October’s 10 best books add up to a month of great reading

The Mighty Red, by Louise Erdrich

From the masterful Louise Erdrich comes the story of a North Dakota farming community whipsawed by crises. At the book’s center is Kismet, a high school graduate who gets pulled into a questionable marriage, and her truck-driving, devoted mother. The tale’s many threads pull together into a rewarding portrait of renewal and honesty.

The Grey Wolf, by Louise Penny

Armand Gamache, the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, returns in Louise Penny’s multilayered, continent-leaping latest. As Gamache races to decode an unsettling break-in, a cryptic note, and a hit-and-run, a massive threat lurks. With bursts of wit and warmth, the story exposes the deep fears and hurts – as well as the guiding lights and loves – that drive individuals to act.

The Restless Wave, by Admiral James Stavridis USN (Ret.)

Former NATO Commander and four-star Adm. James Stavridis creates a gripping novel about a young Navy officer tested during the early sea battles of World War II, from Pearl Harbor to Midway and Guadalcanal. The novel is action-packed, and filled with insights into leadership and courage. 

Where They Last Saw Her, by Marcie R. Rendon

On the Red Pine Reservation where she lives, Quill, a mother of two, pursues the case of a missing woman after tribal police make little progress. Her hunt for answers gets desperate as more Native women and girls disappear. Marcie R. Rendon’s story of tenacity in response to an ongoing scourge is a powerful read that pulls no punches.

Season of the Swamp, by Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman

With deft prose and swashbuckling assurance, award-winning author Yuri Herrera imagines what exiled Mexican politician Benito Juárez may have seen, heard, smelled, ate, suffered, gawped at, stepped in, and despaired over during his 18-month sojourn in New Orleans in 1853. It’s a captivating account of an outsider in the overwhelm of a city and era in flux.

Our Evenings, by Alan Hollinghurst

This fictional memoir of a successful, aging stage actor begins with his experiences as a biracial, gay scholarship student at a British boarding school. Alan Hollinghurst’s lyrical prose conveys biting insights as he examines evolving social mores and explores who is embraced and who is marginalized.

The Vow, by Jude Berman

In this historical novel, Jude Berman imagines the life of Angelica Kauffman, an actual 18th-century Swiss neoclassical painter. To remain free and committed to her art, she has vowed to remain independent and never marry. But amid a career as a painter of royal portraits, that resolve is tested.  

A Kid From Marlboro Road, by Edward Burns

Filmmaker and actor Edward Burns’ debut novel hits a nostalgic home run with this colorful Irish Catholic American coming-of-age story. A 12-year-old boy and budding writer dreads summer’s end, when he’ll bid farewell to childhood and morph into a terrible teenager like his brother. 

John Lewis: A Life, by David Greenberg

This rich biography spans the civil rights icon’s rural Alabama childhood, his pivotal role in the student movement to desegregate the South, and his service in Congress. Drawing on archival materials and interviews with John Lewis and more than 250 people who knew him, David Greenberg leaves no doubt as to his subject’s heroism.

Every Valley, by Charles King

Charles King interlocks the stories of the people and events that inspired the creation of Handel’s glorious “Messiah” oratorio. He demonstrates that Handel’s England, in the first half of the 18th century, experienced the chaos and dread the world seems enmeshed in today.