Tuesday, the 5th of November, 2013 – the new No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency book, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, and The Valley of Amazement, Amy Tan’s first new novel since 2005, are released on the same day, producing an insolvable conundrum: which to read first?

We do have a fall season, but it is admittedly subtle. Temperatures in the west Valley plunge back down into the double digits. A few of the trees in the neighborhood turn colors and drop their leaves—but not the palms, pines or cacti. More Oscar-worthy films appear in theaters, and there is suddenly an awful lot of TV to watch. People bundle up, wearing cardigans and colorful scarves with their miniskirts, flip-flops and peep-toe pumps. (Nobody in Ellay ever puts seasonal clothing in storage, unless they have just moved here from the East Coast or Midwest and don’t know any better.) Gas prices are a little lower, and it once again becomes at least theoretically possible to cause rain simply by washing one’s car. We take part in national pastimes, like putting up Christmas decorations in time for Halloween (hey, it’s not easy creating those fake winter scenes) and watching football games—but we never have to get up early to scrape ice off our windshields.