By Cat Barbour ’24 & Ella Jacob ’24
Books Editor & Books Editor, Copy Editor
As the end of summer approaches, the desire to fill bookshelves with autumnal prose grows. The Mount Holyoke News has compiled a list of fall-themed books to get readers into the autumn spirit.
“Squashed” by Joan Bauer
Ellie desperately wants to win her small town’s pumpkin-growing contest. She and her pumpkin, Max, are in close competition with rival farmer Cyril Pool. In this YA tale, Ellie must face this challenge while balancing a growing romantic relationship with Wes, a corn farmer, and a complicated relationship with her father. For a taste of Bauer’s humorous prose: “Not all vegetables are this draining. Lettuce doesn’t bring heartache. Turnips don’t ask for your soul. Potatoes don’t care where you are or even where they are. Tomatoes cuddle up to anyone who’ll give them mulch and sunshine. But giants like Max need you every second. You can forget about a whiz-bang social life.”
Bauer is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author who is also a screenwriter, songwriter and public speaker. Her other works include “Hope Was Here,” “Soar” and, most recently, “Raising Lumie.”
“Real Life” by Brandon Taylor
Wallace has complicated feelings about going back to university. Growing up as a Black and queer person in Alabama, Wallace built protective walls around himself. Now, those walls have made it difficult to create a new group of friends. Taylor follows Wallace in this relevant tale as he navigates complicated familial relationships and overt racism. Microaggressions like “wealthy white people fling[ing] bits of bread at koi and talk[ing] in hushed, slurred voices about the changing demographics of the university” are detailed throughout the novel. With Wallace stuck in a situation The New Yorker calls “a worthy subject of satire,” Taylor brings injustices and gatekeeping in academia to life.
“Real Life” is Taylor’s debut novel. A microbiologist by training, he is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The novel, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
“Night Film” by Marisha Pessl
When Ashley Cordova’s body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse one October night, veteran investigative journalist Scott does not believe the official ruling of suicide. Digging through the details of Ashley’s life and death, Scott discovers that her father is none other than Stanislaus Cordova, an infamous cult-classic horror film director who hasn’t been seen for more than 30 years. After a failed past investigation into Stanislaus’ story costs him both his marriage and his career, Scott risks losing even more when he begins to chase the growing mystery once again.
Influenced by authors such as Agatha Christie, Shel Silverstein and Truman Capote, Pessl is a graduate of Northwestern and Barnard. Her previous works include “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” and “Neverworld Wake.”
Last, but certainly not least, is one book hitting the shelves in the coming weeks.
“Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr
“Cloud Cuckoo Land” follows the lives of five strangers — Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno and Konstance — separated by more than 500 years of history. With powerful imaginations, the strangers resort to youthful hope and perseverance amid imminent danger. Their faith lies in the story of Aethon, a child who dreams of turning into an eagle so they can fly to a paradise in the sky. The protagonists each interpret and relate to this story in their own way. Anna, a 13-year-old orphan in 15th-century Constantinople, reads the myth as a form of escapism, while an old prisoner of war named Zeno presents a play adaptation of Aethon’s story. These characters’ stories serve as a reminder of the timelessness of tales.
Doerr, author of “All the Light We Cannot See,” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. He has won five O. Henry Prizes and the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.