Book Tag: Reading With Amy’s Fall Bookish Questions

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a book tag, and I thought this short and sweet tag would be perfect for a Friday as we’re getting ready for the Autumn season. I’m so ready for Fall to be here. Seriously, give me PSL in an IV.

This is a bit different from other tags I’ve done because this is one I saw on TikTok, from BookToker and Bookstagrammer Reading With Amy–check out her original video and follow her on Instagram.

I made a TikTok video for this tag already, which you can see here, but I wanted to go a bit more in-depth with my book choices! So let’s grab our cider or tea or pumpkin spice lattes and get to it!

1. Your Most-Anticipated Fall Release

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Listen, I am a Naomi Novik fan. Uprooted and Spinning Silver are among my favorite books of any genre that have come out in the past few years. Her latest book kicks off a new series and is set at a magical university–so I’m thinking like that “adult Harry Potter” schtick that The Magicians vibes with so well, but with Novik’s folkloric sensibility. At least that’s what I’m hoping…

A Deadly Education comes out September 29.

2. Your Favorite Book or Series with a Mystery

The Likeness by Tana French

I first read this book ten years ago and it’s stuck with me this whole time. The Likeness is definitely a hard-boiled detective story, but so moody and atmospheric that it feels like a supernatural ghost story. It’s also very literary and almost romantic in the gothic sense, perfect for Fall reading.

3. Your Favorite Book with Orange on the Cover

The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

Is this cheating? I’ve talked about this book so much, on here to an extent, but especially on TikTok, that I feel like it might be a little bit. But there’s no denying that the cover has a lot of orange on it, so there you go.

Honestly, I’ve talked about this book so much on TikTok, I think my followers are getting tired of it. But it’s so good!!

 

4. Your Favorite Book with Witches

This one had to be a 3-way split:

1. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

2. Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

3. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Three very different takes on witches, and all very good and very fun. Akata Witch and Truthwitch are more more high fantasy and not particularly fallish-feeling, but A Discovery of Witches is the most perfect autumn read I could ever think of.

5. A Book that Made You Want to Sleep with the Lights On

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey

I actually don’t read very many scary books (maybe because I’m still scarred for life by that girl with the green ribbon story) but I will dip into horror if it involves vampires–I almost picked The Passage for this question, but I don’t know that I really found it scary, exactly–or zombies. The Girl With All the Gifts is a zombie novel, but it’s not like any other zombie story I’ve ever experienced. There is plenty to frighten in this book, but they’re not cheap scares. It also leaves you with a lot to think about. It is truly haunting.

6. Your Favorite Fall Drink and a Book You Want to Read While Curled Up With That Drink

Caramel Apple Cider and Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez 

Is there any more quintessential fall drink than caramel apple cider, spiced with cinnamon and cloves? So comforting.

I’m also really excited to dive into Woven in Moonlight for the first time at some point this autumn. It’s an Own Voices fantasy inspired by Bolivian folklore and seems like just the book to keep me up way past my bedtime on a chilly night.

7. A Book You Reread Every Fall Season

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle

I know I’ve mentioned before that I reread Pride & Prejudice every September–and this year I’m sharing that tradition with all of BookTok by reading it aloud on TikTok Live! I’d love to have you join me Wednesdays and Fridays in September at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the third book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet that begins with A Wrinkle in Time, is another book I reread (almost) every year, beginning on Thanksgiving night. Why then specifically? Because the book takes place on Thanksgiving, of course!

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You know what? As a treat, here’s a preview of another page from the September issue of my All Things Bookish newsletter, which you can subscribe to through my Patreon.

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What are you most looking forward to this autumn, whether bookish or otherwise? Do you have a certain book or books you’re especially looking forward to reading, or books you reread during Fall? Or any other bookish traditions? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks again to Amy for this fun book tag! If you feel like participating, consider yourself tagged! Just remember to link to Reading With Amy!