Here’s a list recommendations for your Autumn Reading based on the holidays of the season.
Sep. 25 – Comic Book Day honors Rodolphe Töpffer, who is widely considered to be the father of the genre. Our recommendation:
Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc.
Oct. 9 and 10. Lief Ericson and Columbus Day. Both these days celebrate the spirit of adventure and exploration by these 2 explorers who “discovered” North America. Our reading recommendation:
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.
Oct. 28. Frankenstein Friday – The last Friday in October – celebrates the birth of Frankenstein and it’s creator, Mary Shelly. Our recommendation:
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
There is a free recording available on YouTube, or download (free) from LibriVox.
Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature’s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.
Oct. 31. Halloween. Modern celebrations involve costume and “trick-or-treating”. Our recommended reading. Any book from our #WickedGoodReads series.
Day of the Dead. Nov. 1 – Nov. 2. (Spanish: Día de Muertos) focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday. Our reading recomendation:
Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Welcome to Mexico City… An Oasis In A Sea Of Vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is busy eking out a living when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, must feast on the young to survive and Domingo looks especially tasty. Smart, beautiful, and dangerous, Atl needs to escape to South America, far from the rival narco-vampire clan pursuing her. Domingo is smitten. And then there’s Ana, a cop who suddenly finds herself following a trail of corpses and winds up smack in the middle of vampire gang rivalries.
Nov. 2. All Souls’ Day. A day of prayer for the dead. Our recommended reading:
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
Nov. 11. Veteran’s Day honors military veterans, that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. Our reading recommendation:
Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein
I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
Nov. 24. Thanksgiving Day. This is a holiday that was “originally celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.” Our recommendation reminds us to be thankful for the lives we have been given because you never know when you could lose it all:
A Man Called Ove, Fredrick Bachman
A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.
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