Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Cozy Fall Reads

   Hi, guys! I’m keeping with Top 5 Tuesday, which is hosted by Shanah on Bionic Bookworm. The topics for September can be seen here.

     Fall is finally here (supposedly), although in Portugal nobody has warned the weather, it is still boiling hot. I’m a summer girl, I’m made for the beach, but I have to admit that fall  is the perfect season for reading; just the ideia of being cozied up in my room with a blanket, a cup of warm coffee and a great book while the rain falls outside… paradise.

   I’m a seasonal reader, I really do prefer certain reads on certain seasons, and fall for me is the season for fantasy and thrillers, for gritty, dark reads, and so those are the type of books I automatically connect with “cozy fall reads”. These might not be the cutest, the most adorable type of reads, but they are perfect for this season.

1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruíz Zafón

   This is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s a twisty, dark mystery set in the streets of Barcelona, on the postwar years. When Daniel’s turns eleven, his father takes him to the “Cemetery of Forgotten Books”, where Daniel chooses a book for himself, “The Shadow of the Wind”. He, as it has happened to so many of us, falls in love with the book, and starts to look for more works from the same author, Julian Carax. However, Daniel finds out somebody has been burning every single Carax’ book in existence and, more alarmingly, a man that resembles the character of the Devil in The Shadow of the Wind has been chasing him.

  It is a marvellous, atmospherical read, that every booklover should give a try.  I’ve read almost everything Zafón has published to date and this is still my favorite. I want to re-read it soon, this time in Spanish, so I can fully appreciate it.

Goodreads|Bookdepository 

   2. We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson

      This is the perfectt Halloween read. I read it last year around that time,and it gave me the perfect amount of eerieness. It is one of those books where you can feel the “wrongness” of it all, that sense that something is amiss,although you can’t pinpoint what exaclty. It has become a classic for a very good reason.

Goodreads | Bookdepository

   3. The Cuckoo’s Calling by J.K. Rowling

      This book (and this whole series) is one of my dearest mystery reads ever. It follows private investigator Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott while they solve crimes in London, the first one being the apparent suicide of a model.

   Every single one of the books in this series so far has surprised me, and I’m utterly and completely in love with the characters. Also, I think London is, in itself, a perfect setting for fall reads, so if you haven’t picked up Strike’s mysteries, you should give them a try this season.

 Goodreads| Bookdepository

   4. We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver 

      If you want to take only a book from this list, please listen to me an go pick up this one. It is one of the creepiest, most different books I’ve read in the last couple of years. It tells the story of a mother that has always felt uneasy about her son, and that has to face something horrible he did.

   Lionel Shriver is a genious. I am to read something else by her, still, but this one is absolutely brilliant, it was my favorite read from 2015.

Goodreads | Bookdepository

5. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

   This is just pure joy in the form of a book. It is set in a Harry Potter- type world, with very similar characters (if you’ve read Fangirl you know who is Simon Snow), and it guides us through Simon Snow’s last year i his magical school, while he has to fight a dark lord at the same time as falling in love with his roomate, Baz. It is cute, it is cozy, it is perfect for the fall.

Goodreads | Bookdepository