One of the good things about being a teacher is the beautiful 6 week summer holiday (where being honest, you still actually have work to do in because those lessons aren’t gonna plan themselves) where you can enjoy the sun and read. So, when school finished and I sat down in front of my bookshelf to pick out my TBR for the holidays I was excited for all the summery reads, until I realised the vast majority of my unread books are better suited to the autumn/winter months, damn. Luckily I managed to scrape together some reads for the summer, as can be seen in previous posts on my blog! However, some that I have been really excited for were just too perfect for the later months, especially as many of them are dark academia books, so here is my autumn TBR!
So now that September is here and in full autumnal swing, these are some of the books that give me an autumnal vibe that I am desperate to actually read this year. And of course, we’ll start off the list with Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang, one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Babel is about a hugely powerful institute of translation in which our main character Robin is a student, but growing disillusioned with what he once thought it was. This is set to be an incredible dark academia tale, exploring the serious issues of colonialism and the power in language, alongside slight magical elements. Ultimately, though that isn’t the best summary I am really excited for it!
I recently went to R.F. Kuang’s Babel signing at Forbidden Planet and watched her live-streamed Waterstones talk, both of which were brilliant. She was so sweet in person, really genuinely lovely which makes me all the more excited to read this book! And listening to her talk about it was also really good, and has filled me with enthusiasm for it. And yet I haven’t started it even though I got it early, and I think it’s because I’m waiting for the perfect autumn feel as it is still a bit too warm and sunny out and I feel that to fit the dark academia aesthetic, I want to read it late into the autumn when it’s dark out and cold. But once we get to that season, you can bet I am abandoning whatever I’m reading to fit it in!
Sticking with the dark academia theme, the next book I’m really looking forward to is Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Ace of Spades is a YA dark academia thriller, focusing on issues of racism within the school sphere we follow Devon and Chiamaka as a mysterious gossip girl style texter, Aces, is bringing their secrets to light. And it has been a criminally long time since I have wanted to get to this book, but I finally got it at YALC and met Faridah who was lovely and we talked about school (weirdly she almost went to the one I teach at!) so I am beyond excited to get into this, it is so overdue!
I’m also really excited as an educator, because from the blurb I feel it is going to deal with the pressure that students feel to be ‘perfect’. Something that a lot of my students struggle with, so I’m hoping that the book deals with this in a good way so that I can recommend it to my own students, some of whom have already read and rave about it! I also think it will be interesting to explore the theme of racism in schools, and I want to learn from it if possible, to try and understand better some of the issues that students of colour may face within the school sphere.
The next one I’m excited for is The Folk of the Air saga by Holly Black, a series that I know is well loved on bookstagram but I have never read. We follow the mortal Jude (who I was convinced was a man by name and after seeing tweets and mainly because of the beatles) as she is abducted to the world of the fae after the murder of her parents and planted within the royal court. As Jude gets older she realises the dangers of power, and that in order for her family’s survival she must climb the rungs of power, all the while hating Prince Cardan.
I have heard so much about this series, and I feel like it’ll be a really easy read and one that flies by. I picked it up while at YALC and am convinced it is a perfect autumn read based off of the gorgeous chapter illustrations which feature woodland leaves and acorns etc. I think it will be a lovely way to see what bookstagram loved before I joined because even in the two years I have been on, I have realised just how quickly books come and go out of favour. So there must be something keeping this series so high in people’s regard!
Next, I’m excited to read Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. Ninth House is about Alex, a girl who survived a horrific crime in which her parents were killed. Accepted into Yale, she is tasked with observing the secret societies on campus. When a girl turns up dead on campus, Alex must get to the bottom of it despite the administration not thinking anything of it, all while getting closer to the dangerous world of the secret socieities.
Yet another dark academia, but I am very excited for it. I just think that dark academia stories are perfect for the autumn months, groundbreaking I know. I enjoyed the Shadow and Bone series by Bardugo (though I enjoyed the show much more), so I’m excited to see how this compares as it seems to be older and darker, so perfect for the autumn months or potentially even into the winter.
The next book I’m excited for, and the only one on this list that I do not currently own is The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is about… you guessed it, a secret society of irregular witches. A witchy fantasy romance, we follow the orphaned witch Mika as she is invited to join and teach at a society of witches. With a handsome and prickly librarian, found family and magic this is set to be a cute cosy romance for Halloween.
I’m really excited for this one, Charlotte from @bookseller_baggins has been raving about this and has completely sold me on it. Along with the cover which gives me real The House in the Cerulean Sea vibes, I have a really good feeling about this one. I know fairyloot are doing a special edition of it, but I’m really annoyed they’ve announced it so late as it won’t arrive in time for Halloween! But I know I really want to read it so I may have to either buy a copy or get the ebook if it goes on sale in the coming months because it would be perfect to read at Halloween!
The next book is Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen, a new YA fantasy release that I hadn’t heard of until I got the August fairyloot box through! It’s about a false prophetess, Violet, who influences the court with her prophecies. But when the King asks her for a prophecy about the Prince’s upcoming ball, she awakens a deadly curse about his future bride…
A book full of a cutthroat court, prophecies, reversal of typical fairytale tropes- I am so excited for it! Though I’m not entirely sure if it is perfect for autumn, the fairyloot cover with the sunset vibe background has made me think it is perfect for the late summer into autumn transition, and so is something I’m hoping to pick up very soon!
And finally, another dark academia - I did warn you that there were many! If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio is a dark academia told through what I’m assuming are flashbacks, as we see a conversation unfold between Oliver and the detective who sent him to prison for the murder of his best friend ten years prior. We go back to the Shakespearean studies, and uncover a secretive and rivalry-filled group and the secrets that lie within it, trying to uncover the ultimate question of what happened ten years ago.
I haven’t actually heard too much about this one, I know it is hugely popular within the dark academia community and that comparisons have been made to works like The Secret History, so I think it’ll definitely be an interesting read that gives me a deeper understanding of the genre. Again, similarly to Babel I feel that this will be suited towards the later autumnal months, but is one I am excited to get into.
So there we have it, my autumnal TBR which hopefully I will manage to get through, though there are also other books I have to get through! With the return to school it’ll definitely be difficult as I will have much less free time to read than I did over the summer, and I will also be moving house soon which is exciting and will probably take out a good chunk of time otherwise used for reading, but I’m hopeful I can get through these! Let me know which ones I should prioritise over on instagram, or if there are any suggestions that you have from your own autumn TBRs!
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