I know. I know. You can’t judge a book by its cover. But let me tell you, I will absolutely pick up a book if it gives me fall vibes. Give me those reds, oranges, yellows, and golds. Give me leaves and pumpkins. Throw in some black cats and witchy goodness. Y’all, my bank account starts crying.
Today, I’m giving you some book covers that scream cozy autumn vibes. So, grab a warm drink, curl up under a blanket, and check these out.
Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award-winning illustrator Faith Erin Hicks collaborate on Pumpkinheads, a poignant and amusing story about two appealing teenagers understanding what it means to leave behind a place and a person with no regrets.
Deja and Josiah are best friends for the season.
They’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the world every autumn since they were in high school. (Not many people realize that the best pumpkin patch in the entire world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it is.) They say their goodbyes on Halloween and reconcile on September 1.
This Halloween, however, is different. Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their final season at the pumpkin patch. It was their final shift together. Their final farewell.
Josiah is prepared to spend the entire night crying about it. Deja isn’t ready to give him up. She has an idea: what if, instead of moping and flinging lima beans at the Succotash Hut, they went out with a bang? They could see everything! Try all of the treats! And Josiah could finally chat to that pretty girl he’s had his eye on for three years…
What if their last shift was exciting?
1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio, where their wagon became trapped. They and their five children labor tirelessly to tame their parcel of land, purchasing saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed in order to grow the fifty apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. The orchard they plant, though, sows the seeds of a lengthy war. James adores the apples, which remind him of a simpler life back in Connecticut, whereas Sadie prefers the applejack they create, an alcoholic escape from the harsh frontier existence.
Robert, their youngest kid, is roaming across Gold Rush California in 1853. He has traveled across the country alone, restless and plagued by the damaged family he left behind. He finds refuge in the redwood and enormous sequoia trees, where he collects seeds for a naturalist who sells plants from the new world to English gardeners. Even in America, you can only escape so far, and when Robert’s history reappears unexpectedly, he must decide whether to break out again or lay his own claim to a home at last.
At the Edge of the Orchard, Chevalier’s most delicate and vividly envisioned work to date, tells a violent, brilliantly written drama.
Todd Anderson and his Welton Academy classmates can’t believe how different their lives have become since their new English professor, the flamboyant John Keating, urged them to “make your lives amazing!” Inspired by Keating, the boys resurrect the Dead Poets Society, a secret group where they can let their passions run wild without the limits and expectations of school and parents. As Keating introduces the boys to the great words of Byron, Shelley, and Keats, they learn not only about the beauty of language, but also about the significance of making every moment matter.
However, the vows of the Dead Poets quickly understand that their newfound freedom can have deadly consequences. Can the club and the individualism it fosters withstand the pressures of authorities determined to crush their dreams?
The Overstory, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a vast, impassioned work of activism and resistance, as well as a breathtaking portrayal of—and paean to—nature. Richard Powers’ twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interconnected fables ranging from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond, from the roots to the crown and back to the seeds. A world exists alongside ours that is large, sluggish, interwoven, resourceful, marvelously imaginative, and nearly invisible to us. This is the narrative of a small group of people who learn how to view that world and become entangled in its impending disaster.
Henry David Thoreau’s classic “Autumnal Tints,” first presented as a lecture soon before the writer’s death, is a homage to fall as a season of ripeness, fullness, and maturity, rather than death and decay. It is possibly the best piece ever written on the subject of the changing colors of the leaves in the fall. Thoreau wanted to publish it as an illustrated book named “October, or Autumnal Tints” one day.
Thoreau’s perceptive reflections are set against a biographical essay by renowned researcher Robert D. Richardson that looks into the events and relationships that influenced Thoreau’s ideology. Lincoln Perry’s sensuous watercolors bring to life Thoreau’s passionate descriptions of fall colors, allowing longtime Thoreau fans and leaf-peepers alike to feel as if they are walking amid the falling leaves alongside one of our best observers of the natural world.
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, first published in 1959, has been acclaimed as a magnificent work of unsettling fear. Dr. Montague, an esoteric professor looking for strong evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his humorous assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, frail young woman intimately acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the prospective heir of Hill House, are the characters in the novel. At first glance, their stay appears to be nothing more than a strange encounter with unexplainable events. But Hill House is amassing its powers, and it will soon choose one of them to call its own.
For over two centuries, the Owens women have been held responsible for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts village. Gillian and Sally experienced the same fate as children: they were constantly teased, talked about, and pointed at. With their musty abode, odd potions, and throng of black cats, their ancient aunts almost seemed to encourage witchery rumors. But all Gillian and Sally wanted to do was get away. One will do so by marrying, while the other will do so by fleeing. But the links they share will draw them back almost magically…
It’s late October in Cabot Cove, and something peculiar is in the air as Halloween approaches. The arrival of a self-righteous, fire-and-brimstone spiritual medium has some townspeople on the lookout for curses and evil omens; a reclusive, eccentric woman has others whispering that she is a real-life witch; and Jessica Fletcher is frantically searching for the perfect costume for the upcoming annual Halloween party.
Then, when the purported witch is discovered dead in the graveyard, everyone at the party becomes a suspect. Jess takes it upon herself to sort through a witches’ brew of motives—and concocts her own terrifying strategy to ensure that a guilty ghoul does not get away with murder…
Earl desired to halt the Halloween Hayride. Someone hit him with it. Can the Hayride be revived before Halloween is ruined?
Tessa has returned to her hometown to pick up the pieces of her life as a young widow. Tessa joined the Halloween Hayride Committee to help give back to her tiny town, in addition to working at her parents’ B&B. Everything is going swimmingly until Earl appears in town, threatening to shut down the beloved Hayride, and someone decides to run him down with the tractor.
Tessa has become entangled in the situation, tripping over clues and becoming further involved. Someone has to bring the Hayride back on track, and she’s determined it has to be her. It’s the only way she can think of to reclaim control of her life and express gratitude to her community for bringing her back after her life broke apart.
The only problem is that the murderer is keeping an eye on Tessa as she is trying to solve the case. Will Tessa be able to discover out who killed Earl before the tractor-riding killer attacks again?
It’s dangerously cozy.
A mentalist. Pets that talk. A haughty homicide detective. A murder society. And a body.
Hello and welcome to the club. It was simple to gain entry. Getting out can be lethal.
Living at Brambleberry Bay is proving to be extremely dangerous.
Recipe included!
My name is Hattie Holiday, and I have the ability to read people’s minds. Sure, people have all kinds of nefarious thoughts flowing around up there, but I’m far more interested in using my unusual powers to communicate with my cat, Cricket, and any other furry creature I come across.
I just lost my work at the public library, but luckily for me, a position as an events coordinator opened up at the nearby country club, and I was able to obtain it. And, because my love of literature follows me wherever I go, I’ll not only have lavish parties to supervise, but I’ve already snagged a few people to establish a book club with.
Sure, the country club is snobbish and smells like old and new money, but I was expecting that. What I hadn’t bargained for was finding a body immediately away. And what about that new book club I’ve started? Let’s just say the book group has been replaced with the murder club. What I didn’t expect were the secrets, deception, and lethal twist of a lifetime.
Living at Brambleberry Bay can be lethal.
Don’t these just scream pumpkin patches and apple orchards? Will you read any of them this fall? Let me know. And if you got this far, leave a leaf or pumpkin in the comments.
The Glorious Train Wreck Mom 
Leave a Reply