Boo. Happy Halloween. I hope everyone has fun tonight. We had our first snow last week, but we can handle it. It’s typical this time of year. And November is almost here. There’s quite a bit happening this month, including the time change, a few key literary award announcements, and of course U.S. Thanksgiving. Though unfortunately I won’t be going anywhere as I’m having (right) knee replacement surgery on Nov. 29. Gulp. Yeah, I’m getting up there. I’m sure the sports I did most of my life (as well as my genetics) contributed to the loss of cartilage in my knees. I will try to grin and bear it as best as possible.
Meanwhile there’s many releases to talk about this month, especially in movies. But first there’s new fiction by such notable authors as Michael Cunningham, Paul Auster, Jonathan Evison, Sigrid Nunez, Naomi Alderman, and another Molly the Maid mystery by Nita Prose.
I’m hoping to read a new slim collection of short stories by Irish writer Claire Keegan called So Late in the Day (due out Nov. 14), though the three stories in it aren’t actually new. They span her career and have been repackaged into this book. Kirkus says the selected stories “examine the power dynamics between men and women through relationships, chance encounters, and sex.”
I have liked Keegan’s spare, direct writing style and her themes in her two books Small Things Like These and Foster so I will continue on to check this one out.
Next up, since it’s nonfiction November month I’ll pick Liza Mundy’s new book The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA, which actually came out Oct. 17, so I’m sort of cheating since this isn’t a November release. But I only found out about it recently! The book covers three generations of women at the CIA: the early days after WWII, then after the Cold War, and recently after the attacks of 9/11. It tells about the sexism and discrimination the women faced at the CIA as well as their struggle to get their voices heard.
I think the early operatives’ stories will be interesting. And I still have Mundy’s 2017 book Code Girls on my shelves waiting to be read, so perhaps I could read them close together. That’s a lot of women’s history for sure.
Speaking of history, I’ll pick Jon Clinch’s historical novel The General and Julia (due out Nov. 14) as my third choice. It explores the life of Ulysses S. Grant, who in writing his memoirs in 1885 reflects on his past as the Civil War general and former president, his marriage to his wife Julia, and his entanglement in a terrible Ponzi scheme.
As it goes back and forth in time, the novel sounds like it delivers a moving story of an iconic figure, whose views on race and Reconstruction changed over time. This is my first book by the author who lives in Vermont.
And for extra credit this month, Ed Park’s speculative novel Same Bed Different Dreams (due out Nov. 7) has been getting a lot of talk … as a wild sweeping novel that imagines an alternate secret history of Korea to the present “suffused with postmodern weirdness.”
Publishers Weekly has already picked it as one of its Top 10 books of the year, calling it ingenious. Is it? Well it will likely need to wait as a 544-page fever dream kind of novel is not really in my wheelhouse right now, but I will keep it on the back burner maybe for next year.
Meanwhile there’s a slew of upcoming screen releases. First in TV series, you might be keen to check out Black Cake on Hulu starting Nov. 1, based on the 2022 novel by Charmaine Wilkerson about two estranged siblings who delve into their mother’s secret past after she dies and leaves behind a puzzling will. I still need to read this one.
Then the bestselling WWII novel All the Light We Cannot See is coming out as a four-part miniseries on Netflix starting Nov. 2. It’s been long anticipated and I liked the 2014 novel quite a bit, but the critics have not liked it much, argh. Still I will likely see it, if we decide to get Netflix this month.
Moving on to Season 6 of The Crown. Whoa it’s the final season airing on Netflix starting Nov. 16. Most of the cast is back from Season 5, which I think I missed, with Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in her final days. Apparently it covers the years 1997 to 2005 and will feature flashbacks with Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman as the Queen too. At least that’s what I heard. I’m game for this final round.
Though Season 2 of Julia is also starting Nov. 16 on HBO Max, with Sarah Lancashire as the iconic Julia Childs. Yea, we liked Season 1, and the new season features Julia and her husband Paul enjoying epic culinary adventures in France. It was shot on location in the South of France and features most of the returning cast, so what are we waiting for?
Though I might need to watch Fargo Season 5 (airing on FX and Hulu Nov. 21) since it was shot around Calgary and Alberta. The new season features Jon Hamm as a preacher and sheriff who thinks he’s above the law and Jennifer Jason Leigh as his mother-in-law, the Queen of debt. I have not watched this series before, but it’s never too late to start.
In movies, there’s a feast of new Oscar hopefuls due out including director Sophia Coppola’s latest Priscilla (releasing Nov. 3) based on the life of Priscilla Presley played by Missouri’s own Cailee Spaeny.
The film has received some pretty strong vibes … along with director Alexander Payne’s latest comedy-drama called The Holdovers, which is about a cranky teacher (played by Paul Giamatti) at a prep school who must remain on campus over the holidays with some students who have nowhere else to go. Set in 1970, it looks like a fun, warmhearted movie that was shot in Massachusetts. Who doesn’t love a quirky Giamatti?
Another Hunger Games movie is out Nov. 17, based on the last book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It features a whole new cast. No more Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, so I think I’m out.
But Thanksgiving week, a few big movies will release: including Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon (due out Nov. 22) with Joaquin Phoenix as the ruthless French emperor. Apparently the film includes six major battle scenes and depicts “Napoleon’s rise to power through the lens of his volatile relationship with Empress Josephine” played by Vanessa Kirby. Oh my. Ridley Scott’s films always take me back to Gladiator, which I swear is on TV about every weekend.
But if that is too much for you, then you might like the laughs in Nicolas Cage’s upcoming film Dream Scenario (due out Nov. 22), where he plays a hapless man whose world is turned upside down when millions of strangers start seeing him in their dreams. Ha. It looks funny and could be just the comedy needed for the holidays.
Cage plays goofy characters pretty convincingly and I’m still reminded of his kooky role as the twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman in the 2002 movie Adaptation, which cracked me up.
Lastly in movies is Leave the World Behind (due out Nov. 22) based on the 2020 apocalyptic novel by Rumaan Alam. Oh yeah this was a good spooky one … about a family’s vacation at a luxurious rental home on Long Island that is interrupted when two African American strangers knock on the door bearing news of a mysterious blackout. Uh-oh. Things get dicey from there, remember?
The movie stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke among others. I recall listening to the audio narrated by Marin Ireland and feeling a bit eerie as I walked through the woods with it.
Finally in music this month, there’s new albums that seem appealing by Dolly Parton, Passenger, and Amos Lee among others. Though I’ll pick singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton’s latest one called Higher, which is due out Nov. 10. Here’s a track off of that called White Horse, which is vintage Stapleton. Enjoy.
That’s all for now. What about you — which releases look good to you? Happy November.
Wow, snow! I’m not ready for that yet. The picture looks good though. 🙂 So much to read and watch. I’ll pass November releases. I’ll be reading releases from earlier in the year from this point on. I’m interested in watching Napoleon and Priscilla, and Julia and The Crown, though I’ll have to stream from the beginning because I haven’t watched any season of either one yet. I’m watching Games of Thrones again; I’m on Season 3 now, so any other shows will have to wait. Reading-wise, I’m close to finishing Happiness Falls by Angie Kim, for the Kindle End-of-the-Year Challenge.
Happy reading and Happy Halloween, Susan!
Thanks Carmen. November is bursting with stuff! — especially for what to watch. I agree with you — I’m also reading things from earlier in the year that I want to get to. I have like 7 on my list before these above. I will look to see what you think of the Angie Kim novel. I don’t think it’s for me (after her debut) but I know others like her. I’ve wanted to watch G.O.T. in the past but my spouse hasn’t been onboard — but maybe I will watch it on my own. We are about to finish The Morning Show Season 3 … which is pretty crazy & trashy but if we get to the end then we’ll be done with it. Hope you have a great reading month!
I had not realized there was a series based on “Black Cake” coming out. I sort of liked the book, although I had some reservations about it, but I will look for the series. “All the Light We Cannot See” was a rare five-star read for me so I’ll definitely be watching that one. And “Julia” and “Fargo” – wow! November is shaping up as a good viewing month.
Yeah Dorothy. I was surprised by how many shows/movies are airing in November. It’s a crazy amount. But good for us. I plan to go back and read Black Cake. I think the TV series looks pretty good. See what you think of it. And the All the Light series has received bad reviews which is a big bummer but … it’s better to judge for ourselves. Hope you have a wonderful November.
I’m looking forward to watching Leave the World Behind. And that Sisterhood book about women in the CIA sounds very interesting. We got a dusting of snow on our mountains last week, but it all melted away. It’s been really cold this week though. Guess winter is really here. Good luck with your knee surgery this month!
Thanks Lark. The surgery is quite daunting but I will try not to think about it right now. And I can’t tell if this first snow will melt away completely or if it’s here to stay. Hmm the temps seem above freezing.
I hope Leave the World Behind will be good too … it looks pretty good. Enjoy.
Wow. It feels like I just read your October Preview and now it’s November. The days are flying by…
Beautiful photo of the sunrise (sunset?). We used to have a similar view when we lived in Nebraska and the sunrises were glorious!
Good luck with the knee replacement surgery. My knees give me trouble every now and then, but nothing so terrible that I’ve felt the need to seek out any advice from an orthopedic surgeon. At what point did you feel you needed to? Just curious.
Lots of good releases this month. I’m very much interested in Cunningham’s Day, which makes me think I also want to reread The Hours. Speaking of rereads, I’ve got All the Light We Cannot See on my nightstand to read again before I watch the miniseries. Hmm, if the critics don’t like it, maybe I should wait to reread the novel after I watch the show. I’m definitely interested in The Crown, especially if Foy and Coleman make appearances. I missed Season 1 of Julia, but will add it to my list. Dream Scenario sounds more like a Stephen King book than a comedy. 😉 I read Leave the World Behind (on audio) and thought it was pretty good, so we’ll watch the movie. Great cast!
Good luck with your surgery & recovery.
Thanks Lesley. The surgery is daunting but I hope it’ll work out. Basically if you have knee pain, doctors can tell by x-rays if you have osteoarthritis or if you have no cartilage left as the joint will be bone-on-bone, which they can see in the xray, and makes it painful over time and it might fail, so they can replace.
It is indeed the sunset over the snow. We get some good ones here.
If you get to the Day novel, let us know if it’s good. So much to watch this month, but we still need to start the new Bosch. See what you think of Julia. It’s sort of light fun. It will be another busy month. Hope you enjoy the Cove. A lot of rain in Vancouver right now.
Liza Mundy’s book Code Girls inspired the novel that I’m working on! The CIA book sounds terrific, too.
I’m excited about The Crown. I didn’t know about Julia. We recently got Max, so I may give that a try. Thanks!
Hi Joy, wow that’s neat about Code Girls … and your novel. I wish you much luck and fun with it. I need to read both Mundy books!
See what you think of Julia … can you get Season 1 as well? Cheers. Happy November.
Oh, wow…Jon Clinch is an author I had kind of forgotten about despite really enjoying a couple of books I read by him a few years ago. “Finn” and “Kings of the Earth” were both very good to me, and to a lesser degree I also enjoyed his “Marley.” So I’m really glad to see the Grant book you mention here. I’ve done a lot of reading on that period of Grant’s life, so it will be interesting to get another take on it.
And what great TV shows you’ve uncovered. It’s hard to work in much reading time when so much good stuff hits the screen so close together. I’m particularly curious about the “Dream Scenario” and “Napoleon” movies since Cage and Phoenix are such scene-stealers in everything I’ve seen of theirs. Sometimes it’s hard to take my eyes off their faces.
Enjoy the snow. It’s cooler and wetter down here these days. Kind of uncomfortable when the wind blows, but still better than that spell of near-110 degrees we were going through back in August.
Hi Sam, yeah I thought you might like the Jon Clinch book. It sounds good and I’d be interested since you know much about Grant already if you think the novel is good & accurate. I’m sure he follows Grant’s own memoirs etc. It seems my library hasn’t ordered it yet. Hmm. But it got a starred review from Kirkus.
There’s a lot to watch this month! I think we might start Bosch Legacy 2 soon.
It looks like near 50 degree temps will return here — so likely the snow will melt away. I hope enjoy the cooler temps there. Cheers!
That snow looks beautiful. I have never lived anywhere where there is real snow (Alabama and Southern California), so I probably would not adapt very well.
Although I have copies of all of Keegan’s books, I have not read any of them. I should do that soon. The Sisterhood also looks very good, since I read a lot of spy fiction, and recently have been reading a series with a female CIA agent who started working for them during the Cold War.
I am not looking forward to the time change this weekend. Sorry to hear about your knee surgery; I am sure it will go well.
TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery
Thanks Tracy. Fingers crossed about the surgery.
I grew up in Southern Cal too … but moved here from D.C. Still it took me about 5 years to adapt to the Canadian winters. I walk my dogs year around which can be frigid. ha. Layers … and more layers.
I just picked up a brand new copy of Sisterhood from the Library! Wow I feel lucky to get it. I look forward to your review of the CIA novel. Spy ones can be so good. Have a great week.
The snow looks great. I am in north Florida ( may as well be in Georgia as we are near the line) and it was 34 this morning. No snow for us though.
Hope your knee replacement surgery goes well. I have spent some time at the Local orthopedic clinic over damaged knees so I empathize.
Boks! I didn’t know about Claire Keegan’s upcoming release and like you, I enjoyed Foster and Small Things by her. I already had the Sisterhood of the CIA on my list on Goodreads but I get excellent suggestions from you, love reading your book suggestions.
Thanks Tina, I’m glad we have similar reading tastes. I try to watch for your reviews, which are always good & helpful. Great to hear from you too. I can’t believe Florida got down to 34 degrees, wow! That’s early for that.
And thanks for the surgery encouragement, sigh it’s something I’m a bit scared to think about. I hope your knees are doing better.
I just got a brand new copy of Sisterhood of the CIA from the library! I feel lucky there wasn’t a long wait list. For Keegan I might have to wait.
Happy reading & November to you!
Everyone I know who has had knee surgery lately has said the same thing: The surgery and recovery was much easier than I anticipated…why did I wait so long to do it? I hope you feel the same.
I am eager to read the new Claire Keegan book, too. Unfortunately my library doesn’t even have a copy of it yet.
It’s been chilly here (finally!) so I guess it takes snow where you are for us to cool down and send summer on its way.
Hi Deb. Cooler weather sounds good for you.
I’m on the wait list for the Keegan book … it’s on order here. I hope your library will get it soon.
Thanks for the encouragement about the knee surgery. I think that’s great to hear. I’ve been quite worried about it and have been on the wait list here for it for more than a year. So many seniors are getting it. I have to get the other knee done next year. Sigh. I decided not to get them done together.
Hope you have a great weekend.
Oh my, so much good stuff in this preview post! I keep meaning to read All the Light We Cannot See but I don’t actually do it. Maybe I’ll watch the miniseries and get inspired to read.
Black Cake was a good book so I may not watch so it is preserved in my mind.
And the Crown! My daughter just mentioned she hasn’t watched season 5 so maybe we’ll watch that to prepare for the final season.
Good luck with knee surgery!
Thanks Helen. The surgery is daunting but I hope to get through it.
I agree there’s a lot this month to see. I still need to read Black Cake and I think I will before seeing the show. I must see The Crown too. Final season!
I might preserve the memory of the book on All the Light. But we’ll see.
Enjoy your weekend.
Hope the knee surgery goes well. You will probably be in bed reading for a while afterwards. I have had hip replacements and am walking quite well now. Best of luck.
Thanks Harvee. It’s good to know you are doing well with walking now. I plan to get the other knee replaced next year. One at a time. I’m hoping to get more reading done while recovering. It’s a long road I think.
Have a great weekend. & Thx for telling me about yours. It helps.
As mentioned before, Oct feels too early for snow, but what a beautiful photo! Good luck with the knee replacement surgery. A friend of my mother had it done recently and it went really well.
Since I didn’t love Small Things Like These, I doubt So Late in the Day will be a priority. I might try Foster, which some people seem to prefer over Small Things… The book about women in the CIA sounds interesting. It’s nice to mix it up with a bit of nonfiction.
Thanks Stargazer. All the knee surgery encouragement helps since I’m a big chicken about this. Glad to hear about your Mom’s friend. And you’ll be glad to know the snow has melted away here so now we are back to fall conditions.
I have so much to read before year end though I’m sure I won’t get to all that I want to. There’s a chance Keegan might not be for you. See what you think of Foster. I wanted a bit from that story. I do hope I can mix in a nonfiction book this month. Hope your reading is going well. Have a great week.
The combination of snow and sunset make for a beautiful photo! We have our first freeze on the CT coast, but no snow. My family has sent all sorts of snow photos from central NY though… thankfully it melted pretty quickly!
I’m looking forward to Claire Keegan’s collection and Liza Mundy’s CIA book. I enjoyed Code Girls a few years ago. I’ll probably read Michael Cunningham’s new novel, Day, at some point, too.
Good luck with the knee surgery. I’ll be thinking of you an the 29th!
Thanks JoAnn. I need some encouragement on the knee front. It’s been awhile since I went to a hospital and I’m chicken about the surgery. lol.
It’s nice you don’t have snow yet. Our snow here just melted away so we are back to fall conditions. hmm. What kind of winter will it be?
It’s good (as usual) we have some of the same books on our radar. I’m not sure when I will get to these but I have them on my list.
I hope you had a great wedding week awhile ago … for your daughter.
Good luck with the knee surgery! I loved reading All The Light We Cannot See and am looking forward to the show. I need to find time to watch it.
Hi AJ: We are just now watching the series All the Light We Cannot See … and are liking it. There’s just 4 episodes so it moves pretty swiftly.
And thanks the surgery is going to be pretty major for me. 2 weeks left!
Cheers.
I hope your knee surgery goes well, Susan! My uncles and aunts all had knee surgery with little to no complications, and hopefully your surgery and recovery will go smoothly too!
The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA does sound interesting! I would be interested in reading that. I still haven’t read All the Light We Cannot See or Black Cake, which I would like to do before I see the series that recently came out for both. I probably should move them up on my TBR pile.
I hope you enjoy your reading and have a great November!
Thanks LF. I appreciate your encouragement about the knee surgery. Goodness knows I’m quite chicken about it. Glad to hear your relatives have done well with the surgery. That gives me hope.
I still want to read Black Cake since the series looks good! We are watching the 4 episode series All the Light We Cannot See now and are liking it. Can I just abbreviate the novel ATLWCS?! What a mouthful – the title. I think you’d like the books & shows. Cheers!