. I like several of these artists, but the bluesy soulful voice of Susan Tedeschi is tough to beat. So I’ll pick the band’s new album Future Soul out March 20. Here’s the single Who Am I performed live from Red Rocks and the song I Got You as well.

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

Hi all. Happy February. I know it’s been chilly on the East Coast — and freezing in the Toronto area — but it’s been mild out here in the West. Go West, they say.

I think we’re warmer this weekend than parts of Florida. Go figure. We’ve made it into the 50s and they’ve apparently been under a pile of blankets. Sorry to those out there, like Tina at the blog Turn the Page, I hope it warms up soon and that the citrus trees don’t get damaged. 

This month should be short and busy. Along with the Olympics hoopla, I have a few doc appointments and we’ll be going on a short trip mid-month for a family reunion that we’re gearing up for since our senior dog Stella (pictured above with Willow) will need a house sitter. We’re hoping she can handle it. Stella is a proud, stubborn girl who needs things just so and has trouble with her wobbly legs. Still she is happy and bossy and we’re trying to give her her best life possible. 

And now let’s see what’s good that’s releasing this month. There’s new novels by such popular authors as Anna Quindlen, Kate Quinn, Sadeqa Johnson, and Allegra Goodman among others. These should be good, but I’m steered to the commotion over the debut novel Good People (due out Feb. 3) by Patmeena Sabit.

Apparently it’s about an Afghan refugee family who comes to live in Virginia but then when the older daughter of the family is found suspiciously drowned, it turns into an electrifying whodunit. The novel is said to be written like an oral history in which a complex portrait of the family emerges from interviews along with others in the community. Authors Ann Patchett calls it a “thrilling tour de force” and Khaled Hosseini says it’s the Afghan novel he’s been waiting for. So I need to check it out. 

Next up I’m curious about Tayari Jones’s new novel Kin (due out Feb. 24) about two motherless lifelong friends from Louisiana in the 1950s whose worlds converge after many years apart in the face of much adversity. In it Booklist says “Jones deftly conveys the nuances of Southern Black culture in her novel full of depth, pain, and beauty.” And calls it a “tender love song to southern Black families, communities, and female friendships.”

I read and liked Jones’s writing from her last novel An American Marriage in 2018 — and though this one is said to be much different — I’ll have to check it out.

There’s also Lauren Groff’s new book Brawler (due out Feb. 24), which is a collection of nine short stories about “families transformed by desperate circumstances,” according to Publishers Weekly. Granted I’m not a big short story reader, but every once in a while when something is praised to the rafters — a bit like this one, I’ll go there.

In short stories, I last read Amor Towles collection Table for Two and Fannie Flagg’s Something to Look Forward To, so now I plan to check out Groff’s. I haven’t read Groff since her 2015 novel Fates and Furies and that one was a bit crazy about a marriage gone haywire. But she likes writing short stories — her collection Florida from 2018 was a finalist for the National Book Award and this one might follow perhaps.

Lastly in books, I’m looking at the darkly humorous unhinged novel Evil Genius (due out Feb. 17) by Claire Oshetsky about the volatile inner world of a 19-year-old  woman in 1974 San Francisco who fantasizes about a life beyond her abusive marriage. Apparently “Celia is a fetching character for whom the reader dearly wishes a positive outcome, despite all the dead bodies that seem to be accumulating around her,” according to Kirkus Reviews.

The novel sounds different and unsettling and one in which author Chelsea Summers says is “perfect for comic-horror girlies who’ve read Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and want more mayhem.” I’m not sure if that’s me, but I will investigate it. 

Meanwhile, there’s much to watch this month especially if you’re into sports … such as the Winter Olympics in northern Italy (Feb. 6 to 22) — I say bring them on! I love the action. Or there’s the Super Bowl (on Feb. 8), which drew an estimated 127.7 million viewers last year. Sadly, my NFL teams did not make the big game, so perhaps I will opt for the Puppy Bowl XXII instead, which happens a couple hours before the “other game” and features 150 puppies from 72 shelters competing in a friendly game on Animal Planet. It’s for a good cause (dog adoption) and will introduce some senior dogs at the halftime show, yay. 

But if you’re allergic to sports watching, you might opt for checking out one of these TV series: The Lincoln Lawyer – Season 4 on Netflix starting Feb. 5; or Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette on FX/Hulu starting Feb. 12; or maybe The Last Thing He Told Me — Season 2 with Jennifer Garner on AppleTV+ starting Feb. 20. There’s also The Gray House (on Prime starting Feb. 26)  that’s an eight episode Civil War drama about four unheralded women who helped turn the tide of the war in favor of the Union. But maybe the series about JFK Jr. might be the juiciest and most tragic of these.

There’s also the new major movie of Emily Bronte’s 1847 classic Wuthering Heights out Feb. 13 in time for Valentine’s Day, lol. Apparently it has a production /distribution budget of around $80 million and stars Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as the brooding Heathcliff. I think it will be the fourth movie version of Wuthering Heights — which has been done in 1939 with Laurence Olivier; in 1992 with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes; and in 2011. There was also apparently a TV series of it in 2009 with actor Tom Hardy as Heathcliff.

I admit I have not seen any of these productions — have you? But I plan to check out the new movie, which looks to be a doozy. I hope it will be up to the snuff of Emily Bronte’s turbulent tale of obsession on the West Yorkshire moors. What do you think — will it be able to make the cut?

Lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Mumford & Sons, Moby, Bruno Mars, Iron & Wine, Jill Scott, and The Sheepdogs among others. I’ll change my pick (thanks to Carmen’s wise words) and choose Bruno Mars’ new album The Romantic, which is his first full-length solo project since 2016! It’s his fourth solo studio album and features the single I Just Might which you can see performed here. He’s a great performer and I was lucky to see him in concert back in 2016. It was a really fun show, lol.

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

Hi Bookworms, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and now soon we’re headed into the New Year. Happy 2026! Wow it sounds futuristic.

Last year was a tough one, so I’m hoping this year will be better. Will you be attending a party on New Year’s eve, or having a more quiet evening at home? We’ll be having dinner out with friends and then be back with these two dogs — Willow and Stella (the dynamic duo) — likely to watch the ball drop in NYC, Lol. I heard Central Park received some snow. It’s been really freezing here — below 0F a couple days — but it should be much warmer this week, fingers crossed.

I’m thinking of posting my Favorite Reads of 2025 next time as I’m still reading one last good one. I’ll look over my stats and write about those as well as which books were excellent for me. I hope you had a great reading year. I think my numbers felt pretty average for me, but we’ll see.

And now let’s talk about what’s coming out in January. There’s a slew of new books releasing, including novels by such popular authors as Laura Dave, Paula McLain, Ashley Elston, Alice Feeney, and Ashley Winstead among others. I’m looking at those and a few others, including author Gabriel Tallent’s second novel Crux (due out Jan. 20). It’s about two-down-and-out high school best friends who try to escape their hard family lives through their love of rock climbing in the Mohave Desert.

It’s said to be an intense story of friendship and grit … which Publishers Weekly calls “a brutal portrait of finding hope in an unforgiving landscape” and “a towering coming-of-age saga packed with muscle and heart.” So count me in.

Next up is a tossup between two previous Booker Prize-winning authors who have new novels releasing: Julian Barnes’ auto-fictional tale Departure(s) (due out Jan. 20) and George Saunders’ second novel Vigil (out Jan. 27). Barnes novel features a narrator named Julian Barnes who explores such issues as love, death, memory, and the merits of novel writing, while Saunders novel is about a ghost who attempts to guide an unrepentant oil executive toward redemption and the afterlife.

Coincidentally I read both authors’ previous prized novels in 2017 and they sound a bit similar to these. Like Saunders’ first novel Lincoln in the Bardo, his new one features ghosts and spirits as well, while Barnes new book appears to touch on memory and time a bit like his earlier work The Sense of an Ending. Both were quite good though, so I probably shouldn’t miss their new fiction.

I’m also looking at Thrity Umrigar’s latest novel Missing Sam (due out Jan. 27) about a woman who goes missing on a morning run and her wife’s determination to find her and also clear her own name from suspicion … particularly as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants. Apparently while the hunt for Sam propels the narrative, conflicting pulls of family, faith, sexuality, and culture affect the characters’ actions.

I’ve read a few of Umrigar’s other novels over the years and they often touch on the differences perceived by people and raise various modern-day issues. You get into the crosshairs and it’s hard to pull away.

On the screen in January, there’s the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 11 and a slew of new and returning TV series. There’s so many that I can only feature a few that I’m interested in … (but if you like The Pitt, Season 2 starts Jan. 8 on HBO Max, the series Shrinking Season 3 begins Jan. 28 on AppleTV+, and the series Bridgerton airs on Netflix starting Jan. 29). I haven’t followed those shows, but I know many do.

Meanwhile I’m surprised and happy to see that The Night Manager, the le Carre spy thriller from 2016, will be returning on Jan. 11 to Prime for a six-episode sequel, Yay. Tom Hiddleston will return as Jonathan Pine who’s sent on a new mission in Colombia involving a dangerous arms dealer. He’ll team with Olivia Coleman again who’ll be back as well. Gosh where have they been? That was 2016 … so I might like to watch the original once more before the new season.

Also there’s Season 2 of the thriller Hijack starting Jan. 14 on AppleTV+ You might recall Season 1 featured Idris Elba as a corporate business negotiator on a scary hijacked flight from Dubai to London … now for Season 2 he’s on a Berlin underground train when its commuters are taken hostage and authorities are scrambling to save hundreds of lives. It looks intense and violent, but I am curious what Idris’s character will do. So I will cautiously board that train. Gulp.

Meanwhile I’ll keep in mind the British movie H Is for Hawk (due out Jan. 23) with Claire Foy as a woman whose grief over the sudden loss of her father is aided by the unlikely friendship with a wild goshawk named Mabel. The film, which is based on the popular 2014 memoir by Helen Macdonald, hasn’t received very strong reviews, but I plan to see it nonetheless. Some of the birding film shots look superb and Claire Foy is always pretty excellent, so what are we waiting for?

Finally in music releases for January, I don’t see a lot to peruse other than folk singer Courtney Marie Andrews’ new album Valentine (due out Jan. 16) and icon singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams’ new album World’s Gone Wrong (due out Jan. 23). Over the decades, I’ve seen Lucinda a number of times in concert and she’s quite the legend with so many great songs. I’ll pick her album World’s Gone Wrong for my pick this month … which you can hear the title track of and see performed live here.

Cheers. That’s all for now — what about you — which new releases are you looking forward to? Happy 2026.

Hi all. How’s your week and holiday been? I hope you have plenty of leftovers and weekend cheer. We had a bit of a snowy week with cold temps, but it’s nothing we can’t handle, right? The people in these parts are seasoned Canadians — always ready for winter, hockey, and shoveling snow, lol.

But not me these days, I’ve got to do dreaded physical therapy exercises and then retire to the couch to have the new knee elevated and hooked up to the ice machine. It’s pretty boring stuff, but I have my reading nearby, some endless football on, and the floor heater churning out warmth. These are the essential survival materials for continued winter rehab.

You might have noticed — come Monday we’re into December! Wow the last month of the year. How’s your reading going? I think I’m on target for my yearly GoodReads goal, but we will see. It’s not over till it’s over. As long as I’m in the ballpark — it’s okay. Do you like to set annual reading goals or no? I think I set lower ones so I’m not too disappointed one way or the other.

Meanwhile I’ve looked to see what new releases are coming out this month and so far a novel titled Before I Forget (coming out Dec. 2) by Tory Henwood Hoen is getting much love on GR. It’s about a 26-year-old girl who goes home to her family’s Adirondack lake house to care for her aging father after years of estrangement and suspects he may be able to see the future.

It’s said to be a charming story of small town life, connection, and also a heartbreaking depiction of a father’s Alzheimer’s. I’ve heard it’s handled gently despite the heavy topic. Granted, the premise seems to have been done before but still it appears touching and worth checking out.

Next up is South African author Nadia Davids’s psychological thriller Cape Fever (due out Dec. 9), which is set in the 1920s and about a young Muslim maid who finds herself entangled with the spirits of a decaying manor and the secrets of its enigmatic female British owner.

It’s said to be quite an atmospheric novel that’s narrated superbly by the maid whose story of love and grief, is also said to be a chilling exploration of class and the long reach of history. I’m not sure what more to think, but it sounds a bit like a clever cat and mouse game between the two women, so I’m keen to explore whatever this shortish suspense novel serves up.

Now let’s move on to new movie releases since they’re usually big this time of year. First off, George Clooney looks to be in a cute-ish Netflix movie titled Jay Kelly (out Dec. 5) about a famous actor who takes a journey of self-discovery with his manager (played by Adam Sandler) through Europe as they reflect on their life choices, relationships, and legacies. I’m hoping between Sandler and Clooney and a bit of Tuscany thrown in there’ll be enough fun and endearing moments in this one to make it worthwhile … along with Noah Baumbach’s directing too.

There’s also another favorably rated Knives Out Mystery with Daniel Craig and cast titled Wake Up Dead Man (out Dec. 12) … but what about the comedy-drama Is This Thing On? (out Dec. 19) directed by Bradley Cooper. It’s about a middle-age comedian in NYC (played by Will Arnett) who faces divorce and co-parenting duties with his wife (played by Laura Dern) and while picking up a hobby finds in the process he learns more about himself and his relationship.

Judging from the trailer, it looks to have enough witty moments and some sweetness to it. And isn’t Laura Dern a bit everywhere these days … even a part in the Jay Kelly movie above as well. Shouldn’t she be working on Big Little Lies Season 3 due out next year?

Next are a couple bigger movies coming out on Christmas Day. Marty Supreme is a ping pong drama set in New York City during the 1950s about an up-and-coming table tennis star Marty Mauser (played by Timothee Chalamet) who goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness. Apparently it’s loosely based on the life of ping pong player Marty Reisman.

Not that I know of him, but if Chalamet is in it and he’s practiced months on end playing ping pong, then it’s good enough for me. First he was Bob Dylan now he’s hard-core into this. Who doesn’t like ping pong? Especially for those back in the 1970s, we were big into it, right? We had ping pong at the local swimming pool.

Then there’s also the epic religious musical film The Testament of Ann Lee about the founding leader of the Shaker Movement in the 18th century who’s proclaimed as the female Christ by her followers. Actress Amanda Seyfried plays Ann Lee who fights to protect her followers and their song and dance worship from persecution and the utopia they have begun to create.

It sounds a bit intense, but if you have an interest in history and world religions it might be for you. It was filmed in Budapest similarly like the acclaimed director’s other film The Brutalist — though I didn’t care much for that one — but maybe this film? The cinematography looks quite fetching.

There’s a couple other movies at Christmas — but perhaps none as big as these. You’ll likely need some comedies thrown in to go with the eggnog.

And lastly in music this month, it’s best just to ease into the Christmas tunes — new and old alike … with plenty of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, lol.

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

Hi all. We’re into November! It’s hard to believe as October seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and now we have to contend with the time change. Argh. I’m a supporter of daylight savings time in which we get more light near evening hours. We really miss that up North when that is changed. It gets dark so early bahh. We’re also in a haze after the Blue Jays loss to the Dodgers in Game 7 on Saturday night. We were rooting hard for the Jays and somehow they had the game and then just a smidge later they didn’t. It was one of the most intense (close) series and endings I’ve ever seen. But it slipped away and now we’re left to cry in our soup, lol.

Meanwhile we’re into Nonfiction November now and I know many of you will be participating in reading nonfiction this month. My nonfiction numbers have been dismal this year, so I’m game as well. I have a slew of books that I’ve been meaning to read for a long while, and so here’s my chance. I’ve picked 12 (pictured above). You can see by the top row I have three (nature) bird books as well as three farm books. In the bottom row, I have three history with a bit of art history and the last three are writers’ memoirs. I hope to slip in these reads over the next three months as I still have fiction to get to too. I’m going beyond November! Maybe right into January. Have you read any of these?

And now let’s see what’s releasing in November. In books there’s new fiction by such well-known authors as Salman Rushdie, John Irving, Sarah Hall, William Boyd, and Stewart O’Nan among others. I’m also looking at several more including a shortish novel by British author Benjamin Wood titled Seascraper (due out here Nov. 4).

This novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize and apparently readers were a bit stunned when it didn’t make the shortlist. It’s about a 20-year-old shrimp fisherman who aspires to become a folk singer. His world expands when he meets a film director who pays him to serve as a location scout. But is he all he claims to be? We will have to see.

Next up, is The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (due out Nov. 11), which is also up for the Booker Prize and is on the shortlist. Could this novel win the prize on Nov. 10? It could, though I’m still tentatively picking The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny to win.

Miller’s novel follows neighboring couples in the British countryside who endure a famously frigid winter in 1962. Publishers Weekly says it captures a “stunning portrait of domestic turmoil and post-WWII unease,” while author Tim Pears calls it “a wondrous novel about the interior lives of the occupants of two marriages, set in the intensely realized physical world they inhabit.” So we will see.

Then I’m curious to pick up a copy of Margaret Atwood’s memoir Book of Lives due out Nov. 4. Atwood is a literary giant in Canada and has lived quite the literary life, which is packed into this memoir. Her December author event in the city here sold out in hours. Over the years I’ve read about seven of her novels (so far), including The Handmaid’s Tale and the follow-up The Testaments, which won the Booker Prize in 2019.

Apparently the memoir is filled with dishy tales about her life and others she’s met, and Kirkus Reviews calls it: “engaging, wise, and marvelously witty—illuminating both the craft of writing and the art of living.” So what are we waiting for?

And now in screen releases, there’s some big stuff coming out, woohoo. In TV series, Ken Burns six-part 12-hour documentary on The American Revolution will begin Nov. 16 and air for six consecutive nights on PBS.

I’m geared up for it especially since I recently visited George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon and will be interested to review how the thirteen colonies broke from England and made a new nation. It will feature a slew of archival materials, including personal accounts read by many well-known actors including Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep among others.

Another historical show that looks good is Death by Lightning (a four-part series on Netflix, Nov. 6) about the U.S. presidency of James Garfield, leading up to his shooting by Charles Guiteau, who had been an admirer of his. It’s based on the book Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard, which I’ve heard is excellent. I have read and liked Millard’s last nonfiction book River of the Gods from 2022 and would like to get to more of her historical works. This adaptation sounds like quite a story with Michael Shannon playing the president and Matthew Macfadyen (from Succession) playing the assassin.

Then there’s several big films on the horizon, including another Wicked movie (Wicked for Good out Nov. 21) and the WWII historical drama Nuremberg (out Nov. 7) that follows a psychiatrist (played by Rami Malek) who interviews Nazi members after the war to determine whether they’re fit to stand trial and enters a “battle of wits” when he encounters Hitler’s right-hand man Hermann Göring (played by a fat-looking Russell Crowe).

I’m sure it’ll be a bit unsettling. And apparently critic Pete Hammond says: that it’s a film “incredibly relevant for now” and that all world leaders should screen the movie. Hear, hear.

Three other notable upcoming movies include: Die My Love, Train Dreams, and Hamnet. Die My Love (out Nov. 7), based on the 2012 novel by Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz, looks like the return of actress Jennifer Lawrence (where has she been? … having two kids apparently).

It’s about a writer and young mother, who develops postpartum depression and is slowly slipping into madness, which worries her partner (Robert Pattinson) who feels helpless. It looks unsettling. We want to see it too because it was filmed around Calgary and Alberta, which is supposed to be Montana in the story.

The movie Train Dreams (out Nov. 7 and on Netflix Nov. 21) is based on the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson and is about logger Robert Grainier (played by Joel Edgerton) who works to develop the railroad across the U.S., causing him to spend vast times away from his wife (played by Felicity Jones) and daughter, and is struggling with his place in a changing world.

I have not read this novella but now I want to. The film was shot around Washington State where the big trees are. It premiered at Sundance in January and was bought by Netflix, so you can check it out there if you have it.

And then there’s Hamnet (in limited release Nov. 27) based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell. It was quite a novel and looks to be a winner of a movie too. It’s about the love and loss that inspired Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Irish actor Paul Mescal (who I remember from Gladiator II) stars as William Shakespeare and Irish actress Jessie Buckley stars as his wife Agnes. You might recall Buckley from the movie Women Talking and as the narrator of the audiobook Long Island by the author Colm Toibin, which was excellent.

I didn’t even know they were making a movie of Hamnet. The Guardian critic says it’s a “poignant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel with a stirring tearjerker ending.” So get out the Kleenex box.

Lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Portugal the Man, the Avett Brothers & Mike Patton, Cheap Trick, and Mavis Staples among others. I like the Avett Brothers, but I’ll choose Mavis’s new album Sad and Beautiful World, which is her fourteenth solo studio album and includes reinventions of timeless songs as well as original music too. You can’t beat Mavis, who’s 86-years young. Here’s her cover of the song Beautiful Strangers.

That’s all for now. What new releases are looking forward to this month? Will you be reading nonfiction?

Hi all. It’s been a while. I’ve been away. I had a good trip to Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. and visited some old friends and saw some sites too, including Mount Vernon, the WWII Memorial, and the National Gallery of Art, yay. Of course, that was just before the government shutdown — which is an ugly mess now, Grrr.

And you might wonder about the photo — it’s from a walk I had with a friend along the C&O Canal towpath, which meanders 184.5 miles from Georgetown in D.C. to Cumberland, Md. The towpath was originally built in 1828 for the canal mules to walk beside the canal as they “towed” the canal boats through the waterway carrying goods. Back then President John Quincy Adams was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony. And today luckily it’s been left as a recreational path for bikers, runners and walkers, which is lovely. You can walk to your heart’s content.

Admittedly while away my reading took a bit of a hit — I finished only one book, though I hope to get back on track soon. And in book news, I see that a couple award shortlists were announced last week, including the National Book Award Fiction finalists (pictured above top row) as well as Canada’s Giller Prize shortlist (bottom row). I have not read the National Book Award contenders, but I wonder if Megha Majumdar’s new novel might win (on Nov. 19) as I thought her 2020 debut novel A Burning was quite impressive. For the Giller Prize, I have read The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, which I liked well enough, but it’s a debut, so I wonder a bit if Mona Awad’s satirical novel, or the novel Pick a Colour might win instead. Stay tuned for the Giller announcement on Nov. 17. Have you read any of these?

Now let’s talk about October releases. There’s a slew of choices that include books by such notable authors as Thomas Pynchon, John Banville, Adam Johnson, Louise Penny, John Grisham, Catherine Newman, Beth Macy, and Malala Yousafzai among others. There’s even another posthumous book by Harper Lee!

And I’m looking at a few others that include Megha Majumdar’s novel A Guardian and a Thief (due out Oct.14) about two families whose “fates become disastrously intertwined” in a world ravaged by climate change and food scarcity in a near-future India. Majumdar is said to masterfully depict morality under siege in a world where people are attempting to survive and protect their own, which is a bit daunting to read right now.

Perhaps a bit happier is Susan Orlean’s memoir Joyride (due out Oct. 14) about her personal life and career as a writer and how she found her creative calling and purpose. Orlean’s been at the New Yorker since 1992 so she has much to share about her various articles, tips for writers, and the notable staffers she’s worked with.

I have read and liked her nonfiction books The Library Book and On Animals and also liked the movie adaptation of her book The Orchid Thief, so I am game to find out more about her. I went to her book talk here when she discussed The Library Book in 2018 and she’s funny and a big animal lover, which is a big plus.

Next up is Gish Jen’s novel Bad Bad Girl (due out Oct. 21) which is said to be an autobiographical novel that traces a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship. It’s apparently based on the author’s own mother who was born in war-torn Shanghai. In the novel the family immigrates to New York City where the mother is tough on the young daughter who is berated for her curiosity and asking too many questions. I gather the mother is stuck in the old world and the daughter in the new.

Harvee at the blog Harvee Reads read an advanced copy of this book back in July, so my interest was piqued by it then, and I have not read Gish Jen yet whose many books have received various awards and honors over the years.

Another writer I’d like to read sometime is Susan Straight whose new novel Sacrament comes out Oct. 28 and is about “a group of nurses fighting through the first year of the pandemic and the beloved California community they will risk their lives to protect.” These are ICU nurses at a hospital in San Bernardino (where my dad once worked) whose tale is told in alternating points of view and captures the heroism and sacrifice of healthcare workers during the pandemic.

Apparently Susan Straight writes about Southern California and its landscape like no other and since I grew up there, I need to check out her various novels. Kirkus says Sacrament is a Covid-19 novel but also so much more.

On the screen this month, we’ll be watching the Major League baseball playoffs since the Toronto Blue Jays are making a run. They beat the Yankees (!) to move on to the next round. Oh yeah. It’s all very exciting for us here in Canada. The Blue Jays for so many years were in the basement cellar but now it’s all: Go, Go, Go!

Also we’ll check out The Lost Bus movie on AppleTV+ (out Oct. 3), though it looks scary about the fire in Paradise, California that consumed the town in 2018. Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera star as a duo who work to drive 22 children in a school bus out of a towering inferno. Oh man, it’s a tinderbox. To this day, fire is a real big fear to me. And the director Paul Greengrass, who made movies like United 93 and Captain Philips, knows just how to make you feel what’s on the screen is happening. So get your pitchfork and boots and drive out of there like there’s no tomorrow.

If I need some laughs after that I might try The Chair Company, a new TV comedy series premiering on HBO Max starting Oct. 12, starring Tim Robinson as a guy who says he’s investigating a wide-ranging conspiracy. It looks a bit funny but maybe it’s too over-the-top, so we’ll see.

And in October music releases, there’s new albums by such artists as Taylor Swift (you might have heard), Brandi Carlile, Florence & the Machine, Of Monsters and Men, Rachael Yamagata, Bahamas, and Madi Diaz among others. Chrissie Hynde even has a duets album, which seems pretty cool. I’m a bit all over the place about what to pick, but let’s go with Rachael Yamagata’s new Starlit Alchemy since it’s her first album release in nine years. Welcome back Yamagata. Here is the single Birds off that.

And now I look out this morning to see it snowed overnight. Oh my. A snow day on Oct. 12! Woohoo. Good thing we closed down the vegetable garden yesterday.

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

Hi Bookworms, I didn’t have a chance to write last weekend, but I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day break. We’ve made it to September! Crazy right? Where did the summer go? Well, it’s still pretty hot in most places. We’ve had smoke here this past week from areas west and north of us. And I can say: gray skies are no fun.

So instead of posting a photo of that, I’m going to put one of our dog Willow on a mountaintop, lol. My husband took her with his hiking group a few weeks ago and she was a popular addition. I like the photo because it sort of makes her out to be like Underdog, which was a cartoon show I watched as a kid. Underdog could fly and do anything but mostly he had to save Sweet Polly Purebred from the bad guys. That’s about what I remember. The photo and view below are also from that hike from the front range of the Canadian Rockies.

And now, let’s talk about September releases. You might wonder how I figure out which books to pick each month. Well if there’s well-known authors, or authors I’ve read and liked before, then I often pick their books. Also I do a bit of research on the book, for example I’ll check its rating on Goodreads and see on Amazon what the blurbs are on it. I’ll also see if it’s received a starred review on Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. If the novel has received stars on both of those, then I’ll take a closer look at its synopsis and see if it might be for me.

I like contemporary and literary fiction best, and sometimes historical fiction and nonfiction too. Some popular genres like: sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and mysteries are not often my picks. For whatever reason, they are not in my reading wheelhouse. But I guess every once in a blue moon, I’ll read one. Do you have genres you don’t typically read? 

So the first new release is Lily King’s novel Heart the Lover (due out Sept. 30) about a love triangle — between a girl and two guys — who meet in literature class senior year in college. The three become close, and apparently choices made then will alter their three lives forever. But then decades later a surprise visit and unexpected news will bring the past crashing back to the present, uh-oh. Love it when that happens. And apparently two of the characters become writers so writing and books I think are featured prominently in the plot, yay. 

It sounds like a winner, so what are we waiting for? I have read and enjoyed two of Lily King’s novels before: Writers & Lovers from 2020 and Euphoria from 2014. So I will continue on with her.

Next up is Nathan Harris’s second novel Amity (out Sept. 2) about a formerly enslaved brother and sister in the tumultuous aftermath of the Civil War. Their odyssey to find true freedom takes them across the deserts of Mexico to escape a former master still intent on their bondage. It’s been called both harrowing and deeply moving — and an “epic tale of a budding genius pulled through the borderlands,” according to author Andrea Barrett. 

I’ve been meaning to read Harris’s much praised writing before. I still have his debut novel The Sweetness of Water, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021, on my shelves to be read. It’s got some dust on it, but hopefully I’ll get to both sometime.

I’m also looking to read Kiran Desai’s big 688-page novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (due out Sept. 23), which is on the Booker longlist this year. It seems to be an epic, sweeping love story between two young Indian writers who “discover their conjoined destinies by leaving home, coming back, connecting, disconnecting, and swimming in the ocean at Goa,” according to Kirkus Reviews. Publishers Weekly calls it “A sweeping page-turner … a kind of Romeo and Juliet story for a modern, globalized age.” 

I don’t often read such long, long novels, but all the praise on this book  makes me want to get it. I’m betting it makes the Booker shortlist, which will be announced the day the novel comes out on Sept. 23, so we’ll see. I’m wondering if it might even win.

Lastly in books, I’ll mention the novel The Wilderness (due out Sept. 16) by Angela Flournoy about five Black women over the course of their twenty-year friendship, as they move through the hectic period between young adulthood and midlife. From all the blurbs I’ve read, this one sounds like a good friendship novel, and the best novels about that can be really rewarding. 

And for whatever reason, I missed Flournoy’s 2015 debut novel The Turner House, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, so I might like to go back and read that novel sometime as well. It’s been 10 years since then, but now Flournoy’s new second book is coming out, yay.

In screen releases this month, there’s a lot of notable ones coming out, so I’ll try to be brief. For those who liked the gritty crime series Mare of Eastown set in Pennsylvania, you might also like the series Task (on HBO, starting Sept. 7) by the same creators about an FBI agent (played by Mark Ruffalo) who heads a Task Force in Philadelphia to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man. This crime drama looks pretty action packed and gritty, so hold onto your hats. Mark Ruffalo is usually quite good, so bring it on. 

Also for those who like the comedy-drama Only Murderers in the Building, Season 5 begins Sept. 9 on Hulu. I have not followed this show, but I know many enjoy it and I think all the same stars and characters are back. 

There’s also another Downtown Abbey movie (not series) titled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, which apparently is a sequel to the 2022 Downton movie A New Era if you saw that. This one follows the Crawleys and their staff as they enter the 1930s and Mary causes a public scandal when she gets a divorce and the family faces financial troubles. Apparently the Crawleys must embrace change as they prepare for the next generation to lead Downton into the future.

Unfortunately this is said to be the third and final film so we won’t get to see anymore, argh. I always like watching Downton for the grandeur of the sets and costumes and characters … and also to see if the yellow Labrador is still part of the family. I really hope so. 

And for fans of the TV series The Morning Show, Season 4 will start Sept. 17 on AppleTV+. This is a crazy drama-filled show we follow about a major TV station in New York with various broadcast news divas played by Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon and has a large cast that includes Billy Crudup, Jon Hamm, and now Marion Cotillard. What AppleTV says about the new season: Two years after the business merger in Season 3, “the newsroom must grapple with newfound responsibility, hidden motives and the elusive nature of truth in a polarized America. In a world rife with deepfakes, conspiracy theories and corporate cover-ups — who can you trust?” Well my answer is for the current power brokers sadly not many at all. 

Next is the British spy series Slow Horses Season 5 (starting Sept. 24 on AppleTV+). This is an enjoyable show led by Gary Oldman as the unkempt, rude Jackson Lamb, the head of the MI5 unit known as Slow Horses, and it seems the entire cast including Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden (now married to Saoirse Ronan in real life) will be back, yay. This new season finds the misfit spies investigating a series of bizarre events and terror plots occurring across London — and how it all might be connected to their IT expert’s glamorous new girlfriend. There’s just six episodes this season (like the others) so it’ll be quick.

Two more screen releases to possibly think about: the biographical movie Swiped (out Sept. 19) stars Lily James as Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and CEO of Bumble, an online dating app. She was previously co-founder of Tinder but left in 2014, not that I know much about dating apps, but it is with Lily James and that might be reason enough to check out the movie.

Also the TV crime series The Savant (starting Sept. 26 on AppleTV+) stars Jessica Chastain as an agent who infiltrates online hate-groups in order to prevent large-scale public attacks. It looks pretty intense and scary to think about, so I’m not sure if that one will be for me, but I’ll put it out there for Chastain fans. 

Lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Ed Sheeran, David Byrne, Sarah McLachlan, Amanda Shires, Robert Plant, Neko Case, and the band Wednesday among others. I’ll pick Sarah McLachlan’s new album Better Broken (out Sept. 19) since she’s a Canadian and it’s been nine years since her last one. There’s also a documentary (Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery) about the Lilith Fair tour, which she founded in 1997, coming out on Hulu Sept. 21, so that’ll be interesting. You can hear the single off her new album here. Happy listening.

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

Hi bookworms, how’s life? I missed posting over the weekend because busy life got in the way, but I’m pleased now to be back to talk about August releases. Can you believe we’re this late into summer already? Argh. When you live in a northern country you begin to worry a bit about the short time you have left for warm weather. We need to cram our vegetable season in. Our hay bales were cut just last week and we had enough to make seven bales in our backfield, but last year we had eleven bales. Hmm. Not sure if all the rain gave us less growth (you’d think more?) but perhaps that’s what happened. 

Lately we’ve had some epic storm clouds and thunder. I try to come in from the yard before it looks like there will be lightning. I’d rather not risk it even if the storm is a bit farther away than I realize, lol.

Anyways next week I’ll be flying to California to enjoy a week at the beach. I’ll take a dip in the ocean and bring a bag of books. And of course I’ll miss my parents and will be thinking of them there. It’s just been four months since I lost my dad, very sadly. But I hope to see my brother, niece, niece-in-law, and grandniece.

And now let’s talk about the Booker Prize longlist (photo above) that was announced recently. It looks like a good list of 13 novels. Have you read any of these? I have not read any yet, but Katie Kitamura’s novel Audition is on my summer list and I plan to get to it this month. I have read Kitamura’s other novels and have read two previous novels of Susan Choi’s … as well as the first novel of Natasha Brown titled Assembly, so I’m familiar with a few of these authors. But I wonder if I’ve heard the most hype about David Szalay’s novel Flesh and Kiran Desai’s upcoming novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny due out Sept. 23, so I’m slightly thinking these two might have the edge for the Prize. But it’s crazy that Desai’s novel is coming out the same day as the shortlist is being announced. It’s a long novel too at 688 pages! Good luck reading it before the Booker Prize is announced on Nov. 10. 

And now let’s talk about books coming out in August. This month there’s many new-to-me authors, so it makes choosing books a little more uncertain. I’ve only read author Jason Mott before (Hell of a Book), who’s coming out with a new novel titled People Like Us on Aug. 5.

I’ll likely get to it, but I also have my eye on a few others first … particularly Sam Wachman’s debut novel The Sunflower Boys (due out Aug. 12) about a 12-year-old boy wrestling with his sexuality as war breaks out in modern Ukraine. It’s said to be a compelling coming-of-age story that depicts brutal war scenes from the Ukraine-Russia war and has received much high praise. It’s written by a 25-year-old debut author (whoa) from Massachusetts who has Ukrainian roots. So we will see.

Next up is a novel called Fonseca (due out Aug. 12) by Jessica Francis Kane, which is based on the true story of a trip taken in 1952 by British author Penelope Fitzgerald who wrote such modern classics as The Bookshop (1978) and The Blue Flower (1997) to a desert town in northern Mexico. She sets sail to New York with her six-year-old son then they go by bus the rest of the way to Mexico in search of a much-needed inheritance, but when she gets there nothing goes as planned.

Apparently the novel pays homage to the author and is much more. (Carmen, since you read many of Fitzgerald’s novels earlier this year, you might be curious about this novel based on a real trip the author took.) I hope to read Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel The Bookshop soon to better enjoy Kane’s story.

Also getting some buzz are debut novels by Addie E. Citchens (Dominion) and Lisa Ridzen (When the Cranes Fly South), which both come out Aug. 19 and look good. Dominion is said to be a Southern family drama in which “sins of a favorite son rock a small Mississippi town” and “a family unravels amid shocking violence.” It’s received starred reviews from both Kirkus and PW, and author Roxane Gay says:

“This is one hell of a novel. It will grab you in the gut and hold you there. It’s absolutely outstanding.” Others call it a stunning novel not to be missed, so I’m game. It’s been a long while since I’ve read a hardcore Southern novel in the vein of Faulkner.  

The second one When the Cranes Fly South apparently received Sweden’s book of the year award and was a big bestseller there. It’s said to be a moving debut novel that follows an elderly man’s attempts to mend his relationship with his son before it’s too late.

The Guardian calls it: “A simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care. . . . Anyone anywhere who has worried for a crumbling parent, or worried about the crumble in themselves, or simply worried that their dog understood them better than their family, will identify with Ridzén’s novel and take it to heart.” So I guess I better check it out. 

On the screen this month, there’s the gritty film adaptation of Night Always Comes (on Netflix Aug. 15) based on the novel by Willy Vlautin about a flawed, determined woman (played by Vanessa Kirby) who “embarks on a dangerous, one-night odyssey through Portland’s criminal underbelly in a desperate attempt to gather enough cash to keep her family from eviction.”

This looks sort of scary, but if anyone can do it, I think a hell-bent Vanessa Kirby (previously in The Crown) can find enough cash in time, but she has to risk everything along the way of course. And the best part? Jennifer Jason Leigh plays her messed up mother! 

Also a remake of War of the Roses is afoot … this time with Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman as the picture-perfect couple whose marriage turns into a tinderbox of competition and resentments  in The Roses (out Aug. 29). You remember the first film in 1989 with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner? Well I don’t recall it too well, but they were at each other’s throats like cats and dogs. And now Cumberbatch and Coleman will pick up the roles and should make it a fun black comedy. 

I’m also curious about the indie movie A Little Prayer (due out Aug. 29), which stars David Strathairn as a man who tries to protect his daughter-in-law (played by Jane Levy) when he discovers his son is having an affair. Now that would be awkward. The drama was filmed in Winston-Salem, N.C. David Strathairn is a gem of an actor whom I once ran into in Albany airport. He has small roles here and there and appeared a bit in the excellent film Nomadland. 

And lastly in music for August there are new albums releasing by The Black Keys, Charley Crockett, Molly Tuttle, Maroon 5, and Kathleen Edwards among others. They all seem quite good, but I’ll go with Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards’s new album Billionaire due out Aug. 22. She’s been working with Jason Isbell of late who co-produced the album. Here is her song Little Red Ranger from the album. Enjoy.

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