The calendar has flipped to September, the month that brings fall, Maine’s splendid season. In our yard, the goldenrod is abloom by the edge of the woods.

The air has a delicious, nutty smell as plants mature and form seeds. At night, the temperature drops to 50, and I put another blanket on my bed. One evening, it was so chilly that we even had to turn on the heat pump. But during the day, the temperature rises to the mid-70s and sometimes reaches 80, only to cool down at night. I wish we could have a couple more months of this weather, but maybe fall’s fleeting nature is the reason why I love this season so much. I feel very lucky to have a birthday in this beautiful month—as does Clif—and  you can bet there will be simple but fun celebrations that I’ll feature on this blog. As longtime readers know, our philosophy is to celebrate early, celebrate often.

My gardens are winding down and are definitely past their best, as this photo of the front yard illustrates.

Unfortunately, COVID slowed down Clif’s work on the house, but he’s pushing on, and he should get most of what he needs done before the cold weather comes.

But the plants on the front porch still look glorious and will do so until the first hard frost nips their beauty.

I am glad to be at the beginning of September rather than at the end. I still have most of this month to look forward to, as well as October, surely the most magnificent month in Maine. October is also the birth month of my eldest daughter.

Let the celebrations begin!

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One of my blogging friends, Rupali, features a book log every month. I really enjoy her log, so I decided to follow suit and share what I read each month.

Book Log for August

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

I’m a huge fan of Colson Whitehead, especially The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, both of which have deservedly won a Pulitzer Prize. But if I had read Zone One first, I’m not sure I would have read another one of his books. A good lesson in how even very good writers can have a misstep, and not to judge writers by just one book.

Zone One should have been exciting. It features a zombie apocalypse, for God’s sake. The protagonist—call him Mark Spitz—and his cohorts are trying to clear a section of Manhattan, the titular Zone One, of zombies. The book’s action takes place over three days, but there are so many flashbacks to Mark Spitz’s pre-zombie life that the narrative becomes bogged down. The last twenty pages nip along nicely, but by then it’s too little, too late.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Spanning ten years, The Correspondent follows Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired lawyer, through her daily life in Maryland. But rather than tell Sybil’s story in prose, Evans presents the novel in epistolary form—letters Sybil writes and letters she receives. Evans does this in a moving, compelling way, and I found myself saying, “Just one more letter” when I should have been cooking dinner.

Loss and grief inform the story. While Sybil is feisty—she never backs down from a fight or a slight, no matter how small—she is also stuck. Despite being prickly to the extreme, Sybil does care about other people and makes connections in unexpected ways. During the course of the book, these connections help Sybil unfold, and I was with her all the way.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Born and raised in Portland, Maine, Elizabeth Strout’s style typifies many people’s notion of a New England writer—spare, no-nonsense, and so brisk it borders on abrupt. I’ve read several of her books. There is no fat in them and only a glint of humor here and there. Yet, a sympathy for the characters runs strong in her books, and nowhere is this more evident than in The Things We Never Say.

Artie Dam—teacher, husband, father, and son—is the main protagonist in this story set in Massachusetts. A born teacher who is well-liked, Artie should be happy, but he’s not, and as the story progresses, we find out why. The book wheels through time—past, present, and future—revealing an unhappy childhood and troubles in his own marriage. The title suggests part of his problem: all that is left unsaid. Woven in with Artie’s problems are problems of the United States. But in his own gentle way, Artie makes a big difference in his community. If only there were more Arties in the world.

The Things We Never Say is a quiet story beautifully told.

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

Yes, I gave Whitehead another chance. Such is the strength of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. Sag Harbor is a semi-autobiographical account of a summer in 1985 spent at Sag Harbor in the Hamptons, in a community built by upper-middle-class Blacks.

The story is told from fifteen-year-old Benji Cooper’s point of view. He and his brother Reggie are left to their own devices during the week while their parents work in Manhattan. Do Benji and Reggie get in trouble? Not really, although Benji comes close to losing an eye during a BB gun battle with his friends. Mostly, though, Benji broods about being a nerd, about girls, about fitting in, and about his alcoholic and at times abusive father.

There’s not much of a plot. Sag Harbor is essentially a slice-of-life story that ruminates on the past and explores the present. Yet there is a forward motion of sorts. At the end of the summer, Benji realizes he is now one of the older kids as he watches younger kids play on the beach.

At times, the book is laugh-out-loud funny. At other times, terrifying as Benji deals with his alcoholic father. I felt both tenderness and exasperation for Benji, exactly the way a parent often feels about their own teenagers.

The Witchmark by C.L. Polk

In a society reminiscent of Edwardian England, magic is reserved for the upper class. Everyone else must hide it or risk being sent to an asylum. Miles Singer is upper class, but his magic has been deemed weaker than that of his more powerful sister, Grace, and he is expected to spend his life assisting her. Not wanting to be in Grace’s thrall, Miles runs away, joins the military, and becomes a doctor, all the while hiding his magic. Miles gets caught up in a murder case, falls in love with a fae named Tristan, and becomes embroiled in his sister’s and father’s plans.

The characters and plot are well done and hold the reader’s interest. Unfortunately, Witchmark is undermined by platitudes and overwriting. Example: “The blood in my veins turned to ice.”

Fans of fantasy would probably enjoy the story. Non-fantasy readers should probably give Witchmark a pass.