Ahhh, fall reading. I skip from the sweet summer beach reads and dive straight into all the nightmarish things that go bump in the night.
But whether your tastes veer towards horror or history, there’s a bit of something for everyone on this list of seven books (and corresponding cocktails) for fall. We hope you’ll cozy up, watch the leaves fall and sink your teeth into one of these great books.
Some of these picks - and many others! - will pass through our Little Free Library, located at 31 Lincoln Avenue, this fall.
The Final Girl Support Group
Grady Hendrix
Horror
It’s the most common of horror movie tropes - the “final girl,” the lone survivor who bests the murderous maniac. But what comes after? Real-life final girls from various massacres come together for support and therapy in this July 2021 release... until one of them goes missing. While classified as horror, Hendrix’s books are the perfect mix of quirky, thrilling, campy and comedic - I recommend any of them, also notably “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.”
Best Paired With: Nightmare on Bourbon Street
Harlem Shuffle
Colson Whitehead
Historical Fiction
After winning back-to-back Pulitzer Prizes, Colson Whitehead is back with “Harlem Shuffle.” His first crime novel follows the story of furniture salesman Ray Carney, who is toeing the line of criminality before getting pulled fully into a world of heists and capers. Historical events and figures of 1960s New York City pulse in the background, including the Harlem Riot of 1964 that took place after a white police officer shot and killed a Black teenager.
Best Paired With: Old Fashioned
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
Ashley Winstead
Psychological Thriller
They were known as the East House Seven - a group of inseparable and popular college friends. When the group reconvenes 10 years after graduation at homecoming, it’s without Heather, whose murder senior year remains unsolved, and Jack, her boyfriend at the time and prime suspect. Secrets unravel surrounding their relationships, ambitions and obsessions in this ‘dark academia’ thriller, a la Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History.” This one will leave you guessing right til the final pages.
Best Paired With: Cherry Bounce
Under the Whispering Door
T.J. Klune
Contemporary Fantasy
“Everyone loses their way at some point, and it’s not just because of their mistakes or the decisions they make. It’s because they’re horribly, wonderfully human.” When attorney Wallace Price drops dead of a heart attack in his office, he’s led to a tea shop where a ferryman will help his soul cross over to the afterlife. But Wallace isn’t ready - and is granted one week to live the life he missed. A much anticipated follow-up to his beloved “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” I can’t wait to check this one out.
Best Paired With: Death in the Afternoon
Apples Never Fall
Liane Moriarty
Family Drama
Liane Moriarty has become a Hollywood darling - with her novels “Big Little Lies” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” recently adapted into series for HBO and Hulu, respectively. Now she’s back with “Apples Never Fall,” a family drama centered around the disappearance of the matriarch of a well-respected tennis family, and a stranger that arrives mysteriously on their doorstep.
Best Paired With: Apple Cide-Car
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
Mary Roach
Nonfiction
The world of animal-human conflict is a fascinating one - full of people with job titles like Human-Elephant Conflict Specialist, Bear Manager or Danger-Tree Faller-Blaster. Mary Roach’s latest is “powerfully propelled by the force of Roach’s unflinching fascination with the weird, the gross and the downright improbable,” as noted in a The Washington Post review. Dive into this discipline that pulls in forensic science, conservation genetics, human behavior, wildlife biology and more.
Best Paired With: Pink Elephant
Beautiful Country: A Memoir
Qian Julie Wang
Memoir
The word for America in Chinese, Mei Guo, translates to “beautiful country.” In China, Qian’s parents were professors. When they arrive in New York City when Qian is seven, they become undocumented immigrants who labor in sweatshops to survive. Qian grapples with an identity of “illegal,” the changing dynamics of her family and her mother’s illness - while still finding delights wherever they can be found in this moving memoir.
Best Paired With: Good Fortune Cocktail
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Some of these picks - and many others! - will pass through our Little Free Library, located at 31 Lincoln Avenue, this fall. Keep an eye out by following our Instagram at @gflittlelibrary, and stop by to take or share a book.
