#fall books
Thanks to Maggie Rose for giving our book “Don’t Date the Movie Star” by Eva Caper a shoutout in her new video! She also has some spooky October recommendations for those of you who (scandalized gasp!) like to read other genres besides romance.
So many booOOoOks, so little time!
Phantasms and Phobias, DC’s premier haunted bookstore, presents a selection of Halloween staff picks ranging from slightly spooky to downright scary.
“It’s funny except when it’s horrifying; it’s horrifying except when it’s oddly comforting.” - Jonathan W. on Ling Ma’s Severance
“Diana is a witch, though she prefers to live her life without magic. A professor of history, she wants to conduct her research in peace and is successful until a lost alchemical text finds its way into her hands.” - Allison W. on Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches
“Witness the tale that traumatized all your favorite artists when they were children.” - Adam W. on Go Nagai’s Devilman
“From the creative mind behind the Doctor Strange film comes a collection of short stories that by turns thrills, chills, and fascinates.” - Aron on C. Robert Cargill’s We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories
“The narrative burrows into your mind and nips off tiny chunks of it until you are not quite sure who is telling the truth. Best read on a gray night with a hot drink.“ - Anton B. on Colin Winette’s The Job of the Wasp
“Three kids realize to their horror that their orphanage is being harvested by monsters. Can they escape?” - Adam W. on Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu’s The Promised Neverland Vol. 1
“Foeis an unsettling blend of a psychological thriller with an examination of the structure and support of a marriage, all the while set in a creepy near-future with hazardous advances of technology.” - Keith V. on Iain Reid’s Foe
The Good Demon
by Jimmy Cajoleas
This book is the perfect treat for the fall. Jimmy Cajoleas has created a delightfully dark YA unlike anything I’ve read. The Good Demon delves down the twisty terrain of southern dark magic in the bible belt from the perspective of a young possessed - or, formerly possessed teen.
Clare’s demon was exorcised. And Clare wants “Her” back.
So ensues Clare’s twisty macabre quest to reclaim her inner demon. Cajoleas excels at rendering a thoroughly creepy, gruesome backdrop for his tale while also honestly depicting Clare’s disturbing reality. The piece is a breeze to read, and so easy, in fact, it would be simple to overlook the depth of its message.
This deceptively light YA book may house a fable a la The Ocean at the End of the Lane. So not be fooled by its dark magic. It may just be your own inner demons trying to trick you.
*B3 would like to thank the publishers for the ARC!
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The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
Should you eat chocolate cake? Maybe not. Is it extremely satisfying when you do? Of course. The Couple Next Door provides your sugar fix. Is it going to provide you nutrition? Probably not. But it is so satisfying you may just want another helping.
I got this book as part of my Book of the Month trial last night. I finished it this afternoon. Need I say more?
Quintessential suspense at its best, with all the twists and turns of a classic who-dun-it, The Couple Next Door profiles Anne and Marco, newbie parents who leave their infant sleeping at home while they attend a dinner party next door. Can you guess where this is going? I tried at several turns, but there was always another curve in the road.
I did the classic “I’ll just finish this chapter” move, but then my eyes would start scanning the next page. 300 pages later…Lapena kept this taut novel pinging until the final sentence. Will there be a sequel? If so, I’ll definitely be reading it. If not, she wrote a killer ending.
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♡ BOOKS TO READ IN THE FALL ☾
Books to read in the fall that will change you… ☕️
We’ve got book recommendations for your favorite classes - because it doesn’t have to be The Scarlet Letter to be required reading.
(We don’t have a book for math. We’re book people here. Even typing the word “math” makes us shudder.)
ENGLISH
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: A magical story about stories for dreamers and library dwellers.
HISTORY
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: a devastating novel about a dark corner of America’s past, for truth-seekers and change-makers.
SCIENCE
The Body by Bill Bryson: A guide to the miracles of the human body from the hilarious Bill Bryson, for the curious and the calculating.
PHILOSOPHY
The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan: A novel about an Enlightenment-era experiment in isolation gone mad, for introverts and proud outsiders.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Running to the Edge by Matthew Futterman: a story about a legendary running coach and his secrets of speed, for the energized and ambitious.
BONUS: Some extracurriculars…
DEBATE
The Guardians by John Grisham: A gripping legal thriller about a wrongfully convicted man and the group dedicated to proving his innocence, for activists and class presidents.
CHESS CLUB
All The Wrong Moves by Sasha Chapin: A memoir about traveling the world in search of chess glory, for obsessives of every kind.
Who else thinks fall is the ABSOLUTE BEST SEASON FOR READING?! Maybe it’s that residual back-to-school feeling, maybe it’s the weather, but as the time for “beach reading” winds down, there’s something about that crisp autumn air that makes us want to sink our teeth into brand-new stories. So, while you’re sharpening your pencils and filling in your day planner, I thought I’d round up all the books we’ve got coming out this fall…because wow, is it going to be a big one.
SEPTEMBER 2019
9/10:The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - THE SEQUEL TO THE HANDMAID’S TALE IS *OFFICIALLY* 4 WEEKS AWAY! EXCUSE THE YELLING, BUT I’M KIND OF FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW.
9/17:Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry - While waiting for an uncertain outcome in a sketchy Spanish seaport, two aging Irish criminals reflect on their shared history, romances, violence, and betrayal. If you like dark humor and gorgeous writing, this one’s for you.
OCTOBER 2019
10/15:The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson - A new Bill Bryson!! This time, the hilarious writer takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the human body. You’ll never take your “wobble of flesh” for granted again.
10/15:The Guardians by John Grisham - A new John Grisham!! In this one, a young man is sent to prison for twenty-two years for a murder he didn’t commit…and when a small group called Guardian Ministries takes his case, they find themselves up against powerful people who’d do anything to keep an innocent man in jail.
NOVEMBER 2019
11/5:Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin’s Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg - In 2014, the world witnessed the start of a series of cyberattacks targeting NATO, utility companies, and electric grids that culminated in 2017 with the release of the malware NotPetya. Now, of course, the fear of such attacks is all-too-familiar - making this story about the real-life team that tracked down the hackers behind NotPetya all the more relevant and chilling.
11/5:The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern - Do I even have to…okay. SO. The one-and-only Erin Morgenstern, author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS, is back with a story about stories that’s like nothing you’ve ever read before. Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student who discovers a strange book hidden in the stacks of the library…and as he turns the pages, which are full of stories about pirates, acolytes, lovelorn prisoners, he finds something else – a story from his own childhood. IT JUST GETS MORE MAGICAL FROM THERE.
11/12:The Innocents by Michael Crummey - A riveting survival story about two siblings who are left orphaned in a remote corner of Newfoundland. For fans of The Revenant and As I Lay Dying.
11/12:Parisian Lives by Deirdre Bair - Nostalgic for your semester abroad? Deirdre Bair has the ultimate cure: a memoir of her 15 years in Paris as the biographer of legendary authors Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, complete with never-before-told anecdotes and details about two incredible people.
Whew! Okay. Only 20 days until fall, people. We can do this.
How do you define a “ghost story”?
InJennifer McMahon’s THE INVITED, a Vermont couple DIYs their dream house, only to discover the property has a dark and bloody past…thus proving thePoltergeist rule thatnewhaunted houses are always scarier than old ones. But ghost stories don’t always involve murder and mayhem. In HAUNTING PARIS by Mamta Chaudhry, the narrator is a ghost - the spirit of pianist Sylvie’s departed husband, who left behind a tangle of questions with answers lost in the chaos of WWII Paris. HAUNTING PARIS is a mystery, but it’s also a story of love, grief, and family - over which the tormented history of Paris hangs like a specter. Old cities are full of ghosts, aren’t they? Deirdre Bair, in PARISIAN LIVES, tells the story about her time writing the biographies of Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir, and makes me wonder: is the act of reading a deceased writer sometimes the act of conjuring a ghost? And then, of course, there’s the “ghost in the machine” (remember that X-Files episode?): In Joanna Kavenna’s ZED, a global tech corporation has a monopoly on daily life. Its omniscient algorithms know exactly what we think and want before we do - until one day, things go suddenly and violently awry…
So how do you define a ghost story? And what do you think makes us love them so much?
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It’s finally fall, which is my favourite season, and it’s been a while since I’ve done a tag, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to talk all about autumnal bookish things!
This tag was originally created by Lucy from the channel The Book Belle on YouTube.
What book always reminds you of fall/autumn?
image: mine!
For me, it’s one of my favourite books of all time: If…
