03 October 2023
SERPENT’S TAIL AUTUMN READING GUIDE
Sweater weather is here…
Which means it’s time to start squirreling away books in preparation for cosy nights curled up reading with a nice cuppa. Lucky for you, we have prepared a wonderful selection of titles to treat yourself with, from stirring novellas to genre-bending fiction!
Which stories will you be falling into this autumn? Let us know by tweeting us @SerpentsTail.
SWEATER WEATHER
Reads that will make you want to stay inside
Critical Hits eds. by Carmen Maria Machado and J. Robert Lennon
Whether you’re an avid gamer, a Twitch subscriber, or just an incidental Subway Surfer, video games have changed the way you interact with the world and have been part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits is a celebration of play and playfulness through sharp, impassioned and inquisitive essays.
Alison by Lizzy Stewart
Alison is newly married, barely twenty and struggling to find her place in the world. A chance encounter with an older artist upturns her life and she forsakes her roots for the thrumming art scene of London in the late seventies.
As the thrill of bohemian romance leads inevitably to disappointment, Alison begins to find her own path – through art, friendship and love.
The Collected Works by Jo Ann Beard
‘The stories are essays, the essays are stories. Even when they are not literally true, they contain the kind of truth that great fiction thrives on’ The Times
‘Literature’s best kept secret’ Independent
Jo Ann Beard, one of the most influential writers in America, illuminates the complexities of the human condition in this career-spanning collection of her best work.
TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF
Genre-bending and escapist fiction for daydreaming
Sanderson’s Isle by James Clarke
1969. Thomas Speake comes to London searching for his father and a place to belong, but instead joins the search for a stolen child through swinging London and the Lake District. There he finds Sanderson instead, a larger-than-life TV presenter who hosts ‘midweek madness’ parties where the punch is spiked with acid…
Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis
A satirically funny, poignant and dark novel for fans of cool contemporary fiction. Follow weed-growing couple Kevin and Amber as Amber is selected for a reality TV to win a one-way ticket to Mars.
Jungle House by Julianne Pachico
‘Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness.’
A suspenseful literary novel with a premise perfect for fans of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro that asks: will humans and AIs form families, and what are the implications of this?
TRICK-OR-TREAT
Reads with a touch of magic for spooky season
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter by Soraya Palmer
Life at home has become unbearable for Zora and Sasha. But they can’t hide forever. The Anansi stories stories that captivated them as children begin to creep into the present, revealing truths about the Porter family’s past they must all face up to…
This is an extraordinary debut novel that asks – what happens when our stories are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?
Verge by Nadia Attia
Two strangers bound by fate.
A deadly curse.
An epic road trip across a (dis)United Kingdom.
Exploring belief, loyalty and legacies beyond our control, this thrilling debut is as magnetic and unpredictable as the curse Rowena is racing to escape.
The Green Man of Eshwood Hall by Jacob Kerr
A family story rooted in folk tale, The Green Man of Eshwood Hall shows us the power that the wild still holds on our imagination and the shocking nightmares to which it can give rise.
SHORTER DAYS, SHORTER BOOKS
Short but sweet reads
Seven Cats I Have Loved by Anat Levit
Anat never considered herself a cat lover, but when her life was thrown into upheaval, she found herself adopting one cat at the suggestion of her daughters, and then six more. She delves into the feline mind with gentleness and compassion, while also revealing a moving human story.
Love Me Tender by Constance Debré
‘Destined to become a classic of its kind’ Maggie Nelson
‘One of the most compulsive voices I’ve read in years’ Olivia Laing, Observer
A starkly beautiful account of impossible sacrifices asked from mothers, Love Me Tender is a bold novel of defiance, freedom and self-knowledge.
Cheri by Jo Ann Beard
A masterpiece of fiction and memory, Cheri is a heart-breaking but glorious celebration of all the moments of beauty and pain that make an individual life, right up until its very last moments.