Chapter 18 - The Drums of Autumn

I love fall at the beach - no crowds, cooler days, and a less frantic pace at the store. The beach looks different this time of year too. Dunes change configuration because of storms and there are new shells on the shore, varieties not seen in the summer. It is a good time to take a deep breath after a very busy summer.

To many fall, more than any other time of year, signals a fresh start. This is probably because it marks the beginning of a new school year. Autumn usually has me reading meatier books, ones that are best read as the days grow shorter, with a cup of tea or glass of red wine in hand. I want books I can sink my teeth into, gone are the lighter, fluffier books of summer, give me a more substantial read. If you too are looking for more "filling" reads, check out the suggestions below.

Column of Fire by Ken Follett (or any of the Kingsbridge trilogy by Follett). I love Follett's well researched books and this latest one will be no exception. It is the story of a turbulent time in England when the Protestants and Catholics were vying for religious and political supremacy and the toll it took on average people.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - I have told many that I think this was the best book I read in 2016 (and believe me there were a lot of good ones!). Not sure when this is coming out in paperback so as of this writing, only the hardback is available. Count Rostov is tried in 1922 by a Bolshevik tribunal and, as he wrote a pro-revolutionary poem in his university days, instead of death, he is exiled to the Hotel Metropole. The book is about his life during the next 40 years. Witty, poignant, historical, it is mostly a story of hope.

The Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer - Series almost always work for me this time of year and since Archer recently finished the last book in this series, you can scrap TV and binge on this family saga. It starts in the early 1900's and continues up to 1970's. You will cheer for the good guys and boo for the bad guys and isn't that really what it's all about?

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles - The first of three in this particular Penn Cage series, Natchez Burning goes back and forth between the 1960's and today. Penn Cage, the mayor of Natchez, tries to protect his father, a doctor, from being tried for murder. It continues in The Bone Tree and finishes in Mississippi Blood.