Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books on My Fall TBR

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly bookish shareable, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!

Let's get two things straight, right off the top: I am three days deep into the flu, and I am a proud mood reader, who is absolutely terrible at following a TBR plan. 

If there's anything I can guarantee you right now, it's that 1. There is only a negligible chance that I will recall even a single selection that makes it onto this list by the time I emerge from my Robitussin haze come morning, and 2. There was only a snowball's chance in Florida that I will actually manage to follow this plan to begin with. 

That being said... isn't planning out a TBR kind of fun? 

It's the same reason I make huge To-Do Lists for the Fall season, or big ol' themed posters that hang up in our kitchen during Advent. Because sometimes, it's nice to daydream about all of the cute seasonal things you want to do, while you're trapped in the rushing torrent of a schedule that cares naught for your whims. By the time you actually manage to drag your flannel-bedecked compatriots to the pumpkin patch for an apple cider doughnut, or drop off that meticulously-wrapped package to the family Secret Santa gift exchange, you'll be glad you did it, of course... so much so that you're more than willing to overlook the eight or nine checkmarks on your list that didn't get completed in time. 

So to be honest, if I manage to finish even one title off of this list, I'll be pleased. Because it will mean I indulged in a read that makes best use of the advantages of the Fall season... and because it means I will not have died from the flu. 

(I'm not dying, I'm just very peeved. It's my personal guardian angel's way of striking me down after complaining so hard about the marathon traveling I was compelled to do for the past month or so. "Oh, multiple air plane flights, ferry trips, and numerous hours in a car have you feeling worn out? Then it's time to sleep, idiot."

Trust me, from the bottom of my soul, I'd rather be reading.) 

Fall Vibes

because some reads just conjure up those "I'm wearing a sweater, there's apple cider in the Crockpot, it smells like rain outside and it's getting dark at 5pm now" vibes

1. Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen

Listen, my college-aged younger brother inhales books like he's Kirby, which means he travels through his library holds at a blistering pace I simply cannot match... but because he tends towards reads by people like Brandon Sanderson, I don't take it too personally. 

Until, of course, he started coming for my English Major cred, and now I have to put up some stalwart defense to retain my title of Nerd Supreme of the family, by trying to read or reread at least one work of Classic fiction a quarter. Because otherwise it's hand to hand combat, and the kid is built like a truck. 

2. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

To be honest, I haven't read this book since my Freshman Year of college, and being that that was now eleven years ago (*insert gagging noise here*), I feel confident enough to say I remember almost nothing of the specifics, just that I really like it, and found it to be very atmospheric. 

However, I still possess its sequel, and I wouldn't be happy removing one from my shelves without at least consulting the other first. Besides, how many times do you think to yourself, "Man, I wish I could read this book for the first time again." Now, I pretty much can! 

3. The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin

Sometimes, we've just got to call a spade a spade: this book has leaves on the cover, and they're the same colors your kindergarten teacher would choose for Fall leaves, and sometimes, we just don't have to think that hard about things, okay? 

Besides, I feel like the vibe of "mysterious fortune teller informs a group of siblings of the ways they all eventually die" feels kind of October-y. 

Spooky Season

because my family goes all out for Halloween in the decor department, and heaven help me if I leave something out of theme on the coffee table

4. A Dowry of Blood, S. T. Gibson

This particular read gained some rave reviews on that bedeviled clock app last year, and the resulting hype spilled over to Instagram, including the posts of some people I really like and trust. So I took a gamble and picked up a copy for myself at the Barnes and Noble Hardcover Sale in late December last year, and it's been sitting on my shelves ever since, waiting for October reading. 

Because, vampires! Blood! Fangtastic fun! 

5. How to Sell a Haunted House, Grady Hendrix

So my family is obsessed with this kind of sleeper Syfy show Surreal Estate, which was somehow miraculously brought back from the dead (cancelled) to gain a second season, which will be premiering in a few weeks. It's about a real estate firm that specializes in the sale of haunted houses, and it's one of the best scripted shows on TV I've seen in recent memory. I have been informed that this book is literally nothing like the completely unrelated show, but the similarities are too fun not to mention, and I will do just about anything to make sure this show does not get cancelled again. 

But also, various members of my family are very into Grady Hendrix, and even though I'm not exactly a Thriller fan, I've been informed that this one is fun enough that I'm willing to take one for the team. I think it only took me two or three days to finish Final Girls Support Group, so at least it should be quick. 

6. Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners #3), Libba Bray

I am a Libba Bray fan - one of the many bookshelf holdovers from my adolescence - and I was actually on track with reading The Diviners series as they came out... until the third one. And then it just kind of sat on my shelf for a little bit. And then aforementioned brother asked if I had anything to read, and I recommended these, and he, again, blew through them like a wolf and a house made of dandelion fuzz, and finished the whole series without me while I wasn't paying attention. 

And yes, it's been three years since that last one in the series was published. I'm still trying to knock out that third. But being that these books really ARE that spooky, I'm going to need all the lights in the house on when I do it. 

Just for Me, Just Because

sometimes, you've got to just do some things not because they're aesthetic, or because they're on-theme, but because your brother will yell at you if you don't

7. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (Alanna #3), Tamora Pierce

Okay, sorry to bring up my brother again - actually, you know, by this time, you should be used to it - but when the then-teenaged kid came to me when Covid locked down the libraries and asked if I had anything new for him to read, I handed him my stacks of Tamora Pierce with a nonchalant "Meh, I don't know if these are really your speed." Smash cut to him outpacing me in pretty much every kind of trivia, having read each of the Tortall series multiple times. 

You can imagine how much it smarted when he then turned to me, and asked if I really hadn't read any of the Alanna books before. (To be fair, my Tortallan introduction was completed somewhat laughably out of order). So I'm trying to get through the Alanna books - in a boxed set he bought me - by the end of the year, so I can finally stop feeling the eyes of my little brother boring into the back of my head. 

8. Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6), Martha Wells

Your honor, I would like the record to show that I read them first. Me! Not my brother, not my Dad. I was the one who brought Murderbot into this family, but it's not my fault my family members have the laser focus of machinery themselves. Some of us like to read from multiple genres and not simply blast our way through an entire series, mind you. 

So yes, it's taken me some time, but I'm very much still on track. And at least this one is another novella; that novel of #5 was good, but Science Fiction can really burn you out in large quantities. So I'm taking my time. 

9. The Art of Eating In, Cathy Erway

Okay, so this is really a kind of placeholder for any number of Food Writing selections I might whimsically whisk off of my shelves come November. 

Preparation for Thanksgiving in this household starts in early October, and is treated like a one-day event in the same way that the Olympics are just like Field Day at the local elementary school. I like leafing though a Cookbook or an engrossing Culinary Memoir when all of the couches are haphazardly Jenga-stacked next to the TV, to make way for the three long serving tables we use in the Family Room. And of course, I need something cool to fill in the commercial gaps when we're watching the Parade. 

10. Rule of Wolves (King of Scars #2), Leigh Bardugo

So, Netflix's Shadow and Bone Season Two came out in mid-March, right? And I pretty much immediately read a spoiler that said you really should have read all the way through Rule of Wolves before attempting the new season. But my schedule was full-out blockaded until the first week of May was over, and I only had a few weeks to read before Summer Reading Book Bingoes started up on June 1st, and my attentions were required elsewhere through the end of August....

Now we're finally into September, and during a chance conversation with my brother (I know, I know) he revealed that he hasn't watched any part of Season Two, either... because he's been waiting for me. 

Buddy, I promise, we're making it through Season Two before December. 

Just... give me a little time, okay? I might still be in bed, recovering from this damn flu. 

What's in YOUR Top Ten? Let me know, in the comments below!