best books to read for a cozyish* fall

*occasionally spooky

Setting a mood is very important to me. And there is no mood more important to me than an autumnal one. The reason why August and September are so f*cking rude to us: it's a test, to make us worthy of the fall. And I won’t share that Anne of Green Gables quote¹, but know that I'd give up several springs to experience just one imperfect October. (I don’t include it below, but you should absolutely re-read Anne, by the way. She holds up!)

If you're at all familiar with my reading habits, you'll know that my penchant for melancholic (I will soon outgrow this word as a personal descriptor, I think ... bold pronouncement from a girl who recently downloaded a tear-tracking app, but what can I say: the absence of delusion kills hope) literature is not limited to the October-December period. Be serious. I read Hamnet, after all, in March, and The Marriage Portrait in June².

I do, however, believe that there are certain books that benefit from being read during the fall. There is something about the year's first chill in the air that makes every feeling rise closer to the surface. And why not lean into that? Why not acknowledge the pull to gloom via that very best art form, fiction?

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We are contractually obligated to begin this roundup with Donna Tartt's The Secret History , which I finished for the first time one October 11 several years ago. Blessed? A little blessed! The fall inevitably reminds me of the start of the school year, so reading the dark academia™ (the fact that Tumblr is responsible for popularizing this aesthetic ... I do not know a better platform!) novel feels very natural and, dare I say, necessary? When you're done (re)reading, go on a long walk and listen to Once Upon a Time ... at Bennington College, a fascinating podcast series about Donna Tartt and her Bennington class of '86 classmates on whom the characters of The Secret History are allegedly based. A more disturbed group of people (complimentary) is hard to find.

Two of my favorite little book freaks. (Brian Hamill/Warner Bros)