I’m over this heat wave and yearning for fall. What are some of your favorite fall books? Cozy, scary, or dark academia, if you please!

Question

Sarah Cooney · Answer

Charlotte Sometimes (novel) - Wikipedia: A haunting little book, the third in a series, that I can specifically pinpoint as the book that got me obsessed with boarding school (and one of the reasons I ended up at one). I checked this out probably twenty times.

Sarah Cooney · Answer

All Girls: If you went to an all-girls boarding school (or wanted to), this is THE BOOK. Emily Layden so perfectly captures the cloistered community of a girls' school; the calendar of traditions, the delicate balance between girlhood and adulthood. This book more than any other brings me back so specifically to that time in my life. I re-read every year.

Gloria · Answer

Autumn by Ali Smith: Every fall I feel called to re-read the seasonal quartet, I think Autumn is my favorite, but maybe I'm partial since it was my first (the British covers are superior-it is worth ordering them)

Jess · Answer

The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Laurie R. King): The Russell & Holmes series is a substantial deviation from the typical Holmes story, but (at least for the first ten books) an exceptionally successful one. Russell is a brilliant young woman who is a match for Holmes in every way, and they fall in love while solving crimes. Their genuine pleasure in one another's company is what makes the romantic elements plausible. They recognize one another, and that recognition bridges the differences between them: she's young, Jewish, half-American, but they are still the same.

As for the mysteries themselves, the earlier books are wonderfully constructed. The later ones can occasionally be gimmicky, but they are still well above average. Best of all, King never makes the mistake of trying to write like Doyle would, which would tip these toward pastiche. Instead, she centers Russell's voice, which not only creates a new emotional register for the stories but also unlocks a whole new set of interesting premises.