Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love – that makes life and nature harmonize. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit.
George Eliot, letter to Miss Lewis, 1 October 1841
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I’m writing this with my first hot chocolate of the season while the harvest moon rises in view of my window, which feels like as autumnal a setup as one can obtain. My brother, the architecture student, just returned to London from his summer visit back to Peru, and was tasked with bringing me back a range of chocolates from my family, including a bar of chocolate de taza, which roughly translates to “mug chocolate” and is actually a block of pure cacao paste. From this, I have broken off a square and melted it in a saucepan with milk, cinnamon, and sugar. It’s gloriously creamy and I would highly recommend making hot chocolate this old-fashioned way when you get the chance. Or if you happen to be in Paris, get yourself to Angelina, where the hot chocolate is similarly creamy and rich. The Platonic ideal of hot chocolate, in my opinion, is one so thick and flavourful and you can only drink it in small sips.
I always try to time my seasonal recommendations to the equinoxes and solstices. When it comes to autumn, this is likely due to my reluctance to let go of summer (well-documented in my first Substack essay, so I won’t belabour the point here). Growing up in Lima, the cold wasn’t crisp, but damp, and usually caused by a permanent blanket of fog risen from the Pacific in the west and trapped neatly over the city and suburbs by the Andes mountains in the east for months at a time. The UK might also be a deeply damp country, but it does reward you every so often with the odd crisp, bright day where every colour feels saturated and golden. And in fact, one of the first pieces I ever published (in my university newspaper) was an impassioned defense of why autumn is the best time of the year when it comes to reading.
The way I’ve found of coping with the reduced daylight hours and the cold mornings when I have to drag myself out of bed is to have a steady roster of media that is best enjoyed in the days of falling leaves and cardigans, and thus my autumn media masterlist was born. I posted a summary of it on my bookstagram last September, and since then, I’m happy to report I’ve added more to it. Behold: the 2024 autumn masterlist, for every kind of autumn day and mood I have.
The autumnal shelves (and their musical accompaniments)
Chai lattes and cardigans
This is the list for the cosy days where you just want an endless supply of tea, to wrap up in a blanket, and lose yourself in a book without feeling on the edge of your seat.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman – eight strangers at a crossroads in life are accidentally taken hostage while viewing an apartment. This one crops up a good bit on my bookstagram, because it’s such a unique story, life-affirming without being trite.
Lovelight Farms by B. K. Borison – one of the newest additions to myself and more of a late autumn vibe, but I thought it was the perfect read for a grey and chilly day. Would highly recommend accompanying it with something you’ve just baked.
The Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett – in a world where faeries are increasingly associated with romantasy, Heather Fawcett’s take on the folklore and mythology around them is a breath of fresh air. Emily Wilde is a wonderful protagonist – a dedicated, neurodivergent-coded academic who explores Europe to research the habits of different faerie folk – and her love interest is a delight.
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny – a young teacher moves to a quirky, small town and soon has to grapple with the characters that populate it. It’s a slower read, but I was very moved by it.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – a classic fantasy adapted into one of the most famous Ghibli films. The book is a lot more tongue-in-cheek than the movie, and it’s all but impossible not to fall in love with Sophie, the wizard Howl, and Calcifer.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab – a beautifully written bookstagram favourite. Following Addie through hundreds of years after she makes a Faustian bargain, this is another one that starts slow but really pays off.
Argyle vests and brogues
What’s autumn without a campus novel? I might have graduated a few years ago, but I still treasure my brogues and pleated skirts – and of course, the books that capture the specific energy of being in an academic space. Note that there’s two in this list that I haven’t read yet, but they’re modern classics and I’m so confident that I’ll love them that I’ve kept them in.
Bunny by Mona Awad – this is one where you just have to commit to going along for the ride to reap the rewards. No one does weird and surreal like Mona Awad, and if you did any kind of creative arts degree, the satire here really hits home.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman – “no plot, just vibes” executed perfectly. We follow Selin, a freshman at Harvard in the 90s, as she navigates friendship and love as an adult for the first time.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – I’m deeply ashamed that I haven’t read this one yet, but I am correcting that this week! Ishiguro’s writing is so beautifully poignant, and in this one the protagonist reminisces about her time at a boarding school where not all is what it seems.
Babel by R. F. Kuang – a profoundly atmospheric novel set in a Victorian Oxford where translation has magic powers. Four students confront the realities of empire, race, and complicity as they study in the translation programme.
Stargazer by Laurie Petrou – a deeply underrated campus novel following two best friends at an arts college in Canada, where they have to face the price of ambition, creation, and jealousy.
Normal People by Sally Rooney – following two students in Ireland, who always end up returning to each other. Rooney’s insightfulness into intimacy, class, and love is on full display here.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith – the families of two rival academics (one in London, one in Boston) find their lives become increasingly intertwined. Smith covers, in compelling detail, academia, race, class, love, and infidelity.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt – everyone’s go-to dark academia for a reason, following a group of students whose academic devotion increasingly corrupts them. I’m still agog that this was a debut.
Stoner by John Williams – also on my tbr, this one explores the life and character of William Stoner, a fictional English professor in 20th-century America.
Leaves crunching underfoot
It’s hard to find a season as atmospheric as autumn (and I say this as a firm defender of spring as the best season). The colours, the sounds, the smells of woodsmoke and spices. These books and songs capture that atmosphere on the page, an art that many attempt but few actually achieve.
Persuasion by Jane Austen – Austen’s most melancholic novel, in which Anne Elliot is faced with the return of the man whose proposal she regrets rejecting for class reasons. This has some of Austen’s best passages.
North Woods by Daniel Mason – in which the protagonist is not a person but a house in rural Massachusetts. The nature writing in this is so beautiful, and it makes you want to go out into the nearest forest and let the sounds of it wash over you.
Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery – I love Anne of Green Gables as much as one can, but Emily is slept on, and, being a bit darker and set on an apple farm, it’s even more autumnal in my opinion. Also, Emily sticks with her ambition to become a writer, my main bugbear with Anne’s character arc.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – don’t read this one without tissues. A gloriously atmospheric imagining of the life of Shakespeare’s oft-forgotten family in the wake of the death of his son, Hamnet.
Autumn by Ali Smith – it’s in the title! Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet is remarkable for capturing not only the eponymous season in each volume but the national mood of the UK as it was occurring (Autumn takes place in 2016, after the Brexit referendum). Smith’s inventiveness and playfulness with language makes for a unique reading experience.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – another Tartt, because her books are designed for cold days when you want to lose yourself in beautiful prose. A stirring coming-of-age novel that I’ve never forgotten.
Pumpkin spice and candied apples
This is where you will find the fantastical and the eerie. Not all of this list is speculative – but if you don’t typically read speculative fiction, and the approach of Halloween is making you feel a little witchier, these are all great inroads into fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian literature.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – my annual Halloween book! Even though I’m squeamish and not a big fan of horror or hauntings, Alex Stern’s tale won me over. It’s perfectly eerie, and the murder mystery at its core is so clever. Check for TWs before reading this one so you know what to prepare for – Alex’s backstory is pretty dark at times.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier – another eerie one with a genius twist and one of the best opening lines ever written. Du Maurier encapsulates what it is to be haunted not by a ghost but by a memory so perfectly.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – magical realism couched in some of the most immersive prose I’ve ever read. If I could go to one book setting in all of my books, the Cirque Des Rêves would be a top contender.
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – who says romcoms can’t be a little spooky? Not Ashley Poston, who wrote this one about a ghostwriter who sees actual ghosts, and finds herself haunted by the editor whose deadlines she’s avoiding in the wake of her father’s death. Another one to read with tissues nearby.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab – the worldbuilding in this is so marvellous, with four Londons existing in parallel realities and with differing relationships to magic. Portal travel, tournaments, and pirates – all painted in Schwab’s beautiful writing.
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – this is so slept on and I’ll never understand why, it’s a gorgeous story of family, community, and killer horses. The story is centred on a small, fictional island in the Atlantic, and yet the setting feels so vivid. One of my favourite things in this is the depiction of the sibling relationship between Puck (one of the protagonists) and her wonderful younger brother, who reminds me so much of my own youngest brother.
Autumn onscreen
One of my happy places on an autumn night is in front of a TV with friends and a bowl of popcorn bigger than my head. Or a hot drink in my favourite mug. Luckily, there’s no shortage of films lit up in golden tones where characters seem to never run out of coffee (how do any of them sleep?). I never stopped being keen on animated films, so you’ll find some Ghibli and some Pixar in the list alongside more traditional fare.
Movies
Coco – a memorable take on family and grief from Pixar. If you’ve had family members with dementia, this hits really close to home – I don’t ever rewatch this one without tissues.
Dead Poets Society – another of my all-time favourites, a coming-of-age story set in an American boarding school where Robin Williams plays an unconventional and wise English teacher.
The Grand Budapest Hotel – a zany, gripping, and somehow comforting ride through 1930s Europe. I only watched this for the first time last year, but I absolutely loved it.
Howl’s Moving Castle – usually, I refuse to watch dubs of films, but I make an exception for this one because the voice acting just is that good. This is very different in tone from the novel, but wonderfully comforting in its own way.
Kiki’s Delivery Service – a beautifully cosy tale of growing up and finding your purpose in life, whatever it might look like. This is such a life-affirming movie, and just thinking about it is making me want to watch it again.
Knives Out – I don’t care what anyone says about Daniel Craig’s (deeply strange) accent, I love this film with my whole heart. A fresh and atmospheric take on the whodunnit, with a fantastic ensemble cast.
Lady Bird – Saoirse Ronan’s third and last entry in this list. You’ll have gathered I love a good coming-of-age story, and the complex mother-daughter relationship that makes up the heart of this one is unforgettable.
Little Women (2019 or 1994) – Greta Gerwig’s take is more explicitly autumnal, but I think both are brilliant takes on the source material.
Matilda – save for changing the book’s ending, I think this is a near-perfect adaptation. Matilda Wormwood is one of those characters you meet as a child and never forget.
My Salinger Year – fresh graduate and aspiring poet Joanna Rakoff finds herself employed by J. D. Salinger’s literary agent. A quietly beautiful film.
Mystic Pizza – a beautiful coming-of-age story, set in small-town Connecticut in the 1980s.
Sense and Sensibility – not everyone can have Marianne Dashwood’s passion for falling leaves, but that’s okay! Austen’s underrated debut showcases her profound understanding of sisterhood, and it’s another one with a stellar cast.
The Theory of Everything – this Stephen Hawking biopic is so stirring and atmospheric that it won my heart completely. Also, the score of this soundtracked the writing of my undergrad dissertation, so I have a permanent soft spot for it.
When Harry Met Sally – spanning ten years in the eponymous characters’ lives, this is one of my favourite films of all time, partly because of the way Nora Ephron captures growth, and partly because elements of Sally’s character hit particularly close to home.
You’ve Got Mail – as if this list was only going to feature one Nora Ephron film! Meg Ryan is an independent bookshop owner in New York; Tom Hanks, the owner of the big chain moving into her shop’s street. Rivalry, secret correspondence, and books – all the ingredients to win over my heart.
TV shows
Abbott Elementary – one of my favourite sitcoms that’s currently in production, this hilarious workplace comedy follows a group of teachers in an underfunded primary school in Philadelphia.
Anne with an E – even though this diverged a lot from the source material, I think it’s such a solid adaptation (and I don’t mind most of the changes all that much). It’s shot beautifully, and Amybeth McNulty just is Anne Shirley.
The Bold Type – more New York autumn! I always pitch this as “if The Devil Wears Prada depicted a healthy workplace”, and I love the trio of friends that we follow through their careers in magazine journalism.
The Chair – you can watch all of this in one weekend and I highly recommend you do. It’s a poignant look at the follies and foibles of academic culture, and Sandra Oh, as always, delivers a great performance.
Friends – perhaps surprising to see on one of my lists, as it’s not in my top 5 sitcoms, but the atmosphere in it is so gorgeously New York–autumnal. It’s also proof of the value of “filler” episodes.
Ghosts (the BBC one) – one of the best sitcoms of the last ten years, from the minds of the team behind Horrible Histories. This has one of my favourite ensemble casts since Parks and Recreation, where each character is so distinct that they’re compelling on their own but also make up an integral element of the larger group.
Gilmore Girls – the most autumnal TV show ever, one might say. Lorelai and Rory Gilmore are such an iconic duo, and though their relationship is far from perfect, it sure is compelling, as is the zany community in which they live.
Gossip Girl – this is what all trashy, melodramatic TV should aspire to be: absolutely ridiculous, escapist, and at the same time, oddly addictive. The Thanksgiving episodes always delivered this in spades.
Heartstopper – a thoroughly heartwarming coming-of-age tale, following a mostly-queer friendship group in modern-day England. When I need something sweet, this is one of my go-tos.
Only Murders in the Building – should the residents of the Arconia move out, after four murders in two years? Probably, but I will keep watching as long as they make this show. The three amateur detectives/podcasters at its core have my whole heart.
What We Do in the Shadows – a laugh-out-loud take on what vampires would actually do if they had to live in the modern age, with less of the Twilight tortured souls energy and more of the comedy that naturally occurs when an immortal who is several centuries old has to cope with the idiosyncrasies of the 21st century.
Wednesday – a riveting boarding school murder mystery, where the emotional lynchpin is provided by the friendship that blossoms between black-cat-of-a-person Wednesday Addams and her cheery roommate, Enid.
What autumn might bring this year
This year, I’m trying to make the most of autumn even though, as I mentioned last week, there’s a lot of big life-admin-type stuff happening for me. Still crossing my fingers and toes for a solution to my visa sponsorship soon, still navigating the horrors of the London rental market, but some highlights of the upcoming months include: seeing Sally Rooney live in London, my upcoming visit to Mexico City, a Lizzy McAlpine concert, and the return of The Great British Bake Off, a staple of my Tuesday evening routine. And of course, lots of reading.
Until next week, in which I’ll report back from the Sally Rooney event, my journey to the moors, and anything else that this fortnight might bring!