Hi Jane: glad to make your day with news of the new Tana French book. It seems she’s putting out novels once a year or every other year lately. I’ll stop by your site to see which one you’re reading. Have a lovely October.

Hey Ti, yeah we had a good trip away for a week. Sorry to hear you have not been feeling well. That’s tough — I too have been distracted away from reading. Also I’ve had the shingles shot (includes 2 shots months apart) … the first one is pretty brutal and will make your arm very sore for like 3 days so it’s not fun.
I’m on the wait list for the Cardiff book … so I hope it’s a good one for Halloween month. I haven’t done any spooky reads yet for RIP. Hope you feel better soon. take care.

I just got Cardiff from the library. It just came out? Odd that it was so readily available from the library but it looks really good. I’ve been so distracted by who is positive and the craziness of 45 attending a rally this Saturday that I’ve not been able to read.

So your trip went well?

Hey thanks Lesley for all your thoughts on these. Ha I had to laugh on what you said about Hugh Grant and Kidman and what you cannot watch. We all have these kinds of things … and shows we have to sneak for one reason or another. Hopefully Rebecca will be a winner for all. And so glad you saw Springsteen in ’84, wow! He was big then.
It sounds like you see some beautiful foliage when you head inland there. We still have mild temps here which is a bit unusual, pretty dry too. Hope your fires in Oregon are done! I sort of think I might skip Tana French’s new novel … sounds like a slow burn novel … but I have too much else! Hope you have a great month!

Yes, the stress levels are climbing the closer we get to election day. I don’t know if you watched the VP debate, but Harris was a rock star! She gives me hope for our democracy! I am so glad you are able to vote as a Virginia resident. Yay!!

I enjoy memoirs over biographies, as I find them more engaging. I’ll bet the Plath book is good, though. I used to love Tana French’s mysteries, but her more recent releases haven’t thrilled me, so I’m not sure if I’ll give this new one a try. I loved The Likeness, In the Woods, and Faithful Place, but was greatly disappointed with The Secret Place and gave up on The Trespasser. You’ll have to let me know about The Searcher. 🙂 I have Leave the World Behind ready to go on audio once I finished Joe Hill’s chunkster, The Fireman. Alam’s book sounds like my sort of book!

As far as the shows you’ve mentioned, The Undoing sounds like it has possibilities, but my husband refuses to watch anything with Hugh Grant and my mom doesn’t like Nicole Kidman, so I may be on my own with that one. 🙂 I do think they’ll both watch the new Rebecca with me, however.

I didn’t know Springsteen was coming out with a new album. I’m a fan, but it’s been years since I’ve bought any of his cds. I saw him in L.A. in 1984 during his Born in the USA tour. It was an amazing show.

Thanks for the great write-up of all these new releases. Take good care!

Hi. You make good points about biographies vs. memoirs etc. Memoirs have been really popular the past decade but are not always better than the art of biography and the distance & history analyzing a life often requires. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a biography but I do have some in my piles. The Wilkerson book is a good example of a very notable one & a history and I’m glad you read & thought it was excellent. I still plan to get to it! The Trevor Noah memoir I’ve heard is quite good … but you’ll have to report back on it … to tell me if it’s a must-do. thanks for weighing in here.

Hey Laurel, thanks for stopping by. The books keep on coming … and the new TV shows too … thank goodness. The Undoing should be interesting … I’ll look for it coming out on HBO. And I’ll see what you think of it. You might get to it before me … We just finished the space series Away and now are into Tehran on Apple. The biographies do look enticing this month … Enjoy your October!