Every fall, I start wanting to read more.
Maybe it is the cooler weather. Maybe it is the earlier sunsets. Or maybe there is just something about autumn that makes sitting down with a book feel like exactly what I should be doing.
This year, I am trying to be a little more realistic about my reading list.
I love physical books. I like having something in my hands, turning the pages, using a bookmark, and watching the stack beside my chair slowly grow.
But I also know myself well enough to admit that some books are more likely to get finished if I listen to them.
So this fall, I am doing both.
Three books I want to read the old-fashioned way.
And two I plan to listen to instead.
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The Physical Books
1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
This feels like one of those books that practically demands to be read in the fall.
An elite group of college students. A mysterious professor. Classical studies. Secrets. Obsession. Murder.
It has the kind of dark academic atmosphere that fits perfectly with cooler weather and early evenings.
This is one I want to actually sit down and read.
I want the physical book in my hands, a cup of coffee nearby, and enough time to get completely absorbed in it.
Why I am saving it for fall: old campuses, intellectual obsession, mystery, and a slightly unsettling atmosphere.
2. The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
A story about witches in 1893 already sounds like an October book.
The novel follows three estranged sisters who become involved in the women’s suffrage movement and begin rediscovering magic that the world has tried to erase.
It mixes historical fiction, fantasy, folklore, sisterhood, and witchcraft.
This one sounds like the kind of book I will want to slow down with rather than rush through.
And honestly, if there is ever a season for reading a big book about witches, it is fall.
Why I am saving it for fall: witches, folklore, historical atmosphere, and a story that feels made for October.
[Shop The Once and Future Witches →]
3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
An old house.
A famous author with a mysterious past.
A biographer invited to hear the truth.
Family secrets.
That is about all I need to know.
The Thirteenth Tale has the kind of gothic, bookish atmosphere that sounds perfect for a rainy fall evening.
This is another one I want to physically read because it seems like the type of story where the experience matters almost as much as the plot.
Low lights.
A blanket.
A book in my hands.
Maybe rain against the windows if the weather decides to cooperate.
Why I am saving it for fall: gothic mystery, old houses, family secrets, and books about books.
The Two I’ll Listen to Instead
There are some books I genuinely want to experience, but I also know they are much more likely to fit into my life if I can listen while walking, driving, or doing something around the house.
These are the two I am putting on my audiobook list.
4. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
In 1714, a young woman makes a bargain to live forever.
The catch?
Everyone she meets will forget her.
The story follows Addie across centuries as she lives through history without ever being remembered — until, after nearly three hundred years, someone remembers her name.
Everything about this sounds like something I would enjoy during a long fall walk.
It is atmospheric, reflective, romantic, and just a little melancholy.
Exactly the mood I tend to look for when the weather starts changing.
Why I am listening instead: this feels like the kind of story I can disappear into while walking or driving without needing to sit still with the book.
[Listen to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on Audible →]
5. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
This one is partly about the story and partly about the narrator.
The Dutch House follows siblings Danny and Maeve and their complicated relationship with the enormous house that shaped their childhood.
It is a family story about memory, resentment, forgiveness, and the strange hold that certain places can have over us.
And the audiobook is narrated by Tom Hanks.
That makes this an easy choice for listening.
There are some narrators who can turn an audiobook into something that feels closer to someone sitting across from you telling a story, and this seems like exactly the sort of book where that matters.
Why I am listening instead: I want the narration to be part of the experience.
[Listen to The Dutch House on Audible →]
Why I Am Mixing Physical Books and Audiobooks This Fall
For a long time, I think I treated audiobooks like a backup option.
Something to use when I did not have time to “really” read.
I do not think about them that way anymore.
A physical book gives me one kind of experience.
An audiobook gives me another.
There are nights when I want to sit down, turn on a lamp, pick up a book, and disappear for an hour.
There are also days when I am driving, walking, cleaning, or doing something else and could easily spend that same hour inside a story.
Why choose?
This fall, I would rather read five books in different ways than buy five physical books that sit untouched on the shelf.
My Fall Reading Plan
So that is the list.
Three for the chair:
The Secret History.
The Once and Future Witches.
The Thirteenth Tale.
And two for my headphones:
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
The Dutch House.
Nothing too ambitious.
No massive reading challenge.
Just five books that sound right for cooler weather.
And if I finish all five before winter arrives, I will consider that a very good fall.
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