The green of August is turning to gold as I write this, and western Colorado’s aspen trees are already flecked with new colors. There’s a dusting of snow on the highest peaks, and the evenings are too chilly to linger outdoors past sundown. It’s the perfect time to delve into new books, and this year’s harvest is ample, with titles from favorites like Mary Sojourner, Brian Doyle and Rebecca Solnit, and new works from lesser-known authors like Lin Enger, Kim Zupan and Kate Bernheimer. I’m starting my own fall reading with these three: Diary of a Citizen Scientist by Sharman Apt Russell, who writes about field biology with a poet’s heart; Braden Hepner’s Pale Harvest, which Kirkus Reviews describes as “a narrative exploring the existential angst smoldering in the rural West as family farmers who hold stewardship of the land confront social and economic conditions beyond their control,” and Loitering: New and Collected Essays, by Charles D’Ambrosio, whom Oregon author Jay Ponteri calls “one of the best living sentence-writers our language has.”
Below are some more of HCN’s top picks, listed alphabetically by author. If a book is already available, no publication month is given.
FICTION
The Search for Heinrich Schlögel, Martha Baillie, Tin House Press
Mercy 6, David Bajo, Unbridled Books
Far As the Eye Can See: A Novel, Robert Bausch, Bloomsbury, October
The Door of the Sad People: A Novel, Alexander Blackburn, Rhyolite Press
How a Mother Weaned Her Girl From Fairy Tales, and Other Stories, Kate Bernheimer,
Coffee House Press
Here by the Bloods, Brandon Boyce, Pinnacle
Tom Connor’s Gift, David Allan Cates, Bangtail Press
The King and Queen of Comezón, Denise Chavez, University of Oklahoma Press
That Guy Wolf Dancing, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Michigan State University Press
Birth of a Bridge, By Maylis de Kerangal, translated by Jessica Moore, Talonbooks, October
Perfidia: A Novel, James Ellroy, Knopf
The High Divide, Lin Enger, Algonquin Press
If Not For This, Pete Fromm, Red Hen Press
Hold the Dark: A Novel, William Giraldi, Liveright Publishing Corporation
Falling from Horses: A Novel, Molly Gloss, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October
We Are Pirates: A Novel, Daniel Handler, Bloomsbury, February
Broken Promises: More Great Short Stories from America’s Newest Western Writers, Introduction by Michael T. Harris, La Frontera Publishing
The Bishop’s Wife, Mette Ivie Harrison, Soho Press, December
Alone in the Classroom, Elizabeth Hay, MacLehose Press
Pale Harvest, Braden Hepner, Torrey House Press
The Devil’s Tub: Collected Stories, Edward Hoagland, Arcade Publishing, October
Black River, S.M. Hulse, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January
Ride Around Shining, Chris Leslie-Hynan, HarperCollins
In Reach Pamela, Carter Joern, University of Nebraska Press
Descent, Tim Johnston, Algonquin Books
The Home Place: A Novel, Carrie La Seur, William Morrow
California: A Novel, Edan Lepucki, Little, Brown & Company
Owen’s Daughter, JoAnn Mapson, Bloomsbury
Manifest West: Different Roads, Edited by Larry Meredith, Western Press Books
Mermaids in Paradise: A Novel, Lydia Millet, W.W. Norton & Company, November
Little Nation and Other Stories, Alejandro Morales, Arte Público Press
West of Sunset: A Novel, Stewart O’Nan, Viking, January
Sins of Our Fathers, Shawn Lawrence Otto, Milkweed Editions, November
Sherwood Nation: A Novel, Benjamin Parzybok, Small Beer Press
Roughnecks, James J. Patterson, Quinn O’Connell Jr., Santa Fe Writer’s Project, November
The Brightwood Stillness: A Novel, Mark Pomeroy, Oregon State University Press, October
Stars Go Blue, Laura Pritchett, Counterpoint Press
29, Mary Sojourner, Torrey House Press
On the Edge: A Novel, Edward St. Aubyn, Picador, October
Citizens Creek: A Novel, Lalita Tademy, Atria Books, November
The Jaguar’s Children, John Vaillant, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January
Sometimes the Wolf: A Novel, Urban Waite, William Morrow, October
Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend: A Novel, Erika T. Wurth, Curbside Splendor Publishing
The Ploughmen, Kim Zupan, Henry Holt
NONFICTION, BIOGRAPHY, MEMOIR
Letters from the Headwaters, Aaron Abeyta, Western Press Books
Altitude Adjustment: A Quest for Love, Home, and Meaning in the Tetons, Mary Beth Baptiste, Globe Pequot Press
To the Mountain: One Mormon Woman’s Search for Spirit, Phyllis Barber, Quest Books
Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence, Marc Bekoff,
New World Library, November
Wilderburbs: Communities on Nature’s Edge, Lincoln Bramwell, University of Washington Press
Son of Dewey Beard: Last Survivor of the Little Bighorn, Philip Burnham, University of Nebraska Press
Raise: What 4-H Teaches 7 Million Kids & How Its Lessons Could Change Food & Farming Forever, Kiera Butler, University of California Press
Gone Feral: Tracking My Dad Through the Wild, Novella Carpenter, Penguin
Running with the Antelope: Life, Fitness and Grit on the Northern Plains, Melanie Carvell,
University of Oklahoma Press
Thunder in the Mountains: A Personal Journey Through America’s Gun Culture, Craig K. Collins, Lyons Press, October
John Muir: The Man Who Saved America’s Wild Places, Mary Colwell, Lion Hudson, January
Ice, Fire, and Nutcrackers: A Rocky Mountain Ecology, George Constantz, University of Utah Press, October
Blind Curves: A Woman, a Motorcycle, and a Journey to Reinvent Herself, Linda Crill,
Skyhorse Publishing
Desert Water: The Future of Utah’s Water Resources, Edited by Hal Crimmel, Univ. of Utah Press
Loitering: New and Collected Essays, Charles D’Ambrosio, Tin House, November
Spare Parts: Four Mexican American Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, Joshua Davis, FSG Originals, December
Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Milkweed Editions, October
Children and Other Wild Animals, Brian Doyle, Oregon State University Press, October
First Wilderness: My Quest in the Territory of Alaska, Sam Keith, Alaska Northwest Books
Father of Route 66: The Story of Cy Avery, Susan Croce Kelly, University of Oklahoma Press
Learning to Like Muktuk: An Unlikely Explorer in Territorial Alaska, Penelope S. Easton, Oregon State University Press, October
Travels with a Mexican Circus: A Memoir, Katie Hickman, Bloomsbury, December
A Hunger for High Country: One Woman’s Journey to the Wild in Yellowstone Country, Susan Marsh, Oregon State University Press, November
My Heart Is a Drunken Compass: A Memoir, Domingo Martinez, Globe Pequot Press, November
The Wild Truth, Carine McCandless, HarperOne, October
Requiem for the Living: A Memoir, Jeff Metcalf, University of Utah Press
Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land, Dan O’Brien, University of Nebraska Press
Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature Through Essays and Interviews, Daniel A. Olivas, San Diego State University Press
Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production, Nicolette Hahn Niman, Chelsea Green Publishing, November
Kinds of Winter: Four Solo Journeys by Dogteam in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Dave Olesen, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, October
An Indomitable Beast: The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar, Alan Rabinowitz, Island Press
Home Sweet Jerome: Death and Rebirth of Arizona’s Richest Copper Mining City, Diane Sward Rapaport, Big Earth Publishing
Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World, Sharman Apt Russell, Oregon State University Press, October
Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness, Rebecca Solnit, Trinity University Press, November
In Geronimo’s Footsteps: A Journey Beyond Legend, Corine Sombrun, Harlyn Geronimo,
Arcade Publishing, November
Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill,
South Dakota State Historical Press
My Best Friend’s Funeral: A Memoir, Roger W. Thompson, Thomas Nelson, November
My Body Is a Book of Rules, Elissa Washuta, Red Hen Press
Old Blue’s Road: A Historian’s Motorcycle Journeys in the American West, James Whiteside, University Press of Colorado, December
The Story of My Heart, by Richard Jefferies: As rediscovered by Brooke Williams and Terry Tempest Williams, Torrey House Press
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Fall is for reading.
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