With fall comes many things. Cooler weather, Starbucks specialty drinks, and everything pumpkin. It’s gotten to the point where sometimes I wonder if all those people that order pumpkin spice lattes actually enjoy them or order them for the novelty of it being pumpkin flavored. But that’s neither here nor there. There’s an undeniable feeling about fall that makes you want to spend your days wholly immersed in everything life has to offer, even more so than usual. Fall invites you to revel in the short days and the long nights. I never feel more young and more alive than when I do in fall. It would only fit to read wonderful books. Fall in love with the setting, the characters, the plot. The following books are thought provoking, interesting, and above all fantastic. Let them pierce deep into your heart, and find an irreplaceable spot. Let them come back to you in the fall, ready to be back in your life again.
A Game of Thrones
If you’re a fan of the tv show, it goes without saying that it is absolutely necessary to read A Game of Thrones. Reading the book after the fact actually makes the experience all the better. As one of the best book to screen adaptations, you’ll be re-imagining everything you saw in the show as you read lines that the show took word for word. Not only does George RR Martin create a world that is all the more vivid on the pages, but his attention to detail is absolutely phenomenal. You’ll get a far deeper look at House Stark, House Lannister, House Baratheon, and each and every character you’ve come to know and love (or hate, as the case might be.) You’ll be immersed in the fantasy world GRRM created, while simultaneously be amazed by how realistic characters he creates and the range of emotions they possess. You’ll find yourself craving all the extra details the books give you as you navigate the world of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, rooting for characters you might never expect.
The Fault in Our Stars
This book is one of those rare gems that burrows itself deep into your soul and never lets you go. Telling the story of stage 4 lung cancer patient Hazel Lancaster and her impossible, radiant, and essentially perfect love with cancer survivor Augustus Waters. Meeting him at a cancer support group that Hazel finds absolutely overrated, Augustus’ candid and unique personality is something that Hazel can’t not fall for. His knack for treating her like a human being without the pity she’s been used to getting is refreshing to Hazel, making her fall for him all the more. Their love story is honestly one of the most beautiful and heartfelt things I have ever read. But, be warned. It’s quite a tearjerker. The first time I finished it was at 4am, and I was left crying under my covers with a pile of tissues next to me, and I would be lying if I said I haven’t cried reading it each subsequent time. But give it a go. I absolutely promise that you won’t regret it.
Slaughterhouse-Five
If you’ve never read Kurt Vonnegut, or just want to go back to a classic, this book is perfect for that. This is the novel that began my eventual love affair with Vonnegut and kept me coming back to him. Telling the story of Billy Pilgrim, a man that was ‘unstuck in time,’ the reader gets flashbacks of Billy’s days during World War Two in Dresden to the present day to his experiences with Tralfamadorians throughout his life. Vonnegut gets the reader invested in all the aspects of Billy’s life, even down to the mundane bits and pieces that typically wouldn’t be interesting. Vonnegut’s proficiency with story telling and diction will startle, fascinate, and amaze you. His knack for making everything come full circle is so seamlessly written that it makes the reader only want more. If you want to try Vonnegut, I will always recommend this book first. If you want to reread Vonnegut, this book is waiting like an old friend to be picked up again.
Mrs. Dalloway
This is a kind of funky one, but a great one nonetheless. Mrs. Dalloway, one of Virginia Woolf’s finest novels is a stream of consciousness novel. Though the titular character is a major part of the story, the reader is given over eight different perspectives over the course of the novel, each one is of equal importance. Not knowing where one character ends and one begins, and whether you’re in the present day or a flashback, it’s definitely something the reader has to actively work to get used to. But once you start understanding the novel’s plot, you will be immersed and everything else feels like an interruption. As the novel takes place over the course of a day, you really feel like you are in the minds of each of the characters you’re reading. With so many contrasting characters, the intersecting of each of their lives is so realistic that it feels like you’re walking the streets of London right along with them.
Obviously these books can be read any time of the year, but they are just some that I seem to come back to each and every fall. I hope that others can love and cherish them with the same fervor as me.