Season of the Sticks
on Noah Kahan, the bareness of November trees, and stories that remind us of what changes us
We’re finally past a fall in full bloom and now everything in our scenic countryside is laid bare. Stands of trees are tall and vulnerable without their cloak of leaves, the movement of the forest is more visible without the protection of low bushes and blossoming ferns. Sounds echo with crunchy leaves underfoot. It’s why Vermont has termed this fifth season “stick season”, and now thanks to Noah Kahan, everyone has a certain idea about what stick season and Vermont must be like.
I was a late-comer to appreciating Kahan’s folk rock sound, but what partially drew me in was how well the emotional draw of Kahan's album aligned with what I think Stick Season feels like—an expression of vulnerability and contemplative reckonings. These songs seem to know how to carry the sense of years passing, of revealing how we’ve changed in the absence of those who changed us, whether it’s family, a woman he loved, or the place he grew up. When it comes to the physical space Kahan alludes to, there is a certain sense of frustration shared about small-town ideas and little-p politics (think Homesick), and yet it feels as though he feels intrinsically tied to his roots in New England (Northern Attitude). It may actually be with “Northern Attitude” that I realized Kahan and I were dancing around a similar language of trying to understand our sense of selves, how who we are is often a result of where we come from.
Listening to Kahan's album and taking in the landscape had me thinking a lot about what books I think about when I think about the “season of the sticks.” It has to be contemplative prose, stories about love, complicated relationships with family, and the places that make us who we are. If you like Kahan’s music or this particular time of year, give one of these books a try.
Books that Feel Like Stick Season
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza - An intricately woven story about the complicated dynamics of one Indian-American Family. Beginning at a family wedding, we quickly learn that relationships within the family are strained, especially with Amar who has not seen his family in three years. How we get there is explained through prose that dips back and forth between past and present and by getting to know each family member individually. What results and a deeply felt novel with characters that feel incredibly real.
The People We Meet by Alison Larkin - I still think about this novel often, I was so moved by Larkin’s emotionally charged narrative. April Stawicki wants to find a place that feels like home, but it isn’t in the town where she grew up, living in the motorless motor home her estranged father won in a poker game. After a fight, April leaves for good, looking for a life that is all hers. In a story that spans much of April’s young adult life, Larkin explores what it means to find ourselves in the people who are worth keeping in this moving, tender novel.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt - While I’m still eagerly waiting for more news about Brunt’s newest novel, it may be time for another reread of one of my favorites. This devastatingly beautiful story chronicles the months in June Elbus’ life after her dear uncle Finn Weiss, a renowned painter, passes. As June grapples with the loss of a loved one and the only person who truly understood her, she begins a surprising acquaintance with a stranger named Toby who is also grieving for Finn. What follows is an exquisitely rendered story of companionship, of finding out what it means to love with everything you have in the face of willful misunderstanding, and what it means to live a life well-lived.
Maame by Jessica George - This novel is both moving and funny, heart-breaking but life-affirming. George does an amazing job stretching into spaces of interiority and contemplation while tempering it with bold characters and plenty of humor. What the NYT coined as a novel about a “Quarter-Life Crisis Handled With Grace and Guts,” follows the months after Maddie’s (Maame) father’s passing and her transition from a full-time caregiver into a young woman putting her needs first. Maame touches on work culture, familial relationships, race, first love, power dynamics, and spirituality in ways that are relatable and resonant. This is a book full of heart, and I highly recommend reading the author's acknowledgments at the end (bring tissues).
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín - In this beautiful work of historical fiction, Tóibín creates a stunning portrait of a young woman wrestling with finding herself and her place in a new country while trying to remain rooted in her homeland. Eilis Lacey has grown up during some of the hardest years in Ireland during WWII. When offered a chance to travel to America on sponsorship, she accepts, leaving behind her fragile mother and caring, protective sister. In America, she accepts a job working at a women’s department store and unexpectedly finds love with Tony, an Italian-American who loves Dodgers baseball and his family. I loved this book so deeply when I read it back in 2013 and often think of the ending and what I hope for Eilis. I guess I’ll get to know more with Tóibín’s forthcoming sequel in 2024.
More books to explore
Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi
Afterlife by Julia Alverez
When All is Said by Anne Griffin
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
I hope you enjoy this roundup of books! So many are personal favorites of mine and it’s no surprise to me because I really love this time of year. If you’ve enjoyed these books or have others you would suggest as a “Stick Season” book, I’d love to hear about them. Have a suggestion for a book list or reading recommendations you’d like to see? Email me at katiebiblio@gmail.com.
I didn't know Brunt was coming out with a new book! I absolutely loved Tell the Wolves I'm Home (and think it's highly underrated) so I can't wait to see what this next one is about.
Love the music, and I love so many of these books! We are in stick season here in Wisconsin too and it’s my least favorite time of year. I’m working on trying to appreciate it more.....namely by enveloping myself in super cozy, happy stories ❤️