We are back with more fall related content, as this is my favorite season. For some reason, feeling that special chill in the air slowly but surely gain traction is heart-warming to me. Just one of those times were change is welcome instead of horrifying.
Now that we’ve done fall poetry/art as well as music (with my Halloween playlist post), I thought it would be fun to pivot to books! Just to get the basics out of the way, I’ll give honorable mentions to Frankenstein, anything Steven King or Ira Levin, and the popular dark academia books like The Secret History. Hopefully my list will give you some newer recs that you haven’t seen before.
1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
When people think of fall reading, many think of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Some may even think of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. However, I never hear people talk about their other sister, Anne Brontë. Yet another talented writer in the gothic genre, Anne deserves as much recognition as her sisters. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a gothic story, but one that tends to lean more feminist than the gothic novels of the other Brontë sisters. It’s about a reserved woman who moves into a house by herself with her son, intending to support herself by painting. Since it’s 1800s England, this is a scandalous move. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s an interesting read for fans of the gothic genre.
2. Come Closer by Sara Gran
This horror story is a good one to add to your list for the fall. It tells the story of a normal woman slowly being taken over by a demon. It’s a quick read, and the repetition of the questionnaire does a good job of marking the progress throughout the story. It builds up more of its creepiness through description rather than through the demon. It also felt realistic, as if this is how a normal person would react to slowly becoming possessed. This was fairly different from other horror stories I’ve read, a good twenty-first century meets horror mixture. It’s one of the few horror books I’ve read that’s set in the present day (at least, post-2000 present day).
3. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
I love everything I’ve read by Atwood, and this was the first book by her I read. It tells the story of the first Canadian murderess throughout various perspectives. I found it really interesting how the main character had memory loss for the duration of the murder, and it added an unreliable narrator spin to the story. Her story was fun to read, and I became super interested in finding out what really happened. You can tell that Atwood did a lot of good research in writing this book, and she does a good job of placing the reader into the book. Alias Grace is a great read as the days grow colder and shorter as you get sucked into this compelling story.
4. Audition by Ryu Murakami
Before the 1999 cult-classic movie, Audition was first a book. I finally got to read (and then watch) Audition this year, and I’d definitely recommend reading it to fans of the movie. If you aren’t familiar with the movie, the premise is that a widowed man holds auditions to find a new partner, and the girl he picks isn’t quite what he expected. I think that the book lays out the exposition better than the movie, with more interesting clues to the sinister nature of the female love interest. There is a weird sex scene that was kind of uncomfortable to read (as is oddly the case with a lot of horror), but otherwise I enjoyed reading it. It’s a unique horror story in my opinion due to the way that most of the book doesn’t feel like horror. It creates an interesting tension knowing that something will go wrong but not getting to the actual issue quickly in the book.
5. The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe
This is another classic gothic book, but one I don’t hear about often. I read it awhile ago in high school, but I really enjoyed the novel with its descriptions of the ruined abbey that makes up the primary setting and the constant drama surrounding the characters. It’s about a family leaving Paris to escape their debts who are forced to take a young girl with them during their hiding. The family’s on-the-run status, as well as conflicts between various characters, maintain a sense of tension throughout the novel. If you’re a fan of classic gothic literature, this is a good book to add to your list.
That’s all! Feel free to comment your own recommendations or, if you’ve read any of these books, what you thought about them.
ttyl,
emily