The Finally Fall Book Tag!

Hello everyone, and welcome back! Fall is in the air! The weather is turning crisp and cool (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere) and I got the chance to see some beautiful beginnings of autumn foliage when I went apple picking with my family over the weekend. So I’ve come equipped today with just the right type of blog post — the Finally Fall Book Tag! Thank you so much to Alexis @ The Reading Addict for tagging me, and let’s get right into it!

The Questions

In fall, the air is crisp and clear: Name a book with a vivid setting.

The Silence of Bones by June Hur! I may be slightly biased about this book, but the setting of Joseon seemed to come to life before my very eyes as I sped through this novel. June Hur captures the tense atmosphere of the time period perfectly through her writing and the suspenseful storyline.

Check out my review here!

Nature is beautiful… but also dying: Name a book that is beautifully written, but also deals with a heavy topic like loss or grief.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Sepetys’s sparse and raw writing serves as backdrop to a devastating account of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. It’s a truly heartbreaking story, but Sepetys’s prose manages to convey hope and love in the midst of terror and cruelty.

Fall is back to school season: Share a non-fiction book that taught you something new.

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin — I really didn’t know anything about the WWII atomic bomb project other than what I’d been taught at school before reading this book. I went into it expecting a boring account of dates and famous names, but Steve Sheinkin does a fantastic job of narrating true incidents in a way that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. He also explores themes of morality and the ethics behind the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Highly engrossing.

In order to keep warm, it’s good to spend some time with the people we love: Name a fictional family/household/friend-group that you’d like to be part of.

The crew from The Lunar Chronicles! I can’t keep the smile off my face just imagining what it would be like to meet Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, their respective love interests, and everyone’s favorite android, Iko. My fangirling over their 214 Rampion would probably put Thorne’s love for his ship to shame.

The colourful leaves are piling up on the ground: Show us a pile of fall coloured spines!

Voilà — my first attempt at a bookish ~aesthetic~! Books included are: Blood and Sand by C. V. Wyk, Far from the Tree by Robin Benway, Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas, A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews, The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgwick, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H. G. Parry, and Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery.

Fall is the perfect time for some storytelling by the fireside: Share a book wherein someone is telling a story.

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak. Markus Zusak’s follow-up to The Book Thief is convoluted, long, and complicated, and I absolutely loved it. In this novel, Matthew Dunbar tells the story of his brother Clay, the fourth of the five Dunbar brothers who somehow finds himself at the center of their family’s story. Spanning decades and generations and countless relationships, this book definitely makes for an intricate and at times perplexing read. It’s only in the months after I finished this book that I realized what a masterpiece Bridge of Clay really is. I’m so overdue for a reread.

The nights are getting darker: Share a dark, creepy read.

I generally hate dark and creepy with a passion — it’s scary okay 😂 — but the blurb for Stuart Turton’s The Devil and Dark Water immediately caught my eye. It’s giving me major Sherlock & Watson vibes, and I LOVE that the bodyguard is the one solving the mystery. Plus that cover!!! I’m definitely planning to pick this one up when it comes out in October. 

The days are getting colder: Name a short, heartwarming read that could warm up somebody’s cold and rainy day.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I read this relatively short book within a day, and I have absolutely no regrets. Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows spin a beautiful story about an eccentric book club, an author struggling with writer’s block, and above all, how the smallest decisions you make can completely change someone else’s life. One of my all-time favorite books ever.

Fall returns every year: Name an old favourite that you’d like to return to soon.

I’ve been thinking of rereading the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu! I’m in the mood for something cozy and comforting and romantic, and Marie Lu’s debut fits the bar perfectly.

I now apparently consider overthrowing a totalitarian government cozy and comforting. This is what happens when you read too many books.

Fall is the perfect time for cozy reading nights: Share your favourite cozy reading “accessories”!

I don’t have a particular “accessory” for reading that comes to mind, but for me, cozy reading nights don’t get any better than curling up on the couch and cracking open a hardcover for the first time!

I Tag…

Cherelle @ Cherelle the Bibliophile
Emily @ Frappes & Fiction
Sarah @ Bookish Rantings
Aayushi @ My Bookish Banter

As usual, no pressure if you’re not interested in doing this tag! 💖

That’s it for today, everyone! This tag was so much fun to do — feel free to complete this tag on your blog if you’re interested, even if I didn’t tag you!

How about you? What’s your go-to fall read? Any dark, creepy books that I should give a chance? Chat with me in the comments below!