I stand at the window
Watch leave fall cross the yard,
Overcome by a sensation
I cannot deny
My heart is in a dance
With autumn’s return
- Jay Sturner
I used to worry that my love for autumn would fade after I left school. Whilst I encountered hardships over those formative years I enjoyed the routine education had to offer; I’d spend the summer holidays missing my friends, reminding myself that the leaves would soon start to change colour and wishing I had homework to do. It’s amazing I had any friends.
My joy for the season has never left me. If anything, it has intensified. The sweltering heat we were forced to endure this summer meant that I started seeing the leaves change colour at the beginning of August. It put the biggest smile on my face; I find English heat unendurable, I needed a reminder that it wasn’t permanent.
Alongside autumn walks, watching seasonal romcoms (When Harry Met Sally and You've Got Mail are two of my favourites) and gorging on pumpkin-flavoured treats, curling up in a thick blanket in my living room and reading is one of my favourite things to do in these months. Granted, I read all year round, but there's a cosiness that comes with reading at this time of year that can't be experienced in the summer. Listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks feels more fitting than it has done all year; the times of a famous wizard and his associates correspond to the pumpkins I’ve begun seeing in windows and the Halloween decorations I’ve seen in shops. Autumn makes me feel safe and I’m so grateful it’s finally here.
Pumpkinheads - Rainbow Rowell
This novel is so frivolous and velvety that it’s practically a Hallmark film in book format. Nonetheless, the concept (including the title) is so alluring to a Gilmore Girls enthusiast you just can’t not be interested in reading. I loved Rowell’s prose in Eleanor & Park and was delighted that she had a text aimed toward obsessives like myself - despite the book being a graphic novel, the enticing illustrations and dialogue successfully pull you in. Pumpkinheads is about two friends, Deja and Josiah, who work at a pumpkin patch from September 1st to October 31st. On Halloween, they say their goodbyes and their friendship resumes the following September. Their friendship is cordial but sympathisable; we’ve all encountered individuals who, despite the affinity, dip in and out of our lives depending on the context.
Jennette McCurdy discusses this in her memoir, where she writes that she hates knowing people in this way - we can share every one of our secrets with ‘the person (we) work out with’ but once the context ends, the camaraderie is never the same. She fears losing her friendship with her costar Miranda and is thrilled to discover this isn't the case, so much so that Miranda goes with Jennette to meet her biological father for the first time years later.
Now Josiah and Deja are in senior year, which means it’s their final autumn together. Instead of lamenting, Deja decides to extend the context so the pair of them needn’t go without each other’s company. The novel lacks the angsty tone Rowell is famous for but I personally enjoyed the break from it.
A Spoonful of Murder by J M Hall
I went back and forth on whether or not to go into teaching. I always believed I’d teach in a secondary school though in retrospect, had I gone into the education sector, I’d have been far happier in a primary school setting. Primary school teachers have the greatest capacity for kindness and patience that I’ve ever witnessed within people. J M Hall is a primary school deputy head whose plays have been produced for theatres up and down the UK. Recently, his play Trust was adapted BBC Radio 4.
A Spoonful of Murder is about three retired primary school teachers, Liz, Thelma and Pat, who become involved in the murder investigation of their ex-colleague Topsy. The novel is dotted with tribulations and inside jokes I can imagine only those who have spent their lives in teaching would encounter and understand.
The novel is exactly how you’d imagine from the title - whilst the ‘murder’ of their dear friend is untimely and devastating, readers receive a ‘spoonful’ of the affair; there is a cosiness to the misery. I commend Hall’s ability to thread such warmth in his prose alongside the brutality he describes.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My parents gifted me this novel for my birthday last year. Haig’s prose, particularly in the first 30% of the book, is painfully straightforward; he describes the mind of a depressive so intensely. It has come under fire in recent months though my overall opinion is, dependant on your situation, it works as both a thought stimulator and gentle reminder that circumstances are always prone to improvement.
Personally, I enjoyed the premise of a library separating life and death. The protagonist, Nora, rethinks her decisions and studies the different pathways her life could have taken through the books the library offers. It’s almost a modern take on It’s A Wonderful Life minus the festive period though I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
About a year ago I went into Waterstones and had a flick through a copy of this book, only for a store assistant to approach me and practically force me to buy it. They insisted it was one of the finest pieces of literature they’d read that year and in my experience, Waterstones sales assistants are to be trusted.
The novel takes place in a cafe in Tokyo where customers can travel back in time and converse with a lost loved one if they sit in a specific seat. Similarly to any time travel concept within literature, there are rules to make the experience even more fun; the future can’t be altered and the conversation lasts only up until the coffee is no longer warm.
I usually find time travel a monotonous and repetitive concept within literature, so much so that I find the time turner events in Prisoner of Azkaban a pain to read. It’s usually an abstraction within sci-fi novels which aren’t a genre I tend to turn to either. However, I find Kawaguchi’s novel very heart-warming. The characters that enter the cafe are moving and their corresponding storylines are thought-provoking and poignant. Lessons are learnt and tears are shed (from me, not necessarily them).
Just to note, I don’t associate any book title that mentions caffeine with autumn.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
*a few spoilers!* I never tire of this classic no matter how many times I read it, it’s such a charming coming-of-age tale. The relationship between the March sisters is so believable and Alcott does such an excellent job distinguishing between the four of them. Jo’s aversion towards marriage and tomboyish nature are traits I embarrassingly, at one point, tried to replicate. Upon rereading the book at University I noted the similarities Beth has with Helen Burns in Jane Eyre - both characters are content with their untimely deaths, only those surrounding them praying for a miracle.
I have such a soft spot for Jo March - similarly to Wendy Darling, Jo is a storyteller. She writes because she loves writing, financial gain is never in her line of vision. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Amy for burning her manuscript.
I find the narrative very welcoming whenever I go back to it. The romanticism Alcott weaves into her prose is done so elegantly that it’s impossible to not fall in love with the settings and the characters again and again, particularly Laurie.
I hope you've had a wonderful weekend and that the week ahead is kind to you.
Lots of love, Karisma xx