A Fall TBR
Book recommendations for the changing season
Every fall the Booker shortlist comes out and I say that this will be the year I read every book on it before the winner is announced. Success has eluded me, and likely will again this year, but moving into the cooler months of October and November always revitalizes my energy for reading. Fall and winter feel like the ideal times to soak in new characters and ideas before the more frenetic pace of spring and summer.
Whether you find yourself with the same energy for reading or are looking to kickstart it, I wanted to share a few titles from my read and to be read piles.
From the Non-Fiction Aisle
Read: The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell
Living in Austin, Texas for a decade, heat took up a lot of my mental space for a solid five months each year. Goodell, who lives in Austin, takes a look at the effect of growing heat on the planet and how we live with just the right mix of science and narrative. Easier to read in the fall when the sun isn’t quite so strong.
To Be Read: All Consuming: Why We Eat The Way We Eat Now by Ruby Tandoh
Ruby was a contestant on the Great British Baking Show several seasons back and now has written this book on food culture and the forces that shape our taste. I found this one through an interesting interview she gave on Anne-Helen Petersen’s Culture Study. A good companion read to the current season of Bake Off!
Chunky Fiction
Read: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I read this hefty book one December more than a decade ago. I decided that I’d finish it in one month, or face the inevitable long book challenge where you’ve been reading it for so long that you don’t actually remember half of what you’ve read. It required some marathon reading sessions to finish, but I’m glad I did…and think it may be time for a re-read this year.
To Be Read: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Maybe because Anna Karenina has been on my mind, but I am excited by the prospect of another chunky, involved read while the weather turns out. This one is also on the Booker shortlist, so I’d hit one-sixth of that goal.
Fiction Under 400 Pages
Read: Wanting by Claire Jia
I picked this up in a store and the story of a resurrected childhood friendship sold me. About halfway through we also pick up the story of an architect designing a home for one of the women that I loved even more.
To Be Read: When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
This is another bookstore find - how are you not intrigued by that title? I’m actually a few pages in now and there’s an interesting mix of two narratives that I’m already excited to follow to the end.
What purpose does reading serve for you in the season or any other? What are you looking forward to reading next?
I increasingly like to travel with my reading, either in geography or time. One book I enjoyed recently was Safekeep, by Yael Van Der Wouden. It was a Booker nominee last year. It takes place in the Netherlands, in the 1950s. Another excellent book about global warming is Fire Weather, by John Vaillant.