Here’s What I’m Reading to Get into the Fall Spirit

posted on October 8, 2020 | by Kelley Matney

The days are getting shorter with the sun setting earlier, the leaves are just beginning to change color, and there is a chill in the air. You know what that means! Fall is here. It’s the perfect time to cozy up in a comfy sweater, light a woodsy candle, and curl up with a book.

Time to put away those summer beach reads and pull out these sall favorites.

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

This novel presents you with both paranormal monsters and genuine real-life horrors as we follow a terrifying road trip through the American South in the 1950s. Be on the lookout for monsters and racism in the era of Jim Crow laws in this well written and fast-paced novel by Matt Ruff. You can also check out the TV adaptation that is currently airing on HBO by creators Jordan Peele and JJ Abrams.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Nothing says fall more than a new school year on a New England college campus. This book by Donna Tartt tells the story of six Classics students, on the Vermont campus of Hampden College. As narrated by one of the six students, Richard Papen, a working-class kid from California who feels like an outsider to others and their close clique predicated on glamour and unlimited income. There is sex, drugs, Bacchanalian rituals, and even … murder.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Here is where you get the best of both worlds with the incredible autumn imagery of a new school year on Yale’s ivy league campus with the added bonus of secret societies that practice magic—the perfect spooky season read.  The novel by Leigh Bardugo was one of my favorite reads of 2019.  We follow the main character Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a member of the eponymous Ninth House, Lethe, that is charged with overseeing the magical rituals and gatherings of the other eight “Houses of the Veil” – the secret societies of Yale – Skull and Bones, Aurelian, St Elmo’s, Scroll and Key and all the rest.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

The classic by Daphne du Maurier has haunted and transfixed readers for centuries. Nothing is as it seems in this novel, it always feels as if Du Maurier is always one step ahead of the reader, pulling strings and surprising us time after time. We follow a young woman who impulsively marries a handsome widower she meets in Monte Carlo, only to find that his home is haunted by the memory of his late first wife. If you start now you can finish it in time for the new adaptation streaming on Netflix later this month. 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This YA novel by acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman always does a great job of setting the creepy tone for the spooky season leading up to Halloween. The Graveyard Book follows the tale of a young boy Nobody “Bod” Owens who is adopted and raised by the supernatural occupants of a graveyard after his family is brutally murdered. Gaiman, a master at both world-building and character development creates a magical setting in the cemetery where Bod is raised, spinning a tale of extraordinary enchantment.

Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Not all Fall reads need to be spooky or scary because if you ask me, autumn is the most romantic season of them all. This novel by Jen DeLuca centers around a fall pastime, the Renaissance Faire. Emily moves to Willow Creek to help her sister recover from an accident; little does she know she’d be roped into helping with the local Renaissance Faire. Worse than that, she has to work with Simon, who takes the whole Ren Faire thing way too seriously. He has no time for distractions, especially his mounting feelings for Emily.

What are your favorite novels that get you in the Fall spirit? Let us know.