so what's the verdict? i am an autumn

postcard 24: on a mini seasonal guide of books, music, movies, and shows for fall

Autumn was her happiest season.

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prelude

Welcome to postcards by elle! Every week, I send out a weekly postcard, which includes a list of everything I read and watched that week. This is free, so free and paid subscribers will all receive this. To support my work and receive more posts throughout the week, please consider upgrading your subscription!

September approaching…I feel I owe myself a brief respite of leisure and no rushing around. I can’t face the dead reality. I want rainy days, lanterns and a hundred moons twining in dark leaves, music spilling out and echoing yet inside my head.

—The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Happy September! The postcard that I was originally going to post ended up being a bit too sad and blue, and I didn’t want to start off the new month and season with a melancholic post. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, so I wanted to start it off on an optimistic note.

I love fall. I especially love the fact that I can stay in all evening after work, and curl up on my bed with a good book or a good movie. I love sweaters, I love making new hot beverages, and I love my fall playlists. All in all, I love the fact that I get to be unapologetically basic about it all. So here is my curated list of listens, reads, and watches for the hottest season of the year:

LISTENS //

Fall is all about slow, atmospheric, acoustic songs, but it’s also about the songs that have a nostalgic twinge to them. The intro of There She Goes. The guitar strum of Cherry Wine. The outro of All Too Well. Songs that either feel like the soft warmth and glow of a candle, or something that sounds like it’s from a 90s movie. Again, the duality. I make playlists for every season, but fall is the one season where I have an organized array of playlists for every mood. Here they are:

1. My big seasonal playlist

2. Back to school academia, acoustic coffeeshop songs

3. Quiet autumn folk (think: Bon Iver, Mt Joy, Hozier, Noah Kahan)

4. Very quiet, atmospheric songs

5. Indie / pop / alt rock with fall vibes (think: The Smiths, The Cure, COIN)

6. Dark academia classical pieces

READS //

I’ll make a specific guide like my summer one in a bit, but in the meantime, please check out this post I made a few days ago!

Fall is mostly the season of rereads for me. Some books I always reread are: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Some books I am planning to read this fall are: Agnes Grey by Anne Brönte, Salt Slow by Julia Armfield, A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux, In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, Abigail by Magda Szabo, Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, Her Bodies and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

WATCHES //

Film-wise, here are some movies I loved watching in autumn or early winter. Most of them are set in autumn, is based around academia, or have an atmospheric or unsettling feeling to them.

Show-wise, I rewatch a few shows and keep them on as background noise when I clean or cook. Most of them are very long, multiseason shows that I’ve already watched many times since high school. My go-to shows are: The Vampire Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, and Criminal Minds.

interlude i: what i read this week

Here is my Goodreads if you want to add me!

I finished Intermezzo. And oh my God, it was so beautiful and thoughtful and everything I love. I put off reading the last ten pages for as long as I could because I knew how absolutely empty I'd feel after I finished it. I took two months reading this—a chapter every few days with Emma—and it was the best decision ever. It made me appreciate Rooney's words so much more, and this book is one that should be read slowly and analytically.

I want to post a deep dive on Sally Rooney books (like a reading guide) soon, so stay tuned.

I also reread Dept. of Speculation which is just such a beautiful read. I adore books with characters that feel real, like this could be the story of my neighbor or the woman I see at the bus stop every day on the way to work. Dept. of Speculation is tangible and personal, and sometimes it feels almost untoward to be reading the story of someone in their most vulnerable moments because it is so easy to forget that the characters are fictional.

Here are ten articles to read this week:

1. The Cacophonous Miracle of “The Brothers Karamazov” by Jennifer Wilson

   In Dostoyevsky’s final novel, narrative unfurls at the mad and authentic pace of human emotion.

2. Who’s That Girl in the Painting? by Claire Marie Healy

   In an exclusive excerpt from her new book, Claire Marie Healy delves into the Tate’s art collection and traces the journey of ‘the girl’ in painting, discovering what links Brooke Shields with 18th-century portraiture.

3. The Lost Kids of Sarah Lawrence by Ezra Marcus & James D. Walsh

   What happened to the group of bright college students who fell under the sway of a classmate’s father?

4. Lilac, the Color of Half Mourning, Doomed Hotels, and Fashionable Feelings by Katy Kelleher

   Lilac is a color choice that always feels slightly suspect.

5. Half Lives and Long Drives by Sara Elkamel

   An Interview with Anne Carson and Robert Currie.

6. Love Interrupted by Kelsey Rexroat

   Two women promised they would see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time once they were together. They had no idea how long that would take.

7. English is Not Normal by John McWhorter

   No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language.

8. The Great Forgetting by Kristin Ohlson

   Our first three years are usually a blur and we don’t remember much before age seven. What are we hiding from ourselves?

9. New York, I Love You—But Are You Bringing Me Down? by Catherine LaSota

   In our seven years together, we’ve thrived on routine. We’ve done long-distance before, but never quite like this.

10. Fear as a Game by Elisa Gabbert

    What can the philosophy of games tell us about our odd impulse to scare ourselves?

interlude ii: what i watched this week

In the most predictable act ever, I rewatched La La Land. Anyone who knows me will tell you I rewatch it every year in the last week of August. I don’t cry watching it anymore (because I’ve watched it so many times), but I still get a sting in the bridge of my nose in the last scene of the movie. It did prompt me to start writing an essay first, so expect that to be posted soon!

(Here is my one on Aftersun if you want to read!)

I also watched Hit Man, which was really funny and a great unserious watch. I love Glen Powell and I love his filmography, so I’m glad I watched this.

Here is my Letterboxd if you want to add me!

Here are the video essays I watched this week: this video on The Arnolfini portrait, this video on Edward Hopper and loneliness, and this video on revisiting “Where the Wild Things Are” as an adult.

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postlude

Apple Orchard with Lime Tree Behind the Mensingh Inn in Zweeloo (Coevorden), 1883 by Vincent Van Gogh

things i love: jackets!!!! things on my wishlist: this everlane barn jacket, this meotine trench coat, and this toteme scarf coat.