The fall season, for my fellow book lovers, is what we’ve all been waiting for. With a good book in hand, a candle lit, and the comfort of cozying up under your blankets, it’s the perfect idea of serenity to me. This fall, it’s all about reading your comfort books – the pieces that can still make you kick your feet or gasp out loud – and of course, the books that know how to capture how it feels to live through these beloved autumn months. So, here are the ten books I’m reading, or re-reading, this season that you should be too.Â
1. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
There is nothing scarier than feeling every emotion possible within 814 pages, except maybe how I looked after finishing those 814 pages. This book ripped a part of my heart out that I will never get back, and I absolutely loved it. This is a story about life, simply put. It follows freshly out-of-college friends Jude, Malcolm, JB, and Willem as they grow older and learn the challenges and relationships that come with it. It explores the depths of how trauma, friendships, and love can connect, while highlighting the extreme improbability of life itself.Â
2. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Yes, the entire series of Heartstopper is a must this fall. Even if you’ve read it five times already, read it again. Is the seemingly heterosexual jock at school not very heterosexual seeming anymore…? You’ll find out soon, and you’ll fall in love with every detail of it. Nick and Charlie and their best-friends-to-lovers trope will never get old for me. It’s the classic boy-meets-boy, boy-falls-in-love-with-boy storyline, and I’m sure after the first page you’ll be blushing right alongside them.Â
3. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
We all know that the entire Twilight franchise is incredibly fall-coded, but Midnight Sun is the number one here. There’s just something about 658 pages of Edward Cullen that makes the leaves outside a little more orange and the cold breeze a little more comforting. Midnight Sun is a retelling of the original 2005 Twilight book, but from Edward’s perspective instead of Bella’s, and it is disgustingly amazing, at least to me, as an Edward Cullen lover. This book and an apple- scented candle burning…sounds great, doesn’t it?
4. Strangers by Taichi Yamada
I just read this book somewhat recently because of Paul Mescal being in the movie adaptation of it, so naturally, I needed to get my hands on the original book. It’s an incredibly niche plotline, but the book has that pull that makes you want to know more of what was past the writing on the page. It’s a ghost story about a newly divorced, mid-40s man named Harada who visits Tokyo and meets/befriends a couple that perfectly resembles his long-dead parents. It’s a strange read, but a good one, and I’m still thinking about the ending of it.Â
5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
A perfect example of a classic comfort book. If you have not read this yet, what are you doing? Stop acting out TimothĂ©e Chalamet as Laurie proposing to Jo, and pick up the book. The classic coming-of-age story follows the four March sisters: Amy, Jo, Beth, and Meg. There’s romance, there’s angst, there’s heartbreak, and death…what more could you need for a great fall evening?
6. IT by Stephen King
I don’t usually read horror books, as I don’t find them as scary as I want them to be, but this clown…terrifying. Now, the writing is a little weird, and Stephen King is definitely a strange man, but he does come up with an incredible storyworld. The “Loser’s Club,” as they call themselves, consists of middle schoolers Bill, Richie, Eddie, Ben, Beverly, Stan, and Mike during the summer of 1957, as they are terrorized by an entity that feeds off of their fears. Maybe skip past a few disturbing scenes and then, boom, great horror classic!Â
7. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Yes, it’s a book too! Now that we’re all older and this story doesn’t scare us (as much) anymore, we can actually agree how phenomenal the entire plot is. The story follows Coraline Jones in a world of fears, dreams, and wonders beyond a small door in her new house. Coraline enters this new world to find her “other” parents awaiting her with button eyes of her own. This book is a beautiful, dark fantasy story that amazes me every time. Although the book does not include Wybie, who I have a soft spot for, it’s just another reason to watch the movie after reading the book then!
8. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Would you want to know when you’re going to die? Personally, that would give me an insane amount of anxiety, so I wouldn’t, but I did love reading about Rufus and Mateo’s last day alive. This book was an emotional one for me, and I quickly fell in love alongside the two main boys as they met and developed a relationship in their final hours on Earth. I’ve read this book multiple times, and once I pick it up, I seriously cannot put it down; it’s heartbreaking, uneasy, and beautiful.Â
9. Normal People by Sally Rooney
A truly frightening topic perfect for your fall reading…unrequited love! It tells the four-year-long story of Marianne and Connell as they weave in and out of each other’s lives and blur that line between friendship and love constantly and frustratingly. It’s a painful slow-burn to get through, and I caught myself screaming at both Marianne and Connell throughout the book, but I cannot explain how much love I have for this infuriating take on a right-person-wrong-time, never-ending “situationship.”Â
10. Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum
Of course, to end this fall recommendation list is the epitome of a fall book: a story that perfectly embodies the atmosphere of this season. This is the novelization of everyone’s beloved movie of the same name. It follows an all-boy prep school’s new English teacher, John Keating, as he uses unorthodox methods to teach his students, like Todd and Neil, to embrace who they want to be and seize the day. This book, like the film, is incredibly beautiful and emotional, and not a day goes by during these autumn months that I don’t think about Neil Perry. If you haven’t read or seen this story, it’s a must immediately; you will be changed and heartbroken in the best way after it.Â
Of course, there are tons of other fall-feeling books to consider, but these are my very favorites and the ones I will absolutely be rereading this season. Go light a candle, pour some tea, and pick up your favorite story. Happy reading!