Fall Reading List
- alexa cameron
- Jul 25, 2021
- 6 min read
Picture it: fire place on, leaves on the ground, chill in the air, *queer love story in your hand, homework is untouched, and a bowl of candy corn pumpkins only rested peacefully on your stomach. These 10 books will give you exactly that, *insert whatever genre you love in the fall.
As a Taurus, loving the Fall is about as close as I will ever get to liking any sort of change. Something about that damn season. Maybe it's the chill coming back to the Seattle air (before I deeply regret missing it, come the January ice rain), or the horror fan in me revving up for a Halloween of scary movies, scarier books, and dressing up as female icons. Whatever the reason, I love the Fall, and I take my Fall reading list very seriously, it's all about maintaining the Fall energy like a well oiled Trader Joe's does with its themed decorations and selection of pumpkin spice masterpieces. So here are ten books that will help your shelf look like a...Trader Joe's i guess? this fall.
1. Normal People by Sally Rooney (Literary Fiction)
"She believes Marianne lacks "warmth", by which she means the ability to beg for love from people who hate her."
This is certainly a difficult book to describe which is only a compliment to Sally Rooney's depth and creativity. A story of two people from totally different backgrounds that find comfort in each other they just cannot seem to live without. Normal People beautifully navigates the struggles of dealing with family trauma, the ever changing reality of young adulthood, and the people we hold onto through it all. This book breaks all the rules of romantic fiction and takes readers on an accelerated timeline of a passionate on and off romance. Connell and Marianne might know each other better than they know themselves, and they certainly understand each other better than they understand their feelings. An introspective read that highlights the tragedy of missed connections and the passage of time.
2. It by Stephen King (Horror)
What Stephen King writes is just so much more than horror. Don't even try to read this book in the dark, but also be warned to only read it in public if you're willing to cry in front of strangers. Get ready to fall in love with this imperfect cast of characters while you watch them battle their greatest fears.
"No good friends, no bad friends; only people you want, need to be with. People who build their houses in your heart."
It takes place in a small town called Derry, Maine, where adults see a good place to raise their kids, while their children see the truth. Living in the storm drains, It takes the shape of nightmares in order to pray on the children of Derry. Those who survive will move far, far away, but not for long enough. Their memories are no longer working in their favor as they are called back to the hometown they've long since forgotten. It still has a hold on them and the promises they made as kids seem to be leading them right back to the storm drains.
3. The Cruel Prince (Fantasy)
"'I'm tired of caring', I say, 'Why should I?' 'Because they could kill you!' 'They better,' I say to her, 'Because anything less than that isn't going to work.'"
Jude was only seven years only when her parents were murdered and she was taken alongside her sisters to Faerie. Being the weakest in a the magical High Court has left Jude desperate for power. She's spent her school life being tortured by the youngest Prince and his friends while wishing she could use her mastery of sword fighting against them. Knowing that the High Court runs on deception rather than outright aggression (most of the time), Jude knows she has to best Prince Cardan to get what she needs. The Cruel Prince is a brilliantly unique fantasy, following Jude as high as she can climb up the monarchial ladder before she falls--and she doesn't have wings.
4. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (Romance/YA)
During Mia Hall's senior year of high school she's presented with the first major decision of her young life, pursue her cello career at Juliard, or stay in Portland to be close to her boyfriend Adam. This is the last thing she's thinking about when an oncoming truck crashes into the car she is riding in with her entire family. Waking up to an out-of-body experience forces Mia to reconsider everything, her career, Adam, school, and if she was willing to leave it all behind. If I Stay is a story of devastating loss, but also the people who come to your side, the people who might be worth staying for.
"I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard."
5. The Three Mothers by Anna Tubbs (Non Fiction)
Perfect for any non fiction reader but especially any lover of history.
"The mother is the first teacher of the child. The message she gives that child, that child gives to the world." -Malcolm X
A wonderful story of Black motherhood and how the women in our lives shape who we are, how we love, and what we'll fight for.The Three Mothers is the first full length biography on the three women who grew and shaped Malcolm X, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and James Baldwin. These women planted seeds that transformed a nation and are well worth reading about. Written by a historian, but this one will please any storyreader.
6. Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Fantasy)
A wonderful and strange book about finding yourself and embracing peculiarity.
"I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”
After Jacob Portman looses his grandfather to what the authorities are calling an "animal attack", Jacob begins to revisit the stories Grandpa Abe told him as a child. Looking through the fantastical photographs of peculiar children Abe claimed to have lived with as a child, Jacob grows more and more curious of the children's home his grandfather grew up in. Jacob can't move on from this loss until he sees the home for himself, especially after finding a letter addressed to Abe from "the bird". What Jacob finds on the small island off of Whales seems to be an old home destroyed by a bomb nearly a hundred years earlier...until he gets a closer look. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children is a heartwarming adventure that will hook any reader.
7. Salem's Lot by Stephen King (Horror)
Salems Lot, like many of King's books, starts in the middle. With a father and son trying to cope with their disturbing past far away from the town that caused it. Unfortunately, no character has ever been able to escape the horrors Stephen King creates without facing them down head on. Ben will have to return to Salem's Lot for a final confrontation with the creatures of the night.
"The basis of all human fears, he thought. A closed door, slightly ajar."
A slow burn horror that will have you terrified before you even notice your shoulders are hunched up to your ears. If a book can even have jump scares, this one does.
8. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (YA)
Because I don't care if this sounds like the trailer for an early 2000s movie:
Samantha Kingston was popular. She rode to school with her best friends every morning in the same car they rode to every high school party in. Until she died. On the way to the Cupid day party in a violent car crash. But Samantha wakes up again on the day she died, meaning she has something to learn before her story is over, before that day will stop repeating.
"So many things become beautiful when you really look."
9. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks (Romance)
This book is set in the summer but it always calls to me from my shelf in the fall. Probably the mix between fireside romance and chilly suspense.
"I've come to believe that in everyone's life, there's one undeniable moment of change, a set of circumstances that suddenly alters everything.”
When Katie gets on a bus late one night to escape her past, she doesn't stop until she reaches a small seaside town in North Carolina called Southport. New hair, new name, new life. Katie uses her fresh start to take a job at a fish house and buy a cabin in the woods. After meeting Josh, a store owner in town, Katie has to ask herself how good she'll allow her new life to be and who gets to hear about the old one, especially when it's chasing her down.
10. On Fire: The (Burning) Case for the Green New Deal by Naomi Klein (Non Fiction)
A wonderful collection of essays by the brilliant Naomi Klein that highlight the extensive damage human activity is doing to out beautiful planet. A wonderful mix on empirical evidence and reasons why we should love and cherish our beautiful mother. Digestible for non-science wired brains and will easily hook readers. True to the title, On Fire will ignite any reader to passionate action.
"The stories we tell about who we are as a nation, and the values that define us, are not fixed. They change as facts change. They change as the balance of power in society changes. Which is why regular people, not just governments, need to be active participants in this process of retelling and reimagining our collective stories, symbols, and histories.”
I hope one or more of these books brings you joy this fall :)
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