I do love Autumn; it's my favorite season and never fails to inspire me to clean house (forget Spring - I want to be outside in Spring!), cook chili (tonight!) and read many books. Autumn is certainly the reading season.

While catching up on stacks of magazines, I came across a brief mention of Amy Adams and Frances McDormand starring next year in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I could not be happier about this movie - or the actors who will star in it - and hope it brings at least a wee bit of attention to Persephone Books who reissued Miss Pettigrew and saved it from OOP obscurity several years ago. (I wrote about Persephone Books for Bookslut and can't recommend them enough.)

EL Konigsberg has been busy apparently and has a new book, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World, out from Simon and Schuster. I have not heard a thing about this book anywhere - and I get the S&S catalogs. It got a starred review in Booklist although the reviewer pointed out the use of big words, suggesting "a few more readers may be lost". I have no worries of kids being scared in a Konigsberg title. I'd just like to know what everyone thinks of this one. (PW apparently didn't like it at all.)

I am developing a healthy hate for Taschen Books as they seem to produce many books I want but none I can afford. Walton Ford's latest is gorgeous, mysterious and intense. From a brief interview in Vanity Fair, Ford explains, "When I became aware I wanted to paint animals, it seemed a perfect opportunity to use the visual language that went along with the colonial enterprise of collecting animals in the 19th century."

Not everyone, as it turns out, is a fan of the American Girls vision of the world. Aside from the appealing kitsch factor of this story (of course the American Girls founder would try to rebuild a town in her vision), I'm intrigued even more so as it shows our own continuing conflict between what a town/city/village should and shouldn't be. I couldn't help but think of Jane Jacobs while reading this piece and wondering about urban planning and how hard it is for anyone to resist the lure of someone coming from far away and fixing everything. But then they leave...and the real question of how the folks who live there will continue to do so starts to come into play. Interesting stuff.

In the midst of much decrying about the death (or at least lingering boredom) of short stories today, I must point out that Connie Willis has a new novella due out for Christmas. As it is one of her delightful Christmas stories I imagine it will not be dark or exciting enough to satisfy some readers but for those who enjoy enjoy witty writing, it will be a welcome discovery. I'm pleased as punch about it. (And with JK Potter doing the cover I will likely buy this one myself, even if an ARC should come my way.) (Oh - and Sub Press also just announced a Kage Baker pirate tale. Now that sounds like big fun!)

Gore Vidal has some thoughts on an iconic photograph and " a golden moment when we were neither at war—our usual condition, it now appears—nor in a depression" in this month's Smithsonian. Also in the magazine Lisa See writes about being a fourth (!) generation Angeleno. (This magazine just gets better and better every month; it's really the best sort of reading for any one generally interested in history, pop culture, archeology, biology, etc. I am never disappointed.)

I have just finished reading Martin Sandler's Resolute which I think is the perfect book for any armchair explorer with a passing interest in Arctic exploration. It covers an amazing amount in relatively few pages (less than 300) without being overwhelming and uses the doomed Franklin Expedition as its centerpiece. Even though I knew a lot of this story before reading the book, I was still captivated by Sandler's writing style - he makes it clear that he is fascinated by this subject and his enthusiasm rubs off on the reader. I also liked that at the end he wrote short bios (a couple of paragraphs) for more than two dozen of the explorers he discusses - it was nice for once to find out how some of these guys lived after their adventures. Glowing review on this to follow.

I also finished the most surprising fictional biography of Susanna Moodie, Susanna's Quill. Consider this a story of the Canadian Laura Ingalls Wilder, as Moodie is known in her country for writing about the farming life of many of Canada's British immigrants (which she was). I had only a bit of knowledge of her before the book and became completely engrossed in it. Author Julie Johnston does a great job of showing what it was like for Moodie and her sister, who left Britain with their husbands to make a go of it in the wilderness. A twist in this tale is that she and her sisters were all writers - not so common in mid-19th century England and so she gave up a lot to go with the man she loved (but she loved him in a big and wonderful way). More on this book as I write the review but I heartily recommend it for teens and adults. I wish I had it for my September column because it would have fit perfectly in a discussion of the books on Sylvia Plath and Jane Austen (who was only a bit older than Moodie).

[Post pic from Walton Ford's book.]