Halloween is almost here, and although we are sad to see it go, that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy the rest of the fall season while it’s here. Being from the Pacific Northwest, one of my favorite things about fall is listening to an autumnal audiobook while bundled up and walking through my neighborhood to admire its beautiful fall colors. Here in Texas, a fall day can be in the high 60s to the high 90s, but just because it isn’t fall weather doesn’t mean we can’t get in the spirit. I’ve compiled a list of ten books to read for the remainder of this fall to get you in the cozy fall mood, some of which I can guarantee you haven’t read.
Mr. Fox
By Helen Oyeyemi
Mr. Fox is a popular fiction writer who continually kills off his female characters. Almost all his life, he has been in love with an imagined woman named Mary, whom he often writes into his stories. Mary, being a fictional woman herself, disapproves terribly of his fictional serial murders and aims to expose him to his brutality through her own writing. His wife, Daphne, believes he is having an affair and confronts him about it only to be reassured that Mary is imaginary, but when Mary begins to come to life, where does that leave Daphne and Mr. Fox’s marriage?
This book mainly reads like a collection of short stories intercut with parts of a main storyline set in the 1930s (reality). Helen Oyeyemi inserts Mr. Fox and Mary into these short stories frequently, but despite this, that doesn’t make those short stories connected to the main story plot-wise. This was confusing for me when I read it for the first time, as Mr. Fox and Mary, and sometimes even Daphne, appear as fully formed characters with different backgrounds and storylines throughout multiple stories only for it to abruptly end and never continue. The stories were so intriguing I frequently forgot that there ever was a main plot, and when it ended and resumed to reality I was often confused as to who wrote it. Although Oyeyemi never specifies specifically which character wrote each respective story, it is Mr. Fox and Mary’s writing showcased throughout the book. Although confusing I don’t think that’s a deficit to the story or to Helen Oyeyemi’s writing. This is a story that bends reality and the mind, so I think it’s fitting that reading it does as well.
Helen Oyeyemi’s writing is sensual, seductive, creepifying, and poetic. With tales of dead wives, a girl with no heart and an art collector’s son told to find it, and plenty of fox imagery, this is the perfect fall read.
The Lighthouse Witches
By C.J. Cooke
Single mother Liv packs her and her three children’s lives up in the middle of the night after being commissioned to paint a mural inside of a lighthouse in Scotland. When two of her children go missing, Liv discovers the dark history of the island, where faeries called Wildlings replace children and must be killed. Years later we catch up with her daughter, now an adult, searching for her sisters and mother, but when her younger sister Clover reappears, not having aged a day, she must make her return to the island.
C.J. Cooke draws inspiration from Scotland’s history of persecuting witches to make up the lore of this book and makes a point about how badly women who do not fit societal norms have been treated throughout history. This book is very much about women, sisterhood, and motherhood and if you enjoy dark fairytales and Scottish brogues, you’ll love this book. I highly recommend listening to it on Audible, narrated by Eva Feiler, Lesley Harcourt, Jess Nesling, and Joshua Manning, as they all do a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. As you delve deeper into the storylines of the various narrators the book only becomes more dark, but that just adds autumn spirit.
Interview With The Vampire
By Anne Rice
A young journalist sits down to interview Louis de Pointe de Lac, a vampire prepared to give his life’s story of how he came to be and the many journeys he took as a creature of the night. Louis was a young plantation owner when his brother took his own life. This led Louis to become desperate to find death in any way possible, and a seductive French vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt answered that call. From then on, their lives are intertwined for eternity as they live out a gothic romance full of love, hate, death, and loss.
Anne Rice began writing this book while grieving the death of her daughter, Augusta, (whom she wrote into the book as Claudia, the eternal vampire child) who died at the age of just five years old from leukemia. From this perspective, her grief and the story are intertwined, and thus Louis and his feelings become a reflection of Rice’s own. Her grief for her daughter shapes the story so beautifully and tragically that that alone is reason enough to read this book.
Written in the style of a gothic romance this story explores themes of grief, love, and imprisonment as Louis tells the story of his life, from meeting Lestat, the turning of five-year-old Claudia, to meeting the Vampire Armand and his Theatre des Vampires. If you love vampires and morally reprehensible Frenchmen, then you’ll love this book.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle
By Shirley Jackson
After a mysterious tragedy resulting in the death of nearly her entire family, Merricat lives with the only two other remaining members of her immediate family: her sister Constance, and their Uncle Julian. Merricat is seemingly content to live out her days hating everyone in town and thinking murderous thoughts until their cousin Charles shows up to marry Constance and take the family’s wealth. Charle’s presence threatens to spill the family’s depraved nature and secrets.
Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House, and master of horror, writes a haunting and poetic narrative that highlights how people (especially women) who are different than the societal norm are othered and cast out. Short, easy to read, and intriguing, this is a fall must-read as you delve into the twistedly beautiful mind of Merricat.
The Fellowship of the Ring
By J.R.R. Tolkien
After inheriting a powerful ring from his Uncle Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, a hobbit from The Shire of Middle Earth, sets out on a long journey to the land of Mordor with eight companions to face evil and destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
A tale of short men with hairy feet, beautiful elves, and a mysterious ranger with an ancestral duty, what doesn’t scream fall about The Lord of The Rings? This beautiful story weaves themes of friendship, good vs. evil, free will, and heroism into an epic tale of adventure. I find the most impactful part of this story is the hero, Frodo. In many stories, the hero is special, chosen by God, or had their duty foretold to them, but J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t settle for something quite so common or uninteresting. Frodo is an everyman battling the incarnation of evil hanging from a chain around his neck and shows that with bravery anyone can be a hero and that even heroes are fallible in the end.
There is so much I could say about this book but I will keep it brief. For one, I promise it doesn’t get boring, and despite what you may have heard, the level of detail only enhances the story and makes the world more real, although it makes for a very dense book. Secondly, because it is such a dense book this is also one I highly recommend listening to as an Audiobook. Phil Dragash recorded a full audio production of The Lord of the Rings that is free to listen to (look on Spotify). His voice acting is amazing, and it feels like you’re listening to a movie. You constantly hear music or ambient noise in the background like birds singing, people chatting, and the sound of hooves on the road. In my opinion, no fall is complete without a mug of warm tea and his voice telling me this beloved story. Thirdly you should read this because Aragorn is the love of my life and he could be yours too.
Fablehaven
By Brandon Mull
After traveling to their grandparents’ land while their parents are away, thirteen-year-old Kendra and her eleven-year-old brother Seth find out that their grandparents are caretakers for a magical sanctuary. After venturing into the woods, despite being forbidden by his grandfather, Seth captures a fairy and breaks ancient laws that protect humans from magical forces and unleashes a powerful evil.
As the start of a five-book series, each book is intended to grow as the main characters of the book mature, and thus so do the lessons learned in each book. These books can be enjoyed by all ages and with stories of ogres, fae kind, dragons, and any other fantasy creature you can think of it will have you excited to turn the page. Something I especially appreciate about this series is the character Kendra. She never falls into a typical “strong female character” yet her character still often has the most important and impactful roles of the story, though I won’t spoil why. Another fantasy full of darkness, adventure, and magic this is a must-read for fall.
The Council of Animals
By Nick McDonnell
After The Calamity, a group of animals form a council to vote on what should be done with the remaining humans; to let them live or to eat them.
Short and easy to read, Nick McDonnell spins a curious and comedic tale from the narrative perspective of a historian retelling documented events. You’ll likely be able to finish this book in a day so it’s worth a read whether or not it’s something you’d usually go for. Plus, a story entirely about furry fuzzy creatures and their quest to save humanity (or not)… doesn’t that just sound like a satisfying fall read?
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By Neil Gaiman
A man returns to Sussex where he grew up for a funeral, only to find himself back at his childhood best friend’s house. There, he uncovers long-forgotten mysteries from his childhood. As a boy, after accidentally bringing a monstrous being from another world into his home, the young unnamed narrator must get help from his strange neighbors, a family of three women who do not seem entirely from this realm.
This is one of my favorite books of all time written by my favorite author of all time, and I re-read it every October. This is another book that I would highly recommend listening to, as Neil Gaiman narrates it himself on Audible and he has the most beautiful and soft deep voice that lulls you into the story.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane began with Neil Gaiman simply trying to describe his life and what his childhood was like, but it blossomed into an exploration of idenity, memory, and friendship. In my opinion, Neil Gaiman’s work shines the brightest when he is writing about children, or from a child’s perspective. Seeing something from a child’s eyes is always more terrifying as it further distorts reality and makes you question what is real and what may be the result of an overactive imagination. This is the most beautiful and complex book Neil Gaiman has ever written and even if you’re not into the dark fantasy genre I would highly recommend giving this one a try.
Graveyard Book
By Neil Gaiman
After his family is murdered by a mysterious man called Jack, a baby is adopted into a nearby graveyard to be raised by the late Mr. and Mrs. Owens and his newly appointed guardian Silas, a pale man who sleeps by day and only eats one kind of food. The Graveyard Book follows the life and adventures of Nobody Owens as he grows up in a graveyard and investigates the secrets of his family’s death.
Once again, I cannot praise Neil Gaiman enough for this book. Like I said for The Ocean at the End of the Lane, this is another book you should listen to on Audible. Neil Gaiman has one of the best speaking voices you’ll ever hear and it’s such a treat to hear an author read their own book aloud. This book is a coming of age and deals with themes of community, family, identity, and life and death. Being literally set in a graveyard with a cast of ghosts, ghouls, and Hounds of Heaven, it is absolutely perfect for fall.
The Sandman Volume 1
By Neil Gaiman
After a group of Occultists imprisons Dream of The Endless mistakenly, having hoped to capture his sister Death to gain immortality, Dream must break out to restore order to his universe. Upon his freedom, Dream discovers that his realm, “The Dreaming,” has fallen to shambles, and his three sigils of power– the pouch of dream sand, his helm– and his ruby have all been stolen. Dream sets out to put his realm back in order and to regain his artifacts from the people who have stolen them.
As the only graphic novel on my list, The Sandman stands out for its unconventional themes of imprisonment, freedom, and revenge and its beautifully unique art style. Although The Sandman could have easily worked as a novel, Neil Gaiman’s poetic and expressive dialogue makes this comic even more unique. My one word of warning about this series is that Neil Gaiman had not entirely found his footing at the beginning of Volume 1 in this comic series, so while still beautiful and interesting, I find the first few stories the most confusing. Not to worry though, this won’t last long and soon the stories will be much easier to follow. The Sandman has a wide range of stories, from “24 Hours”, regarded as one of the most terrifying comics of all time, to an issue where Dream watches a performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” A unique and iconic comic, everyone must read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.