For both of us, we don’t read as much in the summer, but once the cooler temps and early nights of the Fall season roll around, we start reaching for more and more books. This also means that at least some of the books read in Fall end up making our best books of the year lists! Here are some of our fave Fall reads from the past 3 years – if you haven’t read them yet – let us humbly suggest that you add these winners to your reading list.
– 2019 –
KIM – In November of 2019 I read House of Salt & Sorrow, Erin Craig and remember being completely swept up in this dark and twisted Dancing Princesses retelling. I stayed up late one night reading one of the more creepy scenes and thinking, ‘Woah’ when I finally closed the book.
TANYA – Last November was phenomenal for me – I read so many great books! I’ve mentioned a few of them many times over the past year, but once that hasn’t gotten much more attention for me – which is crazy – is Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty. It’s about 3 different but 3 very DRAMATIC 30-something sisters / triplets – who seem to attract attention wherever they go. Their lives have taken very different turns, and the story of it all is just fun, funny, sad, happy and strange. You probably know Liane Moriarty for her other books like Big Little Lies and The Husband’s Secret – but if you haven’t read this one from her backlist, then please, please, please give it a shot … but only if you like quirky characters.
– 2018 –
KIM – October of 2018 was the month I had the absolute pleasure of reading Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik. Another fairytale retelling, this one skirts around the story of Rumpelstiltskin. I don’t think I was prepared for how amazingly fierce and gorgeous it would be. I haven’t stopped gushing about it since then and it will forever be one that I recommend whenever possible.
TANYA – In 2017, I read my first novel by Fredrik Backman, Beartown, and completely fell in love with his characters. In 2018 I inhaled 2 more of his books, Us Against You (Beartown #2) and this Fall favorite – Britt-Marie Was Here. Backman knows how to write characters and pull you into their lives. It’s like I lived in this book while I was reading it – and both Kim and I are suckers for a quirky characters (see 3 Contemporary Books With Quirky Characters). In this book, Britt-Mari shows up to a teeny tiny town that’s dying. She is brusque and has a really bad attitude, but as we come to learn more about her and her life – as well as the life of the people that live in that town – we come to root for her and them. This is a solidly heart-warming, gut-wrenching book that will give you all the feels.
When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg – of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it – she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens.
– 2017 –
KIM – I didn’t read as many books in 2017 as I usually do but that autumn I remember being introduced to the Nyxia series by Scott Reintgen and thinking it was really underrated. I’ve since finished the series and I still think they’re underrated. A YA series that I thought had a solid plot with interesting characters. I’ll definitely check out more from this author.
TANYA – Can I tell you – I love the process of selecting a book to read almost as much as the actual reading of a good book. And I love to hear about other people’s process just as much. So Fall 2017 was the season of amazeball books like Beartown by Fredrik Bachman which I mentioned above). But one fo my faves that I unequivocally loved was American Street, Ibi Zoboi.
American Street, in addition to being one of my favorite books read that year, is also on our list of 6 Amazing Young Adult Stand Alone Novels and 5 More Fiction Recommendations To Add Diversity To Your Book Club Reads. This is the story of Fabiola who emigrates to the US from Haiti with her mom, who gets detained at immigration. Fabiola ends up staying with her cousins in Detroit’s west side neighborhood and has to navigate a new country, new customs, the loss of her mom and handle being a teenager – everything is new to her. I felt like I knew the personality of each character, was completely immersed in the situations they found themselves in and could picture their everyday life. Such is the skill of this author – to drop you in the story and deftly guide you threw all the emotions and turmoil.
Do you have a favorite season for reading books? Have you read any of the books above? Or read books by any of the authors?
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