Is your room looking a bit too summery for the PSL season that's rapidly approaching? I've got 15 new books with fall-colored covers that will bring some autumn fun to your nightstand, so keep scrolling to find out how you can make your nightstand pile look more like a pile of crunchy leaves.
The two weeks of fall weather my little southern home gets every year are some of the most spectacular days you can imagine. The foliage alternates between being crisply golden and fiery red, and the weather gets damp, chilly, and breezy. It's a welcome respite that falls — pun only somewhat intended — between the harsh summer heat and the bone-numbing cold of winter.
This is all to say that I love fall, and I will do anything and everything to bring the autumn indoors, even when it's 90 degrees and sunny outside. If you're a fall lover like me, you know this struggle all too well.
That's why I've put together this list of brand-new books that you can stack on your nightstand for a color palette that's peak autumn. The books on this list aren't necessarily the spooky, scary reads you might crave during the pumpkin season, but they are perfect for your autumn bedroom aesthetic:
'Heavy: An American Memoir' by Kiese Laymon
In this memoir, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America author Kiese Layton writes directly to his mother, a single parent who worked as a political science professor at Jackson State University and raised him to achieve academic perfection.
'The Sisters of the Winter Wood' by Rena Rossner
Sisters Laya and Liba inhabit their Orthodox Jewish identities in wildly different ways in this debut fantasy novel from Rena Rossner. Liba loves to study Torah with her father, while Laya enjoys nothing better than exploring the forest that surrounds their home. But when two gentiles are found dead in a nearby village, and the local Jewish population becomes a target for vengeance, the sisters discover something unimaginable and wondrous about their own family history.
'The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth’s Ultimate Trophy' by Paige Williams
In 2012, 38-year-old Eric Prokopi sold a Mongolian Tarbosaurus skeleton for $1 million at auction in New York. There was just one problem — the fossil seller had smuggled the dinosaur into the country illegally.
'The Library Book' by Susan Orlean
In this new microhistory, The Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean traces the history and loss of the Los Angeles Public Library, which burned down in April 1986, taking more than one million books with it.
'The Dinner List' by Rebecca Serle
When her dream dinner party becomes reality, Sabrina sits down to a meal with her best friend, her estranged father, a former lover, an influential philosophy professor, and — almost inexplicably — Audrey Hepburn.
'Eden' by Andrea Kleine
Twenty years ago, Hope and her sister Eden were kidnapped when their father forgot to pick them up after school. Now, their captor is eligible for parole, and Eden is nowhere to be found. Racing against the testimony clock, Hope sets out on a journey to find her sister.
'Rage Becomes Her' by Soraya Chemaly
From Women's Media Center Speech Project Director Soraya Chemaly comes this essay collection on women's anger: how we experience it, how we suppress it, and how we can use it to change the world.
'Evening in Paradise' by Lucia Berlin
Yet another posthumous collection from Lucia Berlin, Evening in Paradise contains 22 more stories written by the celebrated author of A Manual for Cleaning Women.
'Hippie' by Paulo Coelho
From the author of The Alchemist comes this all-new book. Hippie is a semi-autobiographical novel that centers on Paulo, a Brazilian traveler who meets a restless young woman named Karla in 1970 Amsterdam.
'The Real Lolita' by Sarah Weinman
True crime author Sarah Weinman's latest book is The Real Lolita, an exploration of the 1948 kidnapping and rape of Sally Horner, an 11-year-old girl, by a 50-year-old child molester named Frank La Salle.
'Dear America' by Jose Antonio Vargas
Born in the Philippines, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas recounts his decades-long attempt to gain U.S. citizenship in Dear America.
'Feminasty' by Erin Gibson
This essay collection from Funny or Die writer Erin Gibson throws barbs at conservative lawmakers, #MeToo detractors, and anyone else who participates in the ongoing War on Women.
'Ponti' by Sharlene Teo
This debut novel from award-winning author Sharlene Teo centers on Amisa, a medium and former actress; her teenage daughter, Szu; and Szu's friend, a transfer student named Circe. Ponti shifts from past to present, exploring the lives of its three central characters as the films that made Amisa famous in horror circles come up for a remake.
'The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish' by Katya Apekina
Another debut novel, Katya Apekina's The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish follows Mae and Edith, the daughters of a single mother who lives with mental illness, as they travel to visit their absent father: a novelist who intends to use them to write his breakout bestseller.
'American Like Me,' edited by America Ferrera
Edited by Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, this collection of essays features contributions from Issa Rae, Michelle Kwan, Roxane Gay, Uzo Aduba, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
