Listen, whether it’s shameful or not I am happy to admit it…

Hi, my name is Paige Petrovsky and I am someone who gets way too excited for Autumn way too early. 

I’m aware of how frustrating this is (especially since there is well over a month left of Summer). I’ve heard it some from friends and I heard it from my parents and Nanny (grandmother) when I started to decorate the house (if you haven’t yet … run don’t walk to HomeSense) … yet here I am. 

And while the cool crisp Autumn air arriving is something completely out of my control, thinking about the books I’m most excited to read this Autumn isn’t. So, without further ado here are the books I’m most excited to read this Fall (in no particular order).

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Heather at gritLIT earlier this year. While I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t read any of her work yet, I’m very excited to.

From GoodReads:

At thirteen, Baby vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation: still young enough to drag her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase yet old enough to know more than she should about urban cruelties. Motherless, she lives with her father, Jules, who takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of his daughter. Baby’s gift is a genius for spinning stories and for cherishing the small crumbs of happiness that fall into her lap. But her blossoming beauty has captured the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local pimp who runs an army of sad, slavishly devoted girls—a volatile situation even the normally oblivious Jules cannot ignore. And when an escape disguised as betrayal threatens to crush Baby’s spirit, she will ultimately realize that the power of salvation rests in her hands alone.

Nightmares by Kate DeJonge

I met Kate earlier this summer at a Hamilton Book Crawl on Concession Street (Kate was the first person who found out that I was already planning my Autumn reading list).

From GoodReads:

Explore the underbelly of our world through the eyes of someone who has seen more shades of reality than any person should. Kate will take you on a tour of the darkest corners of her mind, daring you to imagine a fate worse than those inflicted upon her characters while you peek through your fingers to finish her short stories.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

I’ll admit, I’m a little bit nervous for this one because classics are *intimidating*, but this has been unopened on my shelf for long enough … it’s time to dive in.

From GoodReads:

A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Tales From the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot)

I read Before the Coffee Gets Cold at the beginning of 2022 and it’s still probably my favourite book I’ve read this year, so far. Needless to say, I cannot wait to learn about these four new customers.

From GoodReads:

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time…

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula’s time-travelling offer.

Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi’s previous novel, we will be introduced to:

The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry
The old detective who never gave his wife that gift…

This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Home of the Floating Lily by Silmy Abdullah

Listening to Silmy speak at gritLIT, and hearing about her passion and enthusiasm for writing completely sold me on this.

From GoodReads:

Caught between cultures, immigrant women from a Bangladeshi neighbourhood in Scarborough struggle to navigate their home, relationships, and happiness.

Set in both Canada and Bangladesh, the eight stories in Home of the Floating Lily follow the lives of everyday people as they navigate the complexities of migration, displacement, love, friendship, and familial conflict. A young woman moves to Toronto after getting married but soon discovers her husband is not who she believes him to be. A mother reconciles her heartbreak when her sons defy her expectations and choose their own paths in life. A lonely international student returns to Bangladesh and forms an unexpected bond with her domestic helper. A working-class woman, caught between her love for Bangladesh and her determination to raise her daughter in Canada, makes a life-altering decision after a dark secret from the past is revealed.

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Another author I was absolutely thrilled to meet at gritLIT earlier this year! Lawrence Hill is a Canadian icon, need I say more?

From GoodReads:

In this “transporting” (Entertainment Weekly) and “heart-stopping” (Washington Post) work, Aminata Diallo, one of the strongest women characters in contemporary fiction, is kidnapped from Africa as a child and sold as a slave in South Carolina. Fleeing to Canada after the Revolutionary War, she escapes to attempt a new life in freedom.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

I started this book last Fall. However, I had too much on my plate and lost interest, however, the synopsis is still SO interesting to me so I definitely will be giving it a second go.

From GoodReads:

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

I’ve never read anything by Agatha Christie before but I know her mysteries are emblematic, and I can’t wait to find out for myself.

From GoodReads:

It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.

But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.

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