Rainbow Rowell Is The One Author You Need To Read During The Autumn

Call me basic if you want, but I freakin' love the autumn season. Everything about the fall (minus it being a precursor to winter weather) speaks to me on a very real level; the beauty of the orange, red, and yellow leaves; the crisp breeze tempered by bright blue skies; the feeling of something new after three months of summer; all the fun fall activities there are to do, from pumpkin picking, to leaf-crunching walks through the park, to Halloween festivities; plus it's the beginning of the holiday season a.k.a. The Best Time of the Year.

And even though I know it will probably stay warm in New York City well past September, once Labor Day is over I am all fall, all the time. The approach of autumn just gives me the most excited warm and cozy feelings ever. And I am clinging on to them unabashedly...because, hey, I'll take the unfiltered good feelings wherever I can get them these days.

And if there is one author who I know feels the same way about the season as I do, it's Rainbow Rowell. Not only has she spoken a ton on Twitter and elsewhere about her abhorrence for summer and her love for fall, but she has also set every single one of her five novels in and around the autumn and winter seasons.

And luckily, her hatred is my gain because Rowell's books are chock full of some of the best comforting, cozy fall scenes in the game, and I eat up every single one of them. From the nostalgia of Eleanor & Park's back to school setting to pretty much everything about the first half of Fangirl, you're guaranteed to get some serious fall feels if you add any of these reads to your seasonal TBR. One of my favorite autumnal scenes in any book ever is, in fact, this one between Cath and Levi from Fangirl, which starts:

"It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy. Just cold enough that she could justifiably wear all her favorite clothes—cardigans and tights and legwarmers."

Feeling festive yet? Good, because as Cath finally meets up with Levi at Starbucks, we get this gem of a Fall moment that will be familiar to anyone who has ever been made fun of because of their proclivity for autumnal clothing:

"Look at you. All sweatered up. What are those, leg sweaters?"

"They're leg warmers."

"You're wearing at least four different kinds of sweater."

"This is a scarf."

"You look tarred and sweatered."

"I get it," she said.

Come on, even if you're someone who is already mourning the end of summer, that had to make you want to wrap up in your favorite sweater, just a little bit. And that's the thing about Rainbow Rowell's books...it's almost impossible not to get excited about the season after spending some time in them; even if just so you can read them when they actually take place. Nothing is more fun than sharing an experience with the characters you love, after all.

And so I leave you with the ultimate Rainbow Rowell fall quote, from her book Attachments:

“October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!”

I bet you'll be joining me in lighting those candles, putting on that Fall playlist and drinking a pumpkin spice something in no time.