some autumnal reading recommendations

22 Sept 2020

Autumn is my absolute favourite time of year. I love nothing more than being able to break out my jumpers and my scarves and drink pumpkin spiced things and eat apple spiced things and frolic among the falling leaves and it's honestly just such a fun time. I also love curling up, wrapped in my blankets and getting stuck into a good book! Here are a few recommendations that for some reason or other give me cosy/fall/autumnal vibes some being more tenuous links than others.


The Diviners Series

Libba Bray


For me, The Diviners series is the ultimate autumnal/fall season read. I'm not a big Halloween person so I don't know quite why I'm here telling you to read a spooky book in spooky season but hey. The Diviners is set in the 1920s and mainly follows Evie O'Neill who after an incident in her home town is sent to live with her uncle in New York City. While she's there she discovers a whole new world of flappers, speakeasies and the occult. Evie is also a diviner, someone with a special gift and New York City isn't a safe place for diviners, especially when her uncle is so heavily involved in the occult. We also follow her friends as they traverse this city brimming with opportunity but also with danger as there are murders occurring throughout the city and no one can get to the bottom of it. Each person in this series also harbours secrets which we slowly uncover throughout the series. I've read the first two books recently and I cannot wait to finish this series during the coming months. I also listen to these on audiobook through my local library which I definitely recommend because the narration is next level!


The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Stuart Turton


This was one of my first reads of the year and it's perfect for this time of year if you want a mystery with a sci-fi twist. Every night Evelyn Hardcastle dies and every morning Aiden Bishop wakes up in the body of a different guest staying at Blackheath the day of Evelyn's murder. His job is to solve the murder but there are other people also trying to solve the murder but only one of them will be able to escape Blackheath. This book is so intriguing and because of the different bodies, the time loop doesn't become tiresome. It took a while for me to get into and to fully understand the system but once you're hooked you're HOOKED and the ending is truly shocking. I'm not generally a big mystery reader which is probably why it took me so long to get through this but I promise you it is good! (In some places it will be called The 7½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle which is kind of confusing)


One Of Us Is Lying

Karen M McManus


In Bayview High School, five students walk into detention but only four of them come out as Simon drops dead leaving the remaining four students as prime suspects in his murder especially since he ran the school's gossip site and was about to expose some secrets about all four of his classmates that were there when he died. This one isn't even an autumnal book since I'm pretty sure it's set in summer but cosy mystery just sort of screams autumn to me and this has suspense but ultimately is a tale of friendship and first love blossoming among tragedy and fear and it's such a delightful read. It's a young adult novel but I definitely think it has appeal to older readers too. I've also just finished another one of Karen M McManus' books which was also a great read so I definitely recommend picking up one of this author's books especially around this time.


Strange The Dreamer & Muse of Nightmares

Laini Taylor


This duology just screams magic and magic just screams autumn. As long as he can remember Lazlo Strange has been obsessed with the lost city of Weep. One day a warrior from Weep called the Godslayer turns up at his town to ask for help for an army he's creating to tackle a problem in Weep and Lazlo seizes his opportunity to explore Weep for the first time and many adventures await him including a mysterious blue-skinned girl that has turned up in his dreams. The less you know about this story before going into it the better in my opinion. Both of these books are hefty but are so packed full of magic and beautiful prose and such a wonderfully well-crafted world you just HAVE to pick it up and what better time to cosy up with a high fantasy epic than in autumn. I truly have no idea how one person's brain came up with this. I only have a physical copy of Muse of Nightmares hence why it is pictured instead of Strange The Dreamer.


Piranesi

Susanna Clarke


Piranesi lives in the House, he has always lived in the House. The House is not an ordinary house it's made up of thousands of great halls and hallways stretching in every direction and Piranesi knows it inside out but the House has secrets that even Piranesi doesn't know and his world begins to unravel with each new secret he discovers. This is a new release and it's come at the perfect time for some cosy autumnal reading. It's less than 300 pages long so it's the perfect way to get lost in a fantastical world of mystery, intrigue, and dark academia. A definite recommend from me.


Circe

Madeline Miller


There's not really anything particularly autumnal about this book apart from the cover but with a cover this bronze and shiny, I couldn't not include it! Circe is the daughter of the sun god Helios but after she is exposed for using magic she ends up being banished to an island where she has to spend the rest of eternity, which as a God is a long old time. This book follows the story of Circe and the people who come to her island and her crossings with many people famous from Greek mythology such as the minotaur, Daedalus, Odysseus and even Prometheus with this story stretching for thousands and thousands of years you get a unique perspective of the world through the eyes of Circe and your heart will break for her.



So that's just a few of my reading recommendations for this cosy autumnal season. I'm also looking to build my own TBR with more autumnal reads for this season so if you have any suggestions fire them my way!

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