Autumn is the second best season to read books in.
I am shrouded in cosiness and the warming feeling that the festive period is just around the corner. Although the weather usually dips to something that makes it acceptable to stay indoors, I’m still trying to be out and about before wind and ice make an appearance. It’s actually hitting 26 degrees in London next week, so I’m wondering if I should be telling you to read books that transport you to the sweltering heat of 1920s New York instead…
Regardless, I’m interested in walking on crunchy leaves and seeing what autumnal offerings the coffee shops have for me. Pumpkin spice? Maple? Hot apple? Give it to me. I’ll curl up with a book and my black forest hot chocolate (or is that a winter thing? Global warming has kicked all seasonal knowledge out of my head…).
I know a lot of people opt for cosy books to read this season – low orange lights, candles, mild weather, orange leaves, a cute romance – but I’m not a cosy book reader.
The last time I tried, I managed three pages of the Pumpkin Spice Cafe before I deleted it from my Kindle immediately and rinsed my eyeballs. I like a gothic novel, or something crimey and thrillery – but my favourite autumn and winter reads are philosophical stories that force me to withdraw and take the time to get to know the things I ignore about myself. And the world around me. While we all have some downtime and nobody is paying attention.
So here are some not-cosy book recommendations for the next couple of months:
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Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Starting off strong. You know the story; Dr Frankenstein creates a monster and recoils in horror at his own creation. Said monster is abandoned and frightened as he’s rejected by his maker and the rest of humanity. Revenge and murder ensue. The real question: who’s actually the monster?
Themes of morality, good vs evil, prejudice
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The Laughing Policeman – Sjowall and Wahloo
Nine people are shot dead on a Stockholm bus one rainy night – including one of the homicide squad’s own. No motives and no clues, but Detective Martin Beck knows this massacre isn’t random. This is Scandi noir at his bleakest and best.
Scandi noir, gritty detective fiction
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The Snowman – Jo Nesbo
Norway’s first serial killer only strikes on the first day of snowfall, leaving a snowman at every scene. The victims are all women and mothers; Detective Harry hole has to find the connection between the murders before winter claims another.
Another Scandi noir book, detective fiction
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Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Now that all the kerfuffle has died down, if you haven’t read Wuthering Heights, now is the time to do it. Obsession, revenge, and love that destroys everything it touches – and it traverses generations. Be warned: this is not a romance. But it definitely is a novel that was way ahead of its time and is objectively one of the greatest literary works ever.
Themes of class conflict, nature vs civilisation, the supernatural
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The Italian – Ann Radcliffe
Vivaldi falls for a woman beneath his social standing and his snotty mother’s solution is to hire a sinister monk to sort it all out. If you want a gothic romance in Inquisition-era Italy, this one’s for you.
Themes of forbidden love, religious corruption, class conflict, terror
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Strangers on a Train – Patricia Highsmith
Two strangers, each with a burden getting in the way of the life they want. One simple, great idea: swap murders and remove the burdens. Sounds like a hilarious idea that you might just accidentally agree to, in jest. Hilarious, until someone actually goes through with it. Now your end of the bargain hangs in the air…
Themes of identify, class, good vs evil
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Short stories – Edgar Allan Poe
The king of gothic literature, master of the unhinged narrator. My favourite short story is the Tell-Tale heart, in which a clearly mad man tries to convince us he’s sane while also confessing to murder. Also read: the Black Cat, the Fall of the House of Usher, the Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Themes of death, madness, human guilt/conscience
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The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
A beautiful man wants to stay young and gorgeous, so he strikes a deal where his portrait does all the ageing (and moral decay) for him. While he lives a life of debauchery and sin, the painting upstairs grows increasingly horrifying. A delicious story.
Themes of hedonism, morality, self
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The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock and Watson investigate a death in Dartmoor, where a demonic hound is said to haunt the moors. The giant paw prints near the body suggest there’s more to the death than just cardiac arrest.
Themes of the supernatural, urban vs rural, morality
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Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky drops us straight into the mind of a spiralling Raskolnikov after he murders an old lady and her sister. He then spends the rest of the book making us watch the guilt eat him alive. Classic Fyodor <3
Themes of morality, guilt and suffering, the human psyche