Weekly Post, Monthly Theme

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August has arrived, and thoughts not only turn to the approaching start of the school year but also to…Light in August.

Yes, some novels have months in their titles, and William Faulkner’s 1932 book is no exception. It also happens to be my favorite Faulkner work as the author unspools a “Southern Gothic” story about a man (Joe Christmas) who passes as white but thinks he has some African-American ancestry, a pregnant woman (Lena Grove) searching for the would-be father, and others.

Now let’s work back to previous months. Nadine Gordimer wrote July’s People, a novel set in a near-future version of South Africa where apartheid had ended. This was before apartheid actually ended, at least officially, about a decade after Gordimer’s 1981 book was published.

There’s also Three Junes by Julia Glass, whose 2002 novel has an intriguing tri-format set in 1989, 1995, and 1999.

Various novels include May and April in their titles, but I haven’t read any of them. 🙂

March? We have Geraldine Brooks’ March, but — rather than referring to the third month of the year — the title of the 2005 novel is the last name of the father from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women as Brooks focuses on that dad’s harrowing Civil War experiences. There’s also Middlemarch, but that’s the name of a fictional English town in George Eliot’s 1871-72 classic.

I haven’t read any novels with February, January, December, or November in the title, but they do exist — including Gustave Flaubert’s…November (1842).

Going further back in the realm of months, we have Tom Clancy’s 1984 Cold War thriller The Hunt for Red October.

Have I read any novels with September in the title? Nope. But the Earth, Wind & Fire song “September” was pretty good.

Watch for a Misty the cat guest blog post next week! He was adopted in December (of 2017).

Any novels you’d like to mention with a month manifestation?

Misty the cat says: “There are twin beds, queen beds, king beds, and hall-floor beds.”

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Misty says Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for my book features a talking cat: 🙂

I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — which has a quirky percentage theme — is here.

113 thoughts on “Weekly Post, Monthly Theme”

  2. Another fascinating theme – Two September books, upstairs, from the same source – grandparents’ house – one reason why ours will never be tidy.

    The Last September sounds and is elegiac. Elizabeth Bowen came from the other Ireland, socially but not geographically very far from my own family * Ireland in 1920 , India in the mid 1940’s ? The previously dominant and usually upper class/Protestant British recognise their time is up, even when in total denial.

    The Fortnight In September. by R C Sherriff.. Reading this for the first time, I was mystified. Nothing happens ? How could that be true, become a best selling legend ? Our hardback copy was bought new, a family name on the flyleaf. The canary will be fed by a neighbour, 19 and 17, the daughter and elder son will spend a fortnight at Bognor with their parents and 10 year old brother – eerily similar to.the family of William Brown. Briefly, on the promenade, the others are separated from Mrs Stevens, Panic, then all is well. Second reading, I got it. Sherriff survived WWI, lived to enjoy honey for tea, maybe Adlestrop too.

    *Quite a few of whom were called Connor, various others O’Connell. .’

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    • Thank you, Esther! I appreciate those two “September” mentions and your interesting thoughts on/summary of each book! Yes, when “Last” is in a title, chances are the reader is going to experience something elegiac. And, for certain books, a second reading is almost necessary — though finding the time for that isn’t always easy.

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  3. Hi Dave,

    Bryce Courtenay wrote a memoir about his son Damon contracting AIDS through a blood transfusion. Damon sadly passed away on the 1st of April, giving Courtenay the title of his book – “April Fool’s Day”. A sad and tear-filled book, but also uplifting in a way, and quite funny in places.

    Sue

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    • Thank you, Sue! Sounds like a heartbreaking memoir; it’s admirable when a writer can make something like that at least a little upbeat and funny amid the sadness.

      My first daughter also died on an April 1; life really does offer some sickening ironies. 😦

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      • As I read your sentence about being admirable I thought yes, and you did something similar in your own memoir ❤ And then as usual you read my mind and mentioned it in your next sentence.

        I don’t know if I knew that your lost your daughter on April 1. If I did know that, then I’ve probably already told you about my high school friend who was born on that date. It was devastating for her when her father died on her sixteenth birthday, and when she had to tell people, it came across as a sick joke. 30ish years ago and my heart still breaks for her.

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        • Humor can definitely help a person process things, including loss.

          Sorry about your high school friend and her father’s ill-timed passing. Yes, dying on April 1 feels like a sick joke. April Fools’ Day might be the least-favorite “holiday” for many people.

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  4. Another interesting theme, dave, and many good entries from you and others.

    Although I regularly re-watch the movie (especially these days), I also enjoyed the book, Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel.

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  9. The most famous book by novelist Rosamunde Pilcher is THE SHELL SEEKERS, which I enjoyed a lot. It was followed by SEPTEMBER, another good novel that is not a sequel to The Shell Seekers but features a character from the earlier book. To follow this post’s theme, Pilcher has also written a book called SNOW IN APRIL and WINTER SOLSTICE, both of which I’ve read.

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  12. What an exceptional question, Dave, many thanks. I have to admit that I do not know many books with a month title! I remember, however, Philip Kerr’s “March Violets”, the first of a triology. It’s a kind of a black thriller story concerning Germany in the 1930s in Berlin. An ex-policeman, who thought to have seen everything, became a freelance and continued to be sucked deeper and deeper into the Nazi excesses. Maybe it would be the right period to read/reread it!

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  14. What a wonderful and imaginative way to journey through literature Dave— month by month! I’ve so enjoyed reading your reflections, and Light in August is a stunning inclusion to mark this time of year. Your list had me smiling (especially the nod to Earth, Wind & Fire!), and now I find myself wanting to trace the arc of the calendar in novels too.

    May I offer a suggestion for your April shelf? Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim would be a charming addition. It’s a delightfully restorative novel about four women who escape the greyness of London for a month in a sun-drenched Italian castle. Written in 1922, it carries a gentle wit and quiet emotional resonance that feels like spring itself — full of possibility, renewal, and unexpected joy. I always return to it when I need a little sunlight of the soul.

    As for September — perhaps it’s a musical month now. LOL Neil Diamond’s September Morn comes to mind: wistful, tender, and full of memory. Sometimes songs fill in where stories have yet to be found.

    Thank you for this monthly inspiration — I’m tempted now to create a reading calendar of my own!

    And of course, I have to add a quote for the book enchanted April : “Beauty made you love, and love made you beautiful.”

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! Glad you liked the post! In truth, I was having a hard time coming up with a book topic during a busy week and this resulted. 🙂

      “Enchanted April” sounds wonderful, and wonderfully described by you. On my to-read list it goes…in August. 🙂

      I remember that Neil Diamond song! An excellent tune, as many of his songs were.

      And that’s an all-time quote you ended your comment with. Much appreciated!

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    • Rebecca, do you know Neil Diamond’s son came to mind? I actually thought…. Rebecca will cover songs as well, cos there’s a few isn’t there, that June and July one. And I thought of Neil Diamond cos I once saw one of his shows at the O2 in London.

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        • Saw him twice actually, the second time at Hamden after a friend who hadn’t seen him booked tickets for the 4 of us without asking first. Got to say that one was a singularly underwhelming experience due to where it was. The first time was brill. Seen a lot of good folks actually The hubby has even seen Dylan.

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          • Even twice!

            Like your husband, my wife has seen Bob Dylan, but I haven’t.

            I’m not much of a concertgoer anymore, but saw some well-known groups/musicians in my younger days. U2, The Clash, The Moody Blues, The Rolling Stones, Yes, 10,000 Maniacs, Neil Young, Pete Seeger, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot…

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            • Epic, truly. Love Lightfoot, the Moodies and Ronstadt especially. But all titans. Seen a few folks on our Caird Hall in its time, bit dated and small as venues go nowadays. But hey credited still as the place where Beatlemania was invented. From a personal point of view I once held the door open there for a guy with a guitar and a cap on his head who was going in. He was passed before I realised it was the very guy I was going in to see…Tom Paxton, and also was one of the few to first take standing tickets there which hardly anyone took so me and the Mr were in the wee crowd that actually got to dance 300 miles as the Proclaimers sang it. Oh and I got Elton John’s autograph there before he became as big as he did.

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              • You had some very memorable experiences with concerts and musicians, Shehanne! Including “…credited still as the place where Beatlemania was invented” and getting an autograph from Elton John early in his career — wow! I think I first purchased an album of his around 1970, when I was a teen. Yikes! A long time ago.

                It’s nice when one can see musicians close-up, as you did with Tom Paxton. I experienced that with Pete Seeger and with the bassist for 10,000 Maniacs.

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                • Brilliant Dave.. you must tell all. What was the amazing thing re Paxton, was he was completely without any entourage or transport. So I assume he was staying in one of the then hotels in a next door street, cos he came up a covered set of stairs that lead from that street to the square where he hall is. The other musician we knew way back and were good pals with was Ricki Ross the front man of Deacon Blue and his then wife, before they moved away to Glasgow.

                  .

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  16. What immediately leaps to mind is John Gardner’s October Light. My brother absolutely loved it; he gave me his copy. Sibling rivalry and scatological descriptions like you’ve never seen before. How about 11/23/63 by Stephen King?

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    • Thank you, Michele! If I read Pete Hamill again, I’ll try “Snow in August.” Hard to top that novel’s title!

      I also mostly read library books rather than purchased ones. My apartment already has too many books crammed into it. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Ada! I wasn’t familiar with that Thornton Wilder title — very appropriate for this post 🙂 — but am a fan of some of his other work: “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” novel, the “Our Town” play…

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  24. Hello Dave,

    I find it intriguing that Nadine Gordimer wrote about the end of apartheid before it was over. I wonder if her book had something to do with spurring the movement?

    Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic would count, but I’ve only seen the movie.

    That’s my contribution… Okay, I did think of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol taking place in December, bit that’s a stretch.

    So Misty, stretch those paws onto Dave’s keyboard! You’ve got a post to write!

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    • Thank you, Madeline! Four great examples!

      I’ve read novels by two of those authors — Pete Hamill and James Patterson — but not the books you mentioned. 🙂 (Hamill’s “Forever,” about a 200-plus-year-old man who doesn’t die as long as he stays in Manhattan, is quite interesting.)

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    • Thank you, Leah! I remember that song!

      School actually still starts in September in my town. 🙂 Probably rare these days. Most of the public schools here are quite-old buildings with little air-conditioning to battle the August heat.

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