10 AUTUMN FALL CLASSIC BOOKS 

I read Woman in White because of your recommendation, and I LOVED it! Count Foscoe was one of my favorites.

❤ ❤❤84 Charing Cross Road. An utter delight of a gentle book that just wraps the reader up in its warmth and charm, definitely read best with a cup of hot chocolate, snuggled up on the sofa on an Autumnal day. So, so pleased you recommended it. I hope people give it a chance. I have all of Helene Hanff's books and this is the best, truly showing her quirky, humorous personality.

Autumn is Ray Bradbury's season - October Country, Halloween Tree, Something Wicked This Way Comes, etc. 😊

The Lord of the Rings, which begins in September and then really kicks off again in another September about two decades later, is my perfect Autumn reading project every year.

Willa Cather makes you appreciate the sunset, the big landscapes, the tall grasses, and people.

I love the new look! Somewhere between Beat Poet and Rogue Pirate!

Why you don’t have 10 billion subscribers is beyond me! This is my first time I’ve watched a video from your channel and I’m hooked! Finally! An adult who gets books and is passionate about them! And! And! Twilight was not uttered once! Thank you from the bottom of my Book loving heart! Now this might be a little OTT but, God Bless you!… not one mention of Twilight! I almost feel light headed! 🙏🏻

Every autumn I read the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

I just cannot possibly thank you enough for turning me onto Wilkie Collins. I had fallen out of reading for some time during my adult life, but I started back with your recommendation of the Moonstone. Now I am three books into his catalogue and reading this classic literature every night!

I am so happy you have discovered Willa Cather. ❤

I am a big Willa Cather fan, so I am thrilled you have enjoyed the rustic but beautiful settings of the two you've read. I also love 84, Charing Cross Road. The relationships they built through the letters was so authentic and special.

I read My Antonia in high school over 30 years ago (on my own, not as part of the curriculum) and I thought it was “good”. I reread it recently and I agree with your comment that Willa Cather could be the American Thomas Hardy. As an American, I am enraptured by her descriptions of the American frontier. Brilliant, descriptive, and the realism hits you. Coincidentally, this has been my year of reading both Hardy and Cather! I’m going ponder the similarities between them. Thank you for the great list of autumnal reads, Tristan!

As a man with a strong “autumn” mindset, ie, one who connects with nostalgia and is fascinated by memory, I think this is an excellent idea for content and the recommendations are really appreciated. Thanks.

“A review shouldn’t be purely on taste” very unbiased. Great video

I LOVE Cider With Rosie, and never hear anyone talking about it - thank you SOO much! I loved Laurie Lee’s beautifully clever descriptive abilities - it comes alive from the child’s perspective in a way I’ve never seen since - I’ve read multiple times and love it more each time. Persuasion is my favorite Austin 💜

Autumn classic-The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Begins in Summer and gets darker and colder as things fall apart.

I definitely need to read Willa Cather since you likened her to Thomas Hardy, who is my favorite author for his descriptions of the natural environment. On that note, The Heartbeat of Trees sounds right up my alley. Great list Captain!

I don't know if it fits the usual definition of classical literature but "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury is pure autumn energy. But well, Italo Calvino had a very interesting opinion about what makes a book a classic and this book certainly fits the bill.

Another excellent video. Cider With Rosie is a wonderful book. It is part of a trilogy. After Cider came, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, about Laurie Lee's travels through Spain in the early 1930s, and the third book in the trilogy was A Moment in War. Then he returned to Spain in the 1950s to show his new wife Spain. This book is A Rose for Winter( which was written before Cider with Rosie). The four books all have Laurie Lee's lyrical prose poetry and are all worth reading.

I always think of Victorian literature in Autumn since I participate in Victober every year.

00:00 Intro 01:54 The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins) 04:30 Cider with Rosie (Laurie Lee) 07:40 Persuasion (Jane Austen) 10:10 Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) 12:53 The Radetzky March (Joseph Roth) 17:37 84 Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff) 20:46 The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Leo Tolstoy) 23:50 My Antonia (Willa Cather) 28:02 The Heartbeat of Trees (Peter Wohlleben) 32:20 Outro

Tristan what I love as much as the content of this, is the low-level lighting that perfectly fits the subject matter. (Oh and the beard and new glasses, tres chic!)

You hit the nail on the head… acknowledging that our lives, as is lived in our scrubbed, streamlined, sanitized society, we are bereft of wonder and awe. Thanks for opening some doors to finding them. I’m off to order The Heartbeat of Trees and maybe catch my first falling leaf of the season. Much joy! 💫📚

I had to chuckle when you said Mother Teresa instead of Maria Theresia because I, an Austrian, thought as a child that they were the same person until I finally saw pictures of them 🙈

The Radetzky March is absolutely brilliant! Roth has an incredible understanding of the workings of routine, tradition, and comfortable day-to-day repetition. Every character in the book is so nuanced. I also love his description of the great parade in Vienna and, especially, the way he positions Emperor Franz Joseph as someone who is well aware of the inevitable crumbling of his empire. The book is brimming with nostalgia, I keep going back to it to read descriptive portions. Great recommendation and great video! Oh, and the battle is "Solferino" :D

Great video, Tristan! I would like to recommend The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is just a short story, of course (right around 30 pages), but I can't think of a greater read to bring in the autumn season. I read it every year on October 1st. Put aside the Disney cartoon (which is great in its own right), but on description alone, this story oozes with Autumn. From the descriptions of the changing of the leaves to the heaping piles of apples ready for the press (and you must have a warm cup of cider/cinnamon stick by your side as you read) to the Dutch-American farm tables loaded with it's seasonal morsels. Add in the ghost story to boot (which is almost a side note, really), and you have the perfect work to bring in the Fall season. 🍁 🎃 👻 😊

I finished Never Let Me Go a few months ago. That one's very autumnal, with much focus on the past, lost things, fading things, and the quality of light.

I just read the introduction for the complete Gormenghast trilogy, and I'm in LOVE. It fits this vibe perfectly in my mind. Ever give these beauties a read?

I read The Woman in White earlier this year. Definitely see how he and Dickens influenced one another. Oh and I've read Persuasion a couple of times, my current favorite Austen book.

The tree book sounds the most interesting to me. I have King Lear by Shakespeare (Shakespeare September) and Miss Marple with Agatha Christie's Autumn Chills book for Spinster September.

Ooh, I never thought of reading My Antonia for fall! I read it years ago and loved it. Must read again. Good suggestions. 🍁

The Woman in White edition you showed is spectacular. I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. Have read all the short stories at least twice and I've accumulated multiple volumes of Holmes. But, like you, Hound of that Baskervilles has never been of interest to me. Good to know I'm not alone in that.

Not particularly an autumn read but captures a similar atmosphere to The Radetzky March is the Transylvanian Trilogy by Miklós Bánffy. The plot mainly centers around a young Transylvanian nobleman who gets elected as an MP in the Hungarian parliament and at the same time takes over the management of his family estate. Bánffy very good at depicting the contrast between the chaotic political machinations in the capital and the simple life up in the Carpathian Mountains among the village folks. It’s got a nostalgic, old-timey vibe, very good portrayal of the Austro-Hungarian empire’s slow decay and inevitable fall.

Thank you for all of these great recommendations. And thank you to everyone who commented and added more recommendations to my ever-growing book list. Much appreciated.

I'm from the midwest, and Willa Cather takes my breath away when she describes the wind on the plains, the way the tall grasses move like waves across the plain. I need to re-read My Antonia. An old favorite.

I came across this channel a month ago and it is already one of my very favorite.

So glad you've discovered Willa Cather.

Hi, I have just discovered your RU-vid channel and it has been a delight to hear your synopsis of great autumn reads; I have subscribed to your channel. I have read the first four of the books you reviewed and out of these Jane Austen's 'Persuasion' is my favourite and I have read it I can't remember how many times. Each time I pick it up, I find a new thought I hadn't considered before. For me, this was Jane's most mature novel and the characters feel like real people. I still get outraged at Mary's "I'm more important than anyone else because my dad's a baronet" and I can't help feeling that Jane must have known someone like that; so real. My heart always goes out to Anne Elliot with how she has to bury everything thrown at her, not say anything and just get on with it. Again, that is so real for many people, in past and present. It's a classic for me and almost a dear friend and the book is near to where I'm sitting. 'The Woman in White' I first saw here on RU-vid as a BBC drama. My wife then watched it and got hooked the same way I did, and we bought the novel; it is better than the drama and the plot is a real page turner (I wonder if Victorian readers used the same term?). Unlike the character Smallweed in Bleak House, Count Fosco doesn't get away with it. Christopher Lee once said that the villains always have the best lines, and it's certainly true about Fosco; a villain if ever there was one, but also a man of sophistication and style. The Woman in White is another book I shall again and again. I have ordered Antonia and looking forward to starting it as soon as I've finished Wuthering Heights; I've put this off for a long time and been reading Thomas Hardy instead, just to get my mind ready; The Return of the Native and The Trumpet Major have effectively paved the way. Look forward to your next RU-vid. PB, Sheffield.

Love, Love, Love 84 Charring Cross Road!

Under gothic, I’m doing Rebecca in my sept book club. Wonderfully moody. Not prose but poetry for those who like nature, Mary Oliver writes wonderful nature poetry, great for fall.

I would add a obvious whimsical, light read. Just for fun on Halloween. The 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

Wonderful topic and list! Currently I'm reading Our Mutual Friend and Sylvia's Lovers, plus starting The Hobbit with my girls - fall reading Heaven!

I love Ray Bradbury! I included Dandelion Wine on my summer list, and I will have to save Something Wicked for 2025!!❤ I loved The Woman in White so much that I bought another copy!!😊

I have always associated the Brontë sisters with Fall as the bleak desolate Yorkshire Moors inspired much of their writing. Just reminds me of November with its barren trees left by Fall but noticeably Winter is coming soon…

“The Woman in White” is a fantastic gem of a novel!

I love your description of the Autumn contrasts. It's interesting how we feel nostalgic in the Fall, I wonder if it has anything to do with remembering back to the beginning of school years? I loved Woman in White --- read it last year. When I hear "Trotter", I think James Henry Trotter. Haha! I read 84, Charing Cross several years ago and loved it, too. Gotta look for that one for a reread! I've not read Willa Cather since middle school. Hmm... maybe I should look for that, too! I grew up in Eastern Oregon --- much of which is still that kind of frontier she writes about. So many inspiring recommendations --- thanks!

The James Herriot trilogy is another great one ❤

May I add another non-fiction book that will appeal to those who enjoy The Radetsky March. It is The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig.

Love this video! I agree with the Autumnness of the ones I've read from your list: The Woman in White, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Death of Ivan Ilyitch. Also, based on your descriptions, you've inspired me to read 84, Charing Cross Road, The Heartbeat of Trees and to pull out my copy of My Antonia, which I've had for a while but hadn't read yet. Thanks so much! Happy Autumn!!

I finished The Death of Ivan Ilych. What a great psychological novella it is!Superb reading. Thank you for suggesting it😊

I am going to read My Antonia and The Heartbeat of Trees. Thanks for this great list!

Still not used to the beard, although in my oppinion, it suits you and looks good. Since autumn is the only season, I actively like, this video makes me happy, just by the title and even more by the recommendations. Thank you!

It is fun to see you excited about your discovery of Willa Cather. Her descriptions of the American West and the "feeling" of it speak to me like no other American author.

I'm so glad that you recommended Woman in White. I loved that book and have read others by Wilkie Collins and really like his writing. I'll have to check out some of the other books that you've mentioned as I'm on a reading journey that, unfortunately, only started about two years ago despite being almost 50. Thanks for your videos, Tristan!

Thank you for your splendid recommendations! A friend of mine recently mentioned that she picked up "Woman in white" and I also wanted to reread it :)

If you like Kafka, David Lynch, Over The Garden Wall, The Witch and books that leave you feeling like you've had a fever dream, In The House In The Dark Of The Woods by Laird Hunt is the autumnal delight you're looking for!

I'd never heard of Cider with Rosie, but now I want to read it. Your enthusiasm makes all the books sound so appealing! It sounds autumnal for the very fact of "cider" in the title, which is usually pressed from apples around the beginning of autumn, at least in the States. Speaking of, I don't think of My Antonía as "central to the American psyche" in the sense that most Americans have probably never heard of it. Myself, read it in college (that's Uni to a Brit 😊). Still think I remember when the narrator's mom threw out the carefully saved and gifted dried mushrooms. As a nascent foodie that was heartbreakingly emblematic of the way the immigrants were treated. I still feel think the narrator felt like the author, not a boy. Was Cather gay? The whole story would feel less weird if it were queer-coded, but when I was in grad school there was no such thing as queer studies, so it was just a vibe when I read it. Heartbeat of Trees, a more recent book by the author of The Hidden Life of Trees, which I read around the time I read The Overstory and much preferred. The way the trees talk to and help each other is so charming! (Along with the fungi) the forest ecosystem is fascinating, and to use this word again, heartbreaking as we contemplate what we've lost. P.S. I looked up Laurie Lee, the first male Laurie I've heard of since Laurie Lawrence in Little Women. Loved this quote from an article that Google showed me: "To those who were made to read Cider With Rosie at school, Laurie Lee is English literature's Laura Ashley, an artist, commercialised by success, who branded a slice of English rural experience with an ineradicable pattern." (Yes, I wore Laura Ashley back in the day, so that description worked for me 😃)

🍁📚🍂 I immediately went to my shelves and picked out My Antonia, which will be my first Willa Cather.

Love your videos! Your new glasses are very flattering. And the beard looks good as well. ^_^

Tristan - so many wonderful reads! But wow....the final book about trees - I did not know about that one and you make it sound amazing. I've been looking for a good nonfiction to read this autumn and I think that will be the one! Thank you!🍁

Autumn is my fav season. Autumn enchanted Keats and John Claire.too.

I'm just wrapping up one of your brilliant summer picks--A Month In the Country! Thank you, thank you! What a delight😊😊 Can't wait to start on some of your fall picks, most probably The Woman In White, although Persuasion is one of my great alltime favourites.

Sarah Orne Jewett's Country of Pointed Firs is also a good autumnal read (although it takes place in the summer). Loved both book and film (stars Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench) of 84 Charing Cross Road -- it is one the books that I re-read over and over again. Thanks for a great list -- I now have several new reads to at to my TBR list. Really enjoy all of your videos - wish I had you as one of my literature Professor's while doing time at University.

This was an interesting episode... 2 of your choices i had not heard of and sound good! - 84 Charing Cross Road is a favorite of mine... tho, to be honest, i saw the movie first and watch it a couple of times a year. - i am currently reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Wohlleben, so i will probably read The Heartbeat of Trees also. -The Radetsky March will be one i will look for soon... sounds intetesting. - All the others i have either read in full or was interupted and wound up not finishing.

I have just bought The woman in white as you recommend it so highly. I am looking forward to reading it.

Great list, thank you! I'm excited that The Woman in White made your list since my book club will be reading it in October.

I love your way of words. So compelling.

Wow. I picked up The Heartbeat of Trees a couple of weeks ago, but it's on a shelf next to his two earlier books. I figured it would be wonderful as his other books are, and I just love his way of looking at life. So it's moved up the TBR. I love Willa Cather, especially The Song of the Lark. And when you said this video would be about autumnal reads, I wondered if you'd feature Persuasion. I love that so much. Another lovely video, and inspiring to me in spite of it being spring where I am.😊

Woman in White is a Great starter! I love that book. Fantastic villians, knaves and heroes. Laura?'s Uncle/guardian is such a piece of work; a Real character. So glad you kicked off with this 'uneasy' tale.

If autumn = nostalgia, then Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournier is a great autumn book.

Love these nugget videos. Gold gems.

Death Comes for Archbishop is my favorite Cather work. If you ever get to Sante Fe New Mexico you can see the church and the stairway mentioned. As for Ivan Ilyich, your summary reminds me of the Thoreau quote about he doesn’t want to die without ever lived. That sense of wonder and awe you describe is sometimes thought to be God.

I subscribed to you last week after watching your ‘Gothic Genre’ video, which I found after searching for ‘Autumnal Classics.’ Now you have uploaded an ‘Autumnal Classics’ video! 😄 This is one of those moments when one ought to feel grateful to be on RU-vid. By the way, I have the exact same edition of ‘The Woman in White.’ I read it around this time last year. I love the gothic imagery in the book: the big castle with its unnerving atmosphere, the woman in the asylum, the burning church, and the deathly heavy rain, etc. Also, regarding autumnal classics, what do you think about reading Dostoevsky in autumn, especially late autumn? I think dark, rainy weather + Dostoevsky is a great combination.

Ah, nostalgia...nostalgia just isn't what it used to be...

Thank you for the non-fiction suggestion! It sounds wonderful!

Fabulous book picks as always Tristan! I adored Woman in White ( and The Moonstone) and I have beautiful honeyed memories of Cider with Rosie, which we read in our fourth year of secondary school. And you look great with that beard!

I just read Willa Cather's The Professor's House. It had flavors of both Stoner and Butcher's Crossing, and turned into Cesar Aira's Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter in the last quarter. Ended up interesting for how brief it was. I'm looking forward to that next video.

You’re so well-spoken, I’m inspired to read ALL of these. You, sirrah, are not good for my list of unreads which I already own and is about 200 books strong!

I'm thrilled with this list and will very likely read all of them. I am definitely going to buy 'The Heartbeat of Trees'.

I wasn't such a fan of 18 Charing Cross Road but LOVED The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street!

Just for a change, if you mention the woman in white, you could also recommend Armadale from Wilkie Collins. 🤗. Willa Cather is wonderful and so is Peter Wohlleben, who is very popular in Germany, because he understands so well to describe the nature and how it works, but non in an instructive, but in a loving kind of writing. He also appears on TV from time to time, he has become a kind of pop star, people love him.

I already love so many of your recommendations - never understood why a film want made of The Woman in White with Orson Welles playing Count Foscoe. Also adore Cider with Rosie, and I walked out one midsummer morning by the same author.

Woman in White is one of my all time favourite book ever, and I loved Charing Cross Road too, but your enthusiasm makes me want to go and read all of the rest on this list immediately!

I love Willa Cather. Give 'The Professor's House' a go. It's short and rich.

Tristan, your last book recommendation reminds me of my 5year of nephew who started crying when they cut down a tree on the street. Thanks for the great video 😊. I am already excited about your next video 😊.

Excited for Part 2!

I have read Persuasion, and I did enjoy the story. I think I will read My Antonia.

i have Women in White and Hound of the Basketville on my shelf waiting for me to read soon and now i have a few more to add on my list after this video. thanks Tristan!

U sold me on the last one , definitely going to check it out

Lovely video! Always love them! I would love a video of classic book recommendations for students learning English who don't speak English as a first language. Something to get them started without intimidating them. High school level.

Yews don't have rustling leaves, Tristan. They have needles😉

Hi, Tristan, thank you for coloring my autumn holidays. I know, love and will reread several of your inspiring list … As a German I know all of Peter Wohlleben's books, my husband has not totally the same taste in books, but this love to nature we’ve in common, so we’re big fans! You want to start a alk into the woods immediately after readings, as if he had given you new glasses 🤓 to see the secrets… Love, Monika❣

Well done!!! These are so good Thank you

I have read three and enjoyed them all. TWIW, 84C, and Persuasion.

Thank you for recommending The Woman In White last year. I read it according to the serial schedule and LOVED IT!

Wonderful channel. I have subscribed. For autumn I recommend "North Woods" by Daniel Mason, "Anne of Green Gables" (She is rhapsodic about Octobers.), "Mayflower" (nonfiction) by Nathaniel Philbrick, and "Autumn" by Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Brian by Jeremy Cooper an Autumnal and nostalgic book if ever there was one. Brian is a singular man in pursuit of life through his love of cinema.

Willard Cather, oh my heart.

Willa Cather is amazing!

Wow! That beard! Gorgeous and definitely adds you a je ne sais quoi . Amazing video too and super informative and inspiring