Autumn has arrived – in all its chunky knits and pumpkin spiced latté glory. Praise be the season of crispness, I no longer must arrive at any given destination a perspiring disaster! Hallelujah! Fall has always been my absolute favourite season. I just love the feeling that arrives once summer has come to an end (for the most part – I will miss patio season and do not welcome the ghoulish pallor my skin will soon take on). To me autumn ushers in an abundance of soup (#1 food), strolls on cool nights, and new beginnings. Despite my school days being long behind me, that spark of productivity is still present every September. The benefit of that lingering feeling being there, but not actually being an enrolled student? You can add whatever you want to your ‘to-do’ list and complete it at your own pace. No grades. No deadlines. No crotchety profs breathing down your neck. The first thing I must begin to tackle using the motivation sprung from my phantom academic limb is the fresh pile of books I’ve added to my shelf. 

Note: I snagged the synopses for these books off of the Indigo website since I’ve yet to read them and develop any opinion of my own, so just click the novel if you’re looking to buy 😉

The Heart Goes Last

Imagining a world where citizens take turns as prisoners and jailers, the prophetic Margaret Atwood delivers a hilarious yet harrowing tale about liberty, power, and the irrepressibility of the human appetite. Brilliant, dark, and provocative, The Heart Goes Last is a compelling futuristic vision that will drive readers to the edge of their seats.

Daring Greatly

From thought leader Dr. Brené Brown, a transformative new vision for the way we lead, love, work, parent, and educate that teaches us the power of vulnerability. Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

Purity

Jonathan Franzen’s huge-canvased new book is about identity, the Internet, sexual politics, and love–among countless other things. It’s deeply troubling, richly moving, and hilarious–featuring an unforgettable cast of inimitable Franzenian characters who grapple mightily and rewardingly with the great issues of our time and culture.   What lies underneath is a wild tale of hidden identities, secret wealth, neurotic fidelity, sociopathy and murder.

Milk and Honey

Rupi Kaur’s first book, Milk and Honey is the poetry collection every woman needs on her nightstand or coffee table. Accompanied by her own sketches, the beautifully honest poems read like the everyday, collective experiences of today’s modern woman. Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

Go Set A Watchman

A historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee’s enduring classic. Moving, funny and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right.

*Note: I highly doubt I’m actually going to read this. I don’t think my moral compass (most likely established after reading To Kill A Mockingbird) could tolerate a tarnished image of Atticus Finch.

Dance Dance Dance

In this propulsive novel, one of the most idiosyncratically brilliant writers at work in any language fuses science fiction, the hard-boiled thriller, and white-hot satire into a new element of the literary periodic table. As he searches for a mysteriously vanished girlfriend, Haruki Murakami’s protagonist plunges into a wind tunnel of sexual violence and metaphysical dread in which he collides with call girls; plays chaperone to a lovely teenaged psychic; and receives cryptic instructions from a shabby but oracular Sheep Man. Dance Dance Dance is a tense, poignant, and often hilarious ride through the cultural Cuisinart that is contemporary Japan, a place where everything that is not up for sale is up for grabs.

The Strange Library

From internationally acclaimed author Haruki Murakami–a fantastical illustrated short novel about a boy imprisoned in a nightmarish library. A lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plot their escape from the nightmarish library of internationally acclaimed, bestselling Haruki Murakami’s wild imagination.