I’m very happy to be living in New England. As I mentioned recently, I just moved from Florida to Connecticut, and am very happy to escape the hellish heat that lingers well into September and even sometimes October in the Tampa area. And I’ll admit, I am somewhat of a romantic as far as the seasons go. I love the season shifts that you just don’t get in the south. I love the cool nights, and the wood-smoke of autumn. I love the first snow, and I love the last snow. I love the first really beautiful day in the Spring when everyone suddenly emerges from the caves of their own grumpy self-interest and smiles. That Spring day is amazing, because it reminds us that the milk of human kindness does actually flow, at least once it is thawed out.

But now it is fall (I wore a sweater today and everything!) and I love fall (despite the fact that it was invented by a bunch of white girls in 1982.) So, here are some excellent fall reads that I pick up every year. It might just be chapter, or a few passages, or I might actually re-read the whole book, but I make a point to touch base with most of these at least once during the season:

The Haunting of Hill House

By Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson’s novel is still one of the most chilling pieces of horror fiction I’ve ever read. It has what I consider one of the most successful and perfect chapters in American Gothic literature. Shirley Jackson’s work in general is also stunning, and I should note that one of the best awards for psychological suspense, horror, and dark fantasy, bears her name.

From the Dust Returned

By Ray Bradbury

A full-length version riffing off of Bradbury’s story “Uncle Einar,” from his collection The October Country this is Bradbury at his lyrical best. And who doesn’t want a demon-uncle named Einar?

Speaking of Bradbury, the epigraph for October Country is one of my favorite little pieces of prose. He writes:

…that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.

The Night Country

By Stewart O’Nan

The Night Country feels like O’Nan took Bradbury’s epigraph and built a novel from it. It is unsurprisingly dedicated to Bradbury and plays many of the same lyrical games to both chilling and heart-breaking effect. Its conception of hauntings as memories is novel and presented beautifully.

The Drowning Girl

By Caitlin R. Kiernan

This is the most recent book to become part of my yearly dive into these fictions, meaning that I’m re-reading it for the first time this year. Kiernan’s novel was nominated for the 2012 Shirley Jackson Award and was my favorite to win. It is the story of India Morgan Phelp a young painter, who is (maybe) schizophrenic and (maybe) encounters ghosts. My favorite aspect is Kiernan’s descriptions of hauntings as memes that infect us and are transmitted virally, often unintentionally.

There are other works I love and come back to around this time of year, but these are the ones that have stayed at the top of my list. I re-read Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book last year and enjoyed revisiting Bod again. I also pick up Peter Straub’s novella “Pork Pie Hat” every once in a while, probably around this time of year. I’m also always on the hunt for new seasonally appropriate reads.