I don’t routinely do end-of-month roundups, but I’m feeling particularly optimistic and inspired right now at turning the calendar page to a new month. For two reasons:
Reason #1: Baseball!
The greatest legacy my mother left me is a love of baseball. She was a dedicated Red Sox fan, so that’s how I started out. Then we spent most of our adult lives in St. Louis, so I became a Cardinals fan. But I’m a firm believer in the “when in Rome” philosophy of life, so when we retired to Tacoma, WA, in 2013, I became a Seattle Mariners fan.
The Mariners began the 2021 season with the announcement “this will be a building year for us,” which translates to “we’re bringing up a lot of young guys from the minor leagues and hope to make some trades to fill in the gaps on our roster, so don’t expect much from the team this year.” But, lo and behold, here it is the end of the regular season, and the Mariners are chasing the second wild card spot. To give you an idea of what a big deal this is, the Mariners are the team in all major professional sports—baseball, football, basketball, hockey—with the longest drought in post-season play; they haven’t made the playoffs since 2001. We’ll know by the end of the weekend how this turns out.
Reason #2: Books
Fall is in the air, including the excitement of new books. Here are some of the publications we can look forward to.
October Book-Ahead: What We’re Excited To Read Next Month
NPR’s list includes “some new works from established authors — and some attention-grabbing books from new ones.”
14 New Books Coming in October
The New York Times list includes both fiction and nonfiction.
The Best Books of Fall 2021
Esquire boasts about its list:
Our favorite books of the fall are a varied bunch. They set their scenes everywhere from medieval Europe to a dystopian New York City of the future. They take varied forms, but also question what those forms can do—how memoir can be porous, how fiction can be metafiction, how poetry and prose can fuse. These books offer escape, education, and spiritual enlargement—whatever you’re looking for.
The 12 Most Popular Books of September
Finally, if you’re not quite ready yet to let go of September, Off the Shelf discusses the most popular books shelved by their members during the month.
© 2021 by Mary Daniels Brown
Feature Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash
