{October Reading List - 2017}

Happy October! I truly will never tire of saying that! How could you? Now, if only I lived somewhere that has been golden yellows, and vibrant oranges for weeks now, alas - that is the dream! 

>>Nevertheless, go put on your furry slippers, your favorite grandpa cardi, make yourself a delicious and hot beverage in an adorable Autumnal mug, and get cozy with me as I get overly excited about NEW RELEASES for October! Okay, and one for November, because: STEVIE! 


The Designer by Marius Gabriel - October 1st - Lake Union Publishing
Blurb: "In 1944, newly married Copper Reilly arrives in Paris soon after the liberation. While the city celebrates its freedom, she’s stuck in the prison of an unhappy marriage. When her husband commits one betrayal too many, Copper demands a separation. 
Alone in Paris, she finds an unlikely new friend: an obscure, middle-aged designer from the back rooms of a decaying fashion house whose timid nature and reluctance for fame clash with the bold brilliance of his designs. His name is Christian Dior.
Realising his genius, Copper urges Dior to strike out on his own, helping to pull him away from his insecurities and towards stardom. With just a camera and a typewriter, she takes her own advice and ventures into the wild and colourful world of fashion journalism.
Soon Copper finds herself torn between two very different suitors, questioning who she is and what she truly wants. As the city rebuilds and opulence returns, can Copper make a new, love-filled life for herself?" 
YESPLEASE! Historical Fiction centering around one of the greatest creatives the Fashion World has ever, will ever, know, as encouraged by a Woman who is inspired to be a better and complete version of herself. YES! YES! 
And SURPRISE! If you are an Amazon Member, and read via Kindle (even the App!!) you can download this for FREE right now! BOOM! Enjoy! (Also, totally worth downloading the FREE Kindle App for, jus' sayin'!) I cannot wait to dive in, and be swept away! 


Joni: The Anthology by Barney Hoskyns - October 3rd - Picador 
Blurb:"Nine Grammys. More than ten million albums sold. Named one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time by Rolling Stone. Joni: The Anthology is an essential collection of writings on Joni Mitchell that charts every major moment of the famed troubadour's extraordinary career, as it happened.
From album reviews, incisive commentary, and candid conversations, Joni: The Anthology includes, among other things, a review of Mitchell's first-ever show at LA's Troubadour in June of 1968, a 1978 interview by musician Ben Sidran on jazz great Charles Mingus, a personal reminiscence by Ellen Sander, a confidant of the Los Angeles singer-songwriter community, and a long "director's cut" version of editor Barney Hoskyns' 1994 MOJO interview. A time capsule of an icon, the anthology spans the entirety of Joni's career between 1967-2007, as well as thoughtful commentary on her early years.
In collecting materials long unavailable, rare, or otherwise difficult to find, Joni: The Anthology illuminates the evolution of modern rock journalism while providing an invaluable and accessible guide to appreciating the highs--and the lows--of a twentieth century legend.
"Once I crossed the border, I began to write and my voice changed. I no longer was imitative of the folk style. My voice was then my real voice and with a slight folk influence, but from the first album it was no longer folk music. It was just a girl with a guitar that made it look that way."--Joni Mitchell, 1994"
This is the first of two books on Joni Mitchell that are coming out this October, and I had to include both, because I have read several books on Joni, and I personally can never get enough! I have always been an immense lover of music, and especially the poetry and song, of a singer/songwriter. The depths, the pains, the blood that runs through the veins of a lyric. It is everyday magic. It is alive. It is transforming and ethereal.


Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan - October 3rd - Scribner
Blurb:"Manhattan Beach opens in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to the house of a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. Anna observes the uniformed servants, the lavishing of toys on the children, and some secret pact between her father and Dexter Styles.
Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. She is the sole provider for her mother, a farm girl who had a brief and glamorous career as a Ziegfield folly, and her lovely, severely disabled sister. At a night club, she chances to meet Styles, the man she visited with her father before he vanished, and she begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life.
Mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful, with the pace and atmosphere of a noir thriller and a wealth of detail about organized crime, the merchant marine and the clash of classes in New York, Egan’s first historical novel is a masterpiece, a deft, startling, intimate exploration of a transformative moment in the lives of women and men, America, and the world."
This sounds rich and intriguing! I am excited to read something else from her, as I read A Visit from the Goon Squad, and wasn't in the right head-space and just did not connect with it at the time. Perhaps if I enjoy this one, I will go back and reread it! Sometimes we need the right book at the right time, and when that does align we end up tossing away something that may just have been meant to be read in a different season of our lives! 


Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy and Erin Bennett - October 10th - Hachette Books
Blurb:"In the tradition of Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, Code Girls is the astonishing, untold story of the young American women who cracked key Axis codes, helping to secure Allied victory and revolutionizing the field of cryptanalysis.
Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history; now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment."
I LOVED Hidden Figures, and The Girls of Atomic City is on my TBR (To Be Read) list! I am so excited and utterly grateful that these stories of the heroics of Women are slowly being told! It gives me great hope! I cannot wait to share with my children what anyone and everyone can do when they are brave and bold! 


The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman - October 10th - Simon & Schuster 
Blurb:"For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.
Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.
From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.
The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy." 
YES, WITCHES!! Alice Hoffman is back to bring us all the history of our favorites Aunts, from one of our all-time favorite movies to revisit every Fall! Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman was written in 1995, and this is the perfect excuse to reread the novel that started it all!


Turtles All the Way Down by John Green - October 10th - Dutton Books
Blurb:"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship."
As soon as John Green announced he was releasing a new novel, I knew I was going to read it. His writing, and the voices he gives to his teenage characters are so complex and captivating. I love that he is giving young adults, and teens, a real voice. Voices that aren't perfect or cartoon-ish.


Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe - October 17th - Sarah Crichton Books
​Blurb:"An intimate new biography of Joni Mitchell, one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.
Joni Mitchell is a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans. In her heyday she released ten experimental, challenging, and revealing albums; her lyrics captivated people with the beauty of their language and the rawness of their emotions, both deeply personal to Mitchell and universally relatable to her audience. In this intimate biography, composed of dozens of in-person interviews with Mitchell, David Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs—from her youth on the Canadian prairie, her pre-vaccine bout with polio at age nine, and her early marriage and the child she gave up for adoption, up through the quintessential albums and love affairs, and all the way to the present—and shows us why Mitchell has so enthralled her listeners, her lovers, and her friends.
Yaffe has had unprecedented access both to Mitchell and to those who know her, drawing on interviews with childhood friends and the cast of famous characters (Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, David Crosby, and more) with whom she has crossed paths and influenced, as well as insightful analyses of her famous lyrics, their imagery and style, and what they say about the woman herself. Reckless Daughter tells the story of Mitchell and also of the fertile, exciting musical time of which she was an integral part, one that had a profound effect that can still be felt today on American music and the industry."


Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks - October 17th - Knopf
Blurb:"A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor. 
A gentle Eastern European immigrant arrives in New York City after his family and his life have been torn apart by his country's civil war. A man who loves to bowl rolls a perfect game--and then another and then another and then many more in a row until he winds up ESPN's newest celebrity, and he must decide if the combination of perfection and celebrity has ruined the thing he loves. An eccentric billionaire and his faithful executive assistant venture into America looking for acquisitions and discover a down and out motel, romance, and a bit of real life. These are just some of the tales Tom Hanks tells in this first collection of his short stories. They are surprising, intelligent, heartwarming, and, for the millions and millions of Tom Hanks fans, an absolute must-have!"
​Can.Not.Wait. Just gonna say it now: The Perfect Christmas Gift ... Who doesn't love Tom Hanks!? 


Gold Dust Woman: A Biography of Stevie Nicks - November 21st - St. Martin's Press
Blurb:"Stevie Nicks is a legend of rock, but her energy and magnetism sparked new interest in this icon. At 68, she's one of the most glamorous creatures rock has known, and the rare woman who's a real rock 'n' roller.
Gold Dust Woman gives "the gold standard of rock biographers" (The Boston Globe) his ideal topic: Nicks' work and life are equally sexy and interesting, and Davis delves deeply into each, unearthing fresh details from new, intimate interviews and interpreting them to present a rich new portrait of the star. Just as Nicks (and Lindsey Buckingham) gave Fleetwood Mac the "shot of adrenaline" they needed to become real rock stars--according to Christine McVie--Gold Dust Woman is vibrant with stories and with a life lived large and hard: 
--How Nicks and Buckingham were asked to join Fleetwood Mac and how they turned the band into stars
--The affairs that informed Nicks' greatest songs
--Her relationships with the Eagles' Don Henley and Joe Walsh, and with Fleetwood himself
--Why Nicks married her best friend's widower
--Her dependency on cocaine, drinking and pot, but how it was a decade-long addiction to Klonopin that almost killed her 
-- Nicks' successful solo career that has her still performing in venues like Madison Square Garden
--The cult of Nicks and its extension to chart-toppers like Taylor Swift and the Dixie Chicks"
If ever there were a juicy Apple I am counting down the days to devour, this is it. The love I have for this woman: her words, her style, her soul. I am absolutely giddy with anticipation! 


Isn't the future so bright!? 

Happy Reading!

AMG