Books to Read for Fall 2023

Happy September.

For me, that means reaching for pumpkin spice, a blanket, and a cozy book. Let’s be honest. The fall season is too short. Too soon, it’ll be too cold to go outside and people will be blasting Christmas music. This fleeting season prior to the chaos of the holidays deserves to be appreciated to the fullest.

Here are a few books I believe will help you do that.

Cackle by Rachel Harrison

I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover but look at it: the warm cup of coffee (or tea), the snake, the dark cover a stark contrast to the red, the spiders.

Perfect fall vibes.

Cackle is about Annie. She gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she moves towns, and befriends the oddly charismatic outcast, Sophie. Sophie is unapologetically herself. She does what she wants when she wants and lives the way she wants to. Annie, who is having a hard time adjusting to being single (although the gravity of the breakup isn’t really felt in the book) needs a little bit of Sophie in her life.

Also, Sophie is a witch.

Overall, light read. Good vibes. You can read my full review here.

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

This book is not for the faint of heart.

Marcos is working at a slaughterhouse to take care of his sick father. He’s grieving. He recently lost his baby and his wife is not living in the home with him. He’s alone and conflicted. The animals have a virus that makes them inedible, so humans have turned to cannibalism. The government has legalized it and these individuals, these people, are referred to as “head”.

This book was a lot to read. It wasn’t very fast-paced, but the ending is worth sticking around for. You can read my full review of it here. Although the book wasn’t as intense as I wanted it to be, I enjoyed reading it.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Oh, how I adore Victor Vale.

Vicious is about two college roommates, Victor and Eli, who have too much ambition for their own good. Their scholarly pursuits quickly escalate into much more sinister experiments, and it leads them both down a dark and twisting path. What happens when you give the average person superpowers? Ten years after college, Victor is escaping prison, and the papers are calling Eli a hero.

This book is everything it promises to be and more. It’s dark. There are no good people. Everyone has their motives and no one thinks they’re wrong.

I adored the writing in this book. It was compulsive. It demanded to be read. I devoured it in one day. My review for it will be coming next week.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Let me be forthcoming. I have a very hard time with mysteries. I typically avoid them. I just can’t stay engaged. And while this was the case for this book, a lot of people I know really enjoyed it. That’s why it’s making this list.

Alex Stern is the sole survivor of a homicide. She’s a drug addict who has only worked dead-end jobs and had terrible boyfriends. When she’s in her hospital bed, close to death, she’s given an opportunity to attend Yale. She’s baffled but takes it anyway.

The twist is that she can see ghosts. She’s recruited into Yale’s House of Lethe, a society that deals with the dead and the magic surrounding them. It sounds simple enough, until her mentor, Daniel Arlington, aka Darlington, disappears. She’s thrown into the deep end with no help. She spends the book trying to find her footing and figure out where Darlington is.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

I know this is also a TV show. I don’t care for the TV show.

The book, however, terrified me.

Offred is in the Republic of Gilead. In a world of declining births and lowering fertility rates, she has been made a handmaid. This is supposed to be considered a position of high honor, but the handmaids are made to feel less than human. They aren’t allowed to read. They can only leave the house to grocery shop for the household. They don’t have names. And every month, once a month, they have to lay on their backs as the Commander inseminates them.

Offred can remember her life before. She had a husband named Luke and a young daughter. The Republic took that from her so she could perform an act of service for the greater good. So many little things are enforced to make sure the handmaids are obedient. It’s painful.

I highly recommend it.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

I love this book. It’s one of my favorites.

Scientists decide to clone dinosaurs and profit off of it. They truly believed, through the use of paleontologists, archaeologists, and biologists, that nothing would go wrong. As Ian Malcom would say, “Life finds a way.” Everything goes awry.

I know there is a whole movie franchise based off of this book. I still prefer the book. I love the movies. I think they’re fun, but nothing will ever compare to getting chills while reading about a man dissolving from dinosaur venom.

If you haven’t picked this book up, I highly recommend it. I had a lot of fun reading it.

These books may not be the coziest, but they’re dark and a little twisted. They’re perfect for a spooky, eerie vibe. I enjoyed each and every one of them, and I hope you do, too. Side note: Harry Potter isn’t on this list because I didn’t want to be basic, but I do plan on rereading Harry Potter as soon as I can. Who doesn’t read Harry Potter in September?

Happy fall reading!