Fall is here, and that means cooler weather, the turning of the leaves and new classes. It also signals the arrival of entertainment — lots of new books, movies and music. Here’s a snapshot of what’s new and soon to come this fall.
Books:
1. “The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood (September). The remnants of humankind are forced to commingle with mutants in the aftermath of a natural disaster. (Get your hands on a copy before Atwood comes to Ivy Hall in February to lecture.)
2. “The Adderall Diaries” by Stephen Elliot (September). Part memoir, part crime-thriller, part something else, this book is full of surprises from an author whose addled imagination blends with a bizarre real-life case of a computer programmer who murdered his wife.
2. “The Art Student’s War” by Brad Leithauser (November). Set in Detroit in 1943, this is the story of an art student who dreams of the day her canvases will line the walls of museum. But, in the wake of World War II, the student finds herself entangled in the stories of the soldiers she is asked to draw.
Movies:
1. “The Invention of Lying,” with Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais (October). Here, lies are a thing of the past and everyone tells the honest, brutal truth — that is, until the main character figures out how to lie.
2. “Where the Wild Things Are,” directed by Spike Jonze (October). Author Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book is transformed into an engaging film that mixes puppetry, computer-generated imagery and real actors.
3. “The Men Who Stare at Goats” with George Clooney and Ewan McGregor (November). The plot makes this film well worth the cost of a movie ticket. Clooney and McGregor are involved in a top-secret military division that uses telepathy to kill goats.
Music:
1. “La Roux” by La Roux (September). This quirky British duo’s debut album glows with pop-goodness as they pay homage to and modernize the icons and styles of the ’80s. (Give a listen to “Bulletproof.”)
2. “Backspacer” by Pearl Jam (September). Pearl Jam’s new record is controlled chaos made audible. Clocking out after only 37-minutes, the time restraint amps up the frantic pace of the album. (Check out: “The Fixer,” the speedy opening single from the album.)
3. “Embryonic” by the Flaming Lips (October). The Lips are back with this trippy double album, and it’s possibly their weirdest yet. (See example: “I Can Be a Frog,” featuring the animal-noise vocals of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O.)
