Autumn Harvest: Podcasts, Books, and Essays
Spooky seasonal recommendations
This week we are bringing you a plentiful autumn harvest: a collection of books, essays, and podcasts for you to enjoy as the October chill tumbles into the November gloom.
While usually our posts are more in the form of analytic essays, or book reviews, this one sticks to the more typical format of a newsletter — but don’t worry. If you love the longer reflections and essays, I’m working on a more in-depth exploration of doubles, coming soon!
First, if you didn’t catch our most recent podcast episode, we discussed The Other Americans by Laila Lalami through the themes of memory and protection. You can listen below, or find links to other podcast players here.
And now, for some autumnal, spooky content:
Podcast Episodes from the Archives
For those of you who are new to The Novel Tea, check out our Get to Know Us episode from last year, in which we talk about how we met and how the podcast started. We also share some books we love, and things get heated when Neha and I rank our favorite Harry Potter books!
Back in Season 1 of The Novel Tea, we read (and loved!) The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. This book can be enjoyed in any season, but the way that her characters exist within nature always makes me think of the darker months.
In Season 3, we read THE dark academia book: The Secret History. There isn’t much I need to explain here, so if you’d like to hear theories, explanations of literary allusions, and general excitement about the brilliance of this book, check out the episode here.
In Season 3 we also talked about The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon, a gothic tale of love, mystery, and betrayal set in Barcelona in the mid-20th century.
Podcast Episodes from Others
Learning about the horror genre (and picking up book recommendations) with Raelyn Torngren on Novel Pairings
Talking to Tana French About Her New Series on The Book Review (NYT)
Investigating true crime in the animal kingdom on TED Radio Hour
What to Read This Fall
Neha and I most frequently read backlist — it can be so easy to get caught up in the online buzz, and leaning in to the new releases often leaves us unsatisfied with our reading lives. We will most frequently share backlist titles, as below:
My Death by Lisa Tuttle: Neha read this book a few months ago, then insisted that I read it so we could discuss it. The book starts out with the narrator deciding to write a biography of an author whose books she’s loved. From here, things start to get strange — that’s all I’ll say, because I think one should go into this book knowing as little as possible. While the book is shelved as ‘horror’ I’d put it into the ‘uncanny’ (is that a genre? It should be) — I had goosebumps towards the end, even though there are no witches, ghosts, or murderers. If you do read this book, please email us and let us know what you think of the ending!
Lone Women by Victor LaValle: this twist on a Western begins with Adelaide Henry fleeing her home carrying with her an enormous, locked trunk. She becomes one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who come to take it. Except — Adelaide isn’t alone. This book defies genre; it might be seen alternately as magical realism, fantasy, gothic, or horror, depending on how you choose to look at it. Set in a brutal yet beautiful landscape, the book meditates on human nature, trust, and sisterhood.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: a lesser known work by Marquez, this slim novel is a murder mystery told in reverse. At the beginning of the book, a man returns to the town where an unsolved murder took place 27 years earlier, determined to get to the bottom of it. But he soon finds that nearly everyone knew the murder was going to happen before Santiago Nasar was even killed. So why did no one intervene? This propulsive story examines not just one suspect, but an entire society as it barrels towards the truth.
Essays and Links
Mary Shelley: Mother of Speculative Fiction from our archives
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: An Urban Gothic Masterpiece from our archives
In Dark Times, I Sought Out the Turmoil of Caravaggio’s Paintings by Teju Cole in the NYT [Gift link]
Why Do People Like Horror Films? A Statistical Analysis by
on SubstackNicole Kidman Gives Us What We Want in the Silly, Soapy “The Perfect Couple” in The New Yorker
Up Next
Next week on the podcast, we’ll be discussing The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. Tune in on October 16th to hear the episode!