It’s finally the right time to curl up inside or out with a cup of coffee and a good book. Here are ten awesome books that will pair perfectly with your Pumpkin Spice Latte.
1. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
This Pulitzer-Prize winning novel chronicles the life of Theo Decker, who at thirteen stole a priceless piece of art after surviving an attack that killed his mother. Follow Theo from the wealthy neighborhoods of Manhattan to the suburbs of Las Vegas and all over the country and world as he conceals his secret, grows up parentless, and discovers who he is as a person. This is on my nightstand right now and it’s a must read!
2. Bone, Yrsa Daley-Ward
Perhaps you’re interested in poetry—Bone might be perfect for you. Daley-Ward puts into words the struggles of love, femininity, family, culture, sadness—everything that makes up life. It’s a short read, but it will grip you from page one.
3. An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir
There’s no need to re-read The Hunger Games for a quality dystopian fantasy. Set in an ancient Rome-like society, the narrative is split between Elias, an elite soldier in training, and Laia, a servant and rebel spy. Chased by imminent death in an unforgiving environment, they must fight to survive and determine what their fates truly are. This book (and its sequel!) has the potential to be the next big thing—get ahead of the trend now!
4. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Ifemelu left Nigeria to become an American student. Her love from home, Obinze, is trying to make a life for himself in London. While the two may be leading two separate lives, the moment they later reunite as adults changes everything. Americanah is a relevant, timely analysis of race and culture, as well as a gripping love story. If you’re familiar with Adichie’s famous “We Should All Be Feminists,” give this a try this fall.
5. The Circle, Dave Eggers
Some say that social media has taken over our lives, but what if it really, truly did? Mae works for The Circle, an Internet megacorporation that controls most, if not all, aspects of life, from social media to banking and everything in between. As her life becomes increasingly public and begins to spiral out of her control, The Circle raises questions of what privacy and personal freedom truly mean in our new digital world.
6. Burial Rites, Hannah Kent
Set against the brutal landscape of rural 19th century Iceland, Agnes Magnusdottir has been charged with murder. She is sent to live on a farm with a terrified family to await her fate and make peace with her demons, but there’s far more to the story than what is on the record. Based on true events, this a beautifully written story about fate and truth.
7. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
Kirsten is an actress in a traveling Shakespeare troupe that traverses the wasteland left after a deadly virus wipes out most of the population. Twenty years before, on the night the apocalypse began, a Hollywood actor died on stage during a performance of King Lear. Their existences may not seem to have anything in common, but in a narrative that dances between the past and Kirsten’s present, the tiny connections and encounters that everyone share cannot be ignored.
8. Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo
The Dregs are a gang of thieves in the port city of Ketterdam, a major trade center in an alternate world sprinkled with magic. When their leader is offered riches beyond his wildest dreams in exchange for pulling off an incredibly dangerous heist, they’re pulled into a complicated, twisted plot that will leave none of them the same.