A few years ago I wrote a blog post about how, this time of year, I have this desperate need to slow down time. And one of the ways in which I try to stay present in the moment, during these fleeting days that are racing to New Year’s, is to read books that evoke the emotions of Fall. Winter books are all about hope and miracles. Spring novels tend toward weddings and meet cutes, often with a side of humor. Summer comes with beach reads and instalove romances, all told with the promise of long days sunlight, walks on the beach, and lots of laughter over melted ice cream at summer carnivals.
But Fall is different. The mornings are cold while the days are warm (at lease here in Virginia), colors turn from bright to dark, smoke tinges the air, and everything tastes like pumpkin or apples. This season’s beauty is tinged with sadness, a yearning for something we don’t understand. The year is ending, the light is fading, and poor Thanksgiving–as usual–is squished between Halloween trick-or-treaters and inflatable lawn Santa Clauses. It’s as if everyone waits for Fall all year long–for the lattes, colors, and the start of the school semester–but once we’re in it, we move on quickly to the excitement of the December holidays.
Since I love Fall so much, I’ve found reading books that evoke the emotions of this season is one way to keep myself present, even if the first snowflake falls in November. With this in mind, I’ve made a NEW short list of my favorite books that I plan to re-read every fall, books that capture this season. Books about ghosts, dying dreams, gratitude and family, hopelessness against fate, feasts and food, and even magic. This is not a complete list, and it includes a few favorite short stories from the previous list because I just can’t seem to let them go. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do!
All book blurbs courtesy of Amazon (I am not an affiliate so there are no affiliate links in this post).
Ghosts
The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
AMAZON BLURB: Newly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family’s ancestral estate. Her eccentric uncle Enos drives away her only new acquaintance, Pat, a handsome British scholar, then leaves Peggy to fend for herself. But she is not alone. The house is full of mysteries—and ghosts. Soon Peggy becomes involved with the spirits of her own Colonial ancestors and witnesses the unfolding of a centuries-old romance against a backdrop of spies and intrigue and of battles plotted and foiled. History has never been so exciting—especially because the ghosts are leading Peggy to a romance of her own!
~~~
This is a heartbreaking teenage love story between a young modern woman and a ghost from the Revolutionary War. I don’t want to give too much away, but this is a great story to read around a Halloween bonfire. It’s sweet, tragic, funny, and will capture your heart in a way that only YA books can–with the poignancy of young love and the eternal pursuit of justice and truth.
Vampires
Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
AMAZON BLURB: As the world’s only purebred vampire and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago. But when his most trusted fighter is killed—orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate—Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful woman into another world.
Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger—one that threatens to consume them both….
~~~~
If you haven’t read this book yet, or any of the other books in this series, run to the bookstore. I found this book years ago at an RWA conference where Suzanne Brockmann (another one of my favorite authors) had this book at her signing table and told us all to run over to JR Ward’s table to buy it. I did, and I’ve never regretted it. This book has it all: romance, leather-wearing badass vampires, and unending love. It’s a perfect book for this time of year, and it’s also now being made into a TV series from Passionflix. And, yes, I am now a signature member of Passionflix! Also, another one of the books in this series (Lover Eternal) is on my previous fall reading list.
Witches & Magic
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
AMAZON BLURB: For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic…
~~~
This book is part of the Rules of Magic series, but it’s my favorite. Maybe because this is one of the few books I’ve read where the movie adaptation was just as wonderful, if not more so. And I just heard that there’s going to be another movie made about the Owens women, hopefully coming out next year.
Southern Gothic
The River Witch by Kimberly Brock
AMAZON BLURB: Broken in body and spirit, she {Roslyn Byrne} secludes herself in the mystical wilderness of a Georgia island. Can she find herself in the sweetness of old songs, old ways, and the gentle magic of the river people?
~~~
Disclaimer: Kimberly Brock is a friend of mine and I’ve loved every book she’s ever written. But this one, in particular, is so achingly beautiful that it reminds me of the those last days of fall when all the beautiful leaves are on the ground, waiting for the snow to arrive. It’s a story of tragedy and hope and magic wrapped up in the hope of new beginnings. There’s also a great scene with a pumpkin that can’t be missed!
Vampires
Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker
AMAZON BLURB: The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula’s true origins but Bram Stoker’s—and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.
It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here…
A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents’ Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they’ve thought long ended is only beginning.
~~~
This book is hard to classify. It’s not pure horror, it’s not just a thriller. It’s a deep, long look into the terrifying idea of the permanence of death… and possible redemption. It’s filled with all the scary feels as well as a great insight into the Bram Stoker’s original idea for his own monster story.
Witches & Magic
The Spell Book of Katrina Van Tassel by Alyssa Palombo
AMAZON BLURB: When Ichabod Crane arrives in the spooky little village of Sleepy Hollow as the new schoolmaster, Katrina Van Tassel is instantly drawn to him. Through their shared love of books and music, they form a friendship that quickly develops into romance. Ichabod knows that as an itinerant schoolteacher of little social standing, he has nothing to offer the wealthy Katrina – unlike her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Brom Van Brunt, who is the suitor Katrina’s father favors.
But when romance gives way to passion, Ichabod and Katrina embark on a secret love affair, sneaking away into the woods after dark to be together – all while praying they do not catch sight of Sleepy Hollow’s legendary Headless Horseman. That is, until All Hallows’s Eve, when Ichabod suddenly disappears, leaving Katrina alone and in a perilous position.
Enlisting the help of her friend – and rumored witch – Charlotte Jansen, Katrina seeks the truth of Ichabod Crane’s disappearance, investigating the forest around Sleepy Hollow using unconventional – often magical – means. What they find forces Katrina to question everything she once knew, and to wonder if the Headless Horseman is perhaps more than just a story after all. In Alyssa Palombo’s The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel nothing is as it seems, and love is a thing even death won’t erase.
~~~
I grew up not far from Sleepy Hollow, on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. And I have great memories of visiting this tiny town in the fall with my history classes. So when this book came out, I bought it without reading any reviews. I’m so glad I did. This has become a classic fall read for me because it has all the fall feels as well as an unlikely romance. The descriptions in this book are so vivid, it’s like I’m thirteen again, sitting around a bonfire in Sleepy Hollow, listening to a docent read the haunting story of Ichabod Crane.
Monsters & Magic
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by The Pearl Poet
AMAZON BLURB: The knights of the Round Table are celebrating Yuletide when their festivities are interrupted by the mystifying Green Knight riding on his green horse. The Green Knight challenges King Arthur’s legendary men to a wager. He who takes a blow at the Green Knight must be prepared to accept a return attack one year and one day later. It is the gallant Sir Gawain who takes this challenge on. He raises his axe and strikes off the head of the Green Knight. Yet, the intruder is undefeated. Still alive, he picks up his head, and promises he will see Sir Gawain in a year and a day.
~~~
I’m a sucker for anything having to do with King Arthur and his knights And I know this story technically takes place around Yule in December, but it still has more of a fall vibe than a holiday one. Mostly because the feelings this story evokes in the hero are both valiant and tragic, like an end and a beginning. The unknown author, believed to have been a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, understood the eternal appeal of the seek, the quest, and the power that comes in complete surrender of self. This is one of my all-time favorite autumn reads, maybe because it reminds me of a Renaissance fair!
Monsters & Madness
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
AMAZON BLURB: Elizabeth Lavenza hasn’t had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her “caregiver,” and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything—except a friend.
Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable—and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable.
But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth’s survival depends on managing Victor’s dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.
~~~
This is one of those books you have to read in one sitting. Elizabeth’s story is so compelling that it will haunt you while you’re opening your Christmas presents months later. I recommend re-reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley first, and then diving right into this one. You won’t regret it!
Ghosts
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
AMAZON BLURB: First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
~~~
I read this in high school, and I loved the Netflix TV series, and it’s still one of my all-time favorite novels. It’s so scary that even now, as I write this blog post, I’m getting chills. This book, for me, is the perfect ghost story–it’s terrifying not just because it’s about a haunted house. It’s terrifying because of the way the house drives the ghosts to haunt each victim so personally. As if the house is a sentient being.
Thanksgiving & Found Family
The Iron Peacock by Mary Stetson Clarke
AMAZON BLURB: Joanna Sprague’s life is upended when her father dies on the voyage that was to take them to a new life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Poor and alone, 16-year-old Joanna must summon uncommon courage to survive life as a bond servant in a strange new world. An unforgettable, captivating story. Great for ages 12 – 14.
~~~~
Not all the books on this list are scary. This book, unlike the others, is a middle grade story that I’ve loved since I was in fifth grade. Although it takes place mostly in winter, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it’s about loss and grief and the hope of finding love again in a strange, new world. The heroine also ends up in the company of young men who’d been captured at the Battle of Culloden and are now being sold as bond servants to a group of Puritan settlers–along with Joanna. It has all the fall feels of loss, darkness, and the physical as well as spiritual nature of death, all seen through the eyes of a 16-year old girl.
Ghosts, Monsters, & Devils
Short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
And, finally, anything by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Washington Irving.
Seriously. Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow? The Tell-Tale Heart? The Raven? Young Goodman Brown and Rappaccini’s Daughter?
The emotions these authors serve up don’t get any more dark or scary or intense. Mr. Poe, Mr. Hawthorne, and Mr. Irving were masters of emotional manipulation, and their collected works are the treasures on our family’s keeper shelf.
