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Ahhh...
Cerulean-blue skies hiding like frightened children behind the skirts of wind-driven slate-gray clouds pregnant with the promise of rain...train whistles in the distance, beckoning you from bed, or driving you to it...long swaths of leaves blanketing the world in a soft carpet of gold and rubies, lying in great mounds and ready for burning, a sacrifice to older times and darker thoughts...fat, round pumpkins, orange as a winter sunset, heaped on front porches beside sleepy black cats and straw-men dressed in the dying Summer's bib overalls...
But I digress.
As we fall toward Autumn...
(ahem)
What are some really good books to call in the best season of the year? A couple of my perennial favorites---
Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist; exceptionally cool if you're able to finish it on Hallowe'en night...
Poe by Gaslight includes all the best-loved seasonal favorites...
Of course, you have to find a copy of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., and re-read 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'...
The Darkest Part of the Woods by Ramsey Campbell; a paean to the darkside...
Something Wicked This Way Comes, October Country, The Hallowe'en Tree, and From the Dust Returned, by the illimitable Master of Autumn, Ray Bradbury...
What can you think of...?
I just got my new S.M. Stirling novel The Scourge of God: A Novel of the Change (The Sunrise Lands) in the mail today. Nothing says Fall to me like another installment of this series! (squee!)
Anything and everything by Lovecraft, really. (I second the Faerie tale recommendation! Excellent seasonal novel.)
Salem's Lot by Stephen King might also be a good one.
My favourite autumn novel is Dragonfly by Frederic S. Durbin - it is about a 10-year-old girl nicknamed "Dragonfly" who gets transported to the land of Harvest Moon, which is ruled by the evil despot Samuel Hain. This book has the very best opening paragraph I've ever read, and it hooked me immediately:
"Bad things were starting to happen again in Uncle Henry's basement. These were things that had happened before, when the wind swung round, when the trees all felt the blood rush to their leaves after the exertion of August and the idling of September; when the chuckle-dark harvest moon shaped pumpkins in its own image, brought its secret wine flush to the scarecrows' cheeks; when the rich bounties of the land lay plump for the taking and the light left them alone for longer and longer at a time. But when the trouble started before, I was too young to remember."
Another great seasonal read is the Diaries of the Family Dracul trilogy by Jean Kalogridis. This is a prequel trilogy to Bram Stoker's Dracula; the first book starts out a generation before the events of Stoker's novel and last book is contemporaneous with Dracula, but told from a different viewpoint. The trilogy answers many questions left open in Stoker's novel, including the origin of the enigmatic Dr. Van Helsing. This series is a "must-read" for any Dracula fan.
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Anything and everything by Lovecraft, really. (I second the Faerie tale recommendation! Excellent seasonal novel.)
Salem's Lot by Stephen King might also be a good one.
'Salem's Lot (I am a King fanatic) is another one to finish on Hallowe'en (and if you've got some leaves burning in the dooryard, ooohh. Perfect smell for the book's finale.
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My favourite autumn novel is Dragonfly by Frederic S. Durbin - it is about a 10-year-old girl nicknamed "Dragonfly" who gets transported to the land of Harvest Moon, which is ruled by the evil despot Samuel Hain. This book has the very best opening paragraph I've ever read, and it hooked me immediately:
"Bad things were starting to happen again in Uncle Henry's basement. These were things that had happened before, when the wind swung round, when the trees all felt the blood rush to their leaves after the exertion of August and the idling of September; when the chuckle-dark harvest moon shaped pumpkins in its own image, brought its secret wine flush to the scarecrows' cheeks; when the rich bounties of the land lay plump for the taking and the light left them alone for longer and longer at a time. But when the trouble started before, I was too young to remember."
Another great seasonal read is the Diaries of the Family Dracul trilogy by Jean Kalogridis. This is a prequel trilogy to Bram Stoker's Dracula; the first book starts out a generation before the events of Stoker's novel and last book is contemporaneous with Dracula, but told from a different viewpoint. The trilogy answers many questions left open in Stoker's novel, including the origin of the enigmatic Dr. Van Helsing. This series is a "must-read" for any Dracula fan.
Spectacular!!!
Exactly what I was looking for--I haven't read any of these and Dragonfly sounds just my cup of tea. Thanks!
EDIT:
Wow! I had no idea it (Dragonfly) was an AH book (I'm a collector of AH 1st editions), and I just bought the last one in stock at Amazon. What a great afternoon. Thanks again, Cazban.
since you mentioned Ray Bradbury,
Have you read Dandelion Wine? It is one of my favorite books of all time. I don't remember if it has anything to do with autumn, though....
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since you mentioned Ray Bradbury,
Have you read Dandelion Wine? It is one of my favorite books of all time. I don't remember if it has anything to do with autumn, though....
I'm also a Bradbury fanatic. Dandelion Wine is a fine novel for reading at the start of autumn. It's actually the story of Summer, but the cold, damp, dark spectre of Autumn rides the coattails of every chapter as Douglas moves ever closer to the end of season. Of course, Dandelion Wine is the first book in the Green Town trilogy, followed by Farewell, Summer. Something Wicked This Way Comes, infinitely autumnal, is book three. Summer Morning, Summer Night, an appendix to the trilogy, and composed of vignettes and shorts, is due this Hallowe'en.
EDIT:
Wow! I had no idea it (Dragonfly) was an AH book (I'm a collector of AH 1st editions), and I just bought the last one in stock at Amazon. What a great afternoon. Thanks again, Cazban.
No problem! I always recommend Dragonfly for anyone who is looking for a great Halloween read. The fact that it is published by Arkham House is one of the things that prompted me to buy it in the first place. The author is a big fan of Lovecraft and Tolkien, and Dragonfly appears to have been influenced by both.
since you mentioned Ray Bradbury,
Have you read Dandelion Wine? It is one of my favorite books of all time. I don't remember if it has anything to do with autumn, though....
Maybe not autumn specifically, but Dandelion Wine is a great read and has that wistful Bradbury quality to it. I really enjoyed this book too.
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No-one reads from September to November?
I read books, but I don't tend to differentiate what I read into seasons or periods of any kind. I just read what interests me. Right now it's Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series. in a week or so I'm going to be reading a superhero parody novel my brother bought me, and a week or so after that will be a DC universe novel about the Question.
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Ahhh...
... And now we close on Autumn 2008. Winter's official first day is still weeks away, but True Autumn falls always at midnight, the 1st of November. Spirits and goblins, haints and sídhe, all to rest tonight; all to sleep for another long year.
Happy Hallowe'en, Happy Autumn, gone and gone.
Next thread: Best Books of the Yuletide.
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Not really a "Fall" book by topic, but I *always* start my long cold season off with a reading of The Hobbit.
EDIT: Yuletide already? Dang.
The Belgariad - David Eddings
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
As we get closer to Christmas itself, I most likely will slip into some lighter fare: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny (you left me too soon, sir!), and DEFINITELY will restart another read through the Myth Inc. series by Robert Lynn Asprin.
Other winter reads on my list this year will be to get back to the Steven Brust books (I stopped at Orca - I have some catching up to do.)
I'm also catching up on some L5R d20 gaming material I never finished getting - I have about 6 Secrets of ... books to catch up on.
I *love* winter ...
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I'm surprised no one mentioned the late Roger Zelazny's wonderful homage A Night in the Lonesome October.
It's told from the point of view of ** spoiler omitted **
Oh, and ** spoiler omitted ** is one of the good guys.
But you did not tell the best part!
It full of
I am certain that you would love it AT.
Another one I would say is great is Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon.
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I'm surprised no one mentioned the late Roger Zelazny's wonderful homage A Night in the Lonesome October.
It's told from the point of view of ** spoiler omitted **
Oh, and ** spoiler omitted ** is one of the good guys.But you did not tell the best part!
It full of ** spoiler omitted **
I am certain that you would love it AT.
Another one I would say is great is Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon.
My interest is piqued! Alas, a good copy of this OOP book runs anywhere from $70-300--I'll have to take a look at the library.
Here are two that I try to read every couple of years in the fall:
Simak, Clifford. The Goblin Reservation.
Zelazny, Roger. A Night in the Lonesome October (Which Ventrue already mentioned, so I'll second it.)
Why isn't this in the books forum?
I'm in the mood for M R James and Neil Gaiman, as I get autumned up this year. I went major Lovecraft last autumn.
Three Hearts and Three Lions. Read what D&D is really about :)
Word!
Poe by Gaslight includes all the best-loved seasonal favorites...
I just found an illustrated book of four Poe stories by Gris Grimly which has "Hop Frog", my all time favorite Poe tale lovingly illustrated.
The Darkest Part of the Woods by Ramsey Campbell; a paean to the darkside...
I just read this in the spring. Loved it! nature/growing/planting//composting/decomposing/death ~ this story works year 'round!
I'm reading the second in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series : Catching Fire Both of these have a nice autumnal/nostalgic/hold on to what you love/ type vibe to them.
Love Chandler, and really enjoyed Ellroy's stuff -- even the early ones like Clandestine. Dashiell Hammett remains the master, however -- not as flowery or ironic as Chandler, not as machine-gun stacatto as Ellroy, but precise, well-chosen prose by a guy who knows what detectives actually used to do.
Three Hearts and Three Lions. Read what D&D is really about :)
Rereading that now. Thanks for the reminder!
I say go olde school:
Matthew Lewis: Monk
Horace Walpole: Castle Otranto (the grand-daddy of the Gothic)
Ann Radcliffe: Mysteries of Udolpho
Goethe: Sorrows of Young Werther
this thread is in the wrong section.
I'm looking forward to the new Dean Koontz book for my fall reading.
Im reading Pathfinder 26 Sixfold Trial...yeah, Im a little behind the times...
Just finished "Mockingjay" and a slew of Walking Dead comics.
Also working on finishing a biography, "I Am Ozzy", which works here, because he says he's the prince of mf'n darkness.
Big ones that can keep the fire going all night.
I'm surprised no one mentioned the late Roger Zelazny's wonderful homage A Night in the Lonesome October.
It's told from the point of view of ** spoiler omitted **
Oh, and ** spoiler omitted ** is one of the good guys.
I have only now seen this list and was waiting with bated breath to make sure someone mentioned this awe inspiring book.
It has everything.
The Count
Jack the Ripper
Crazy Jill the witch
Dreamland
Talking animals
Crazy Elder Gods wanting to take the universe for a play thing
Rasputin
Cultists
The Great Detective and his Doctor pal
The Wolfman Larry Talbot
The Doctor, His hunchbacked assistant and his monster