BookLovers: Daley picks 5 new fall releases to read right now

Rejoice, BooksLovers. It’s fall.

Yup, each fall, publishers release big buzzy hits — the ones they hope might land on holiday shopping lists. Therefore, fall is basically BookLovers Season. The ’22 crop is packed with gems. So many, that one Fall Release column would take up three newspaper pages.

So, as we did for Summer, each week I’ll curate 5 New Fall Recommendations — that are available for you to read immediately. (I hate when I read about an awesome new book, and then see it won't release for three months.)

So you make the hot apple cider. I’ll provide the reading list. Let’s go.

“Fen, Bog, & Swamp,” by Annie Proulx (Sept. 27.) I’ve been a die-hard Proulx fan since “The Shipping News.” (And if you’ve never read that, do yourself a favor and add that to your fall list.) Here, the environmentalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Brokeback Mountain” and “Barkskins” delivers a nonfiction elegy, showing concern for — and highlighting the importance of — the planet’s wetlands. You’ll never look at a swamp the same way.

As we learned from our Century Club lists, SouthCoast loved Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet,” about Shakespeare’s family.  Don’t miss Farrell’s latest, “The Marriage Portrait,” already a New York Times bestseller. According to the publisher’s synopsis:

Florence,1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is free to do as she pleases in the palazzo. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia is thrust into a marriage with the mystifying Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be? Or a ruthless politician? As Lucrezia sits for a marriage portrait, one thing becomes worryingly clear. She has one duty: to provide the heir. Until then, her future hangs in the balance…

“Lucy By the Sea,” by Elizabeth Strout (Sept. 20) Attention Strout fans: We have a new Lucy Barton book.

From the Pulitzer Prize winning bestselling author comes the next installment of Lucy’s life, set in pandemic lockdown. According to the publisher’s synopsis:

As the world goes into lockdown, Lucy leaves life in Manhattan and flees to small-town Maine with her ex-husband and longtime friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea. They will not emerge unscathed…

“Less Is Lost,” by Andrew Sean Greer (Sept. 20.) Less fans, rejoice. We have another Less installment. Greer’s hilarious 2017 novel “Less,” about failed novelist Artur Less, won the Pulitzer Prize and made many a notable list. Finally we have book two. According to the publisher’s synopsis:

Arthur Less’s life is going surprisingly well: he’s now a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship with Freddy. But nothing lasts: the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis has Less running away from his problems yet again as he embarks on a zigzagging adventure across the US with his pug Dolly and camper van, dubbed Rosina… Of course, you can’t outrun yourself.

“Bliss Montage,” by Ling Ma (Sept. 13). Short story fans, beeline to this National Indie bestselling collection. The author of the much-praised novel “Severance,” Ma delivers eight stories that pack a punch. In each, as the synopsis tells us, people are “making their way through the madness and reality of our collective delusions: love and loneliness, connection and possession, friendship, motherhood, the idea of home. A woman lives in a house with all her ex-boyfriends. A toxic friendship grows up around a drug that makes you invisible. An ancient ritual might heal you of anything—if you bury yourself alive.” Each tale is a wonder.

Until next week, BookLovers: Keep on readin’ on.

Lauren Daley is a book columnist and freelance writer. Contact her at ldaley33@gmail.com. She tweets @laurendaley1. Read more at https://www.facebook.com/daley.writer

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: BookLovers: 5 new fall releases to read