"With knot of one, the spell's begun…"—Read Seasonally: Mabon
#ReadingList: horror, literary & historical fiction, mystery, thriller, fantasy, & short stories…
“After school, I walk to the bus stop in town, breathing the bonfirey, marshmallowy smells of autumn. I love this time of year, when people start to rehearse for Christmas plays and pantomimes, and the air feels like it’s full of magic spells. This is the time of year when arriving home after school feels cosy, like going back to bed.” — from POPCO, by Scarlett Thomas
It’s Fall, y’all! 🍂🍁🎃🕷🕸🕯
Ok so, I have a whole reading list each for Witches, Dark Academia & Haunted Houses so far; I’m working on lists for Ghost Stories & Vampires… plus the Samhain reading list will be for books that have that particular or specific(/explicit) Halloween / All Souls / spooky late-Fall vibes… so for Mabon I thought I’d pick maybe a couple from each of those lists as well as some festive Fall-vibes books that don’t exclusively belong on those other lists or that contain multiple ‘spooky season’ elements…:
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Click on the star ratings beside the titles I’ve read to read my reviews/thoughts about the book.
Witchy reads:
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness (2011) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The action of this, the first book in the All Soul’s Trilogy & its spin-offs, begins on Mabon & ends on Samhain so it’s the perfect segue read between the two sabbats.
There is also a free “real-time” readalong resource ebook available for most ereaders (that I’m aware of). Also check out Deb’s blog & this fanclub & the All Souls Con archive for more fun info, groups, & activities. There’s also this guide to the World of All Souls.
& there are sequelsss: SHADOW OF NIGHT, THE BOOK OF LIFE, TIME’S CONVERT, & THE BLACK BIRD ORACLE.
WICKED by Gregory Maguire (1995) Read more here.
ONE FOR MY ENEMY by Olivie Blake (2019) ★ ★ ★ ★ .5
VENCO by Cherie Dimaline (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR MOTHER IS A WITCH by Rivka Galchen (2021) Read more here.
Unsettling reads, gothic vibes:
WHAT MOVES THE DEAD by T Kingfisher (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
& its sequel: WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT (2024) Read more here.
WHITE HORSE by Erika T Wurth (2022) Read more here.
MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2020) ★ ★ ★
HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS by Erin A Craig (2019) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
& its sequel: HOUSE OF ROOTS AND RUIN (2023) Read more here.
BAD CREE by Jessica Johns (2023) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Monsters & other creatures:
SUCH SHARP TEETH by Rachel Harrison (2022) Read more here.
NO GODS NO MONSTERS by Cadwell Turnbull (2021) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
A MASTER OF DJINN by P Djèlí Clark (2021) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
MASTERS OF DEATH by Olivie Blake (2018) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Cozy (but not superficial) Fantasy:
THE SPELL SHOP by Sarah Beth Durst (2024) Read more here.
LEGENDS & LATTES by Travis Baldree (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ .75
& the sequel: BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST (2023) Read more here.
NETTLE & BONE by T Kingfisher (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ .75
ALPHABET OF THORN by Patricia McKillip (2004) Read more here.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by JRR Tolkien (1954) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Frodo leaves Bag End with Sam & Pippin to head to Crickhollow, where Merry & Fredegar were waiting for them, on September 23rd.
Classics:
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1839) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
MACBETH by Shakespeare (1606) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO by Horace Walpole (1764) ★ ★ ★ ★
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde (1890) ★ ★ ★ ★ .5
NORTHANGER ABBEY by Jane Austen (1817) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Short stories:
FRUITING BODIES by Kathryn Harlan (2022) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
MOONFLOWERS & NIGHTSHADE: An Anthology of Sapphic Horror, edited by Samantha Kolesnik (2022) Read more here.
TOIL AND TROUBLE: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft, edited by Jessica Spotswood & Tess Sharpe (2018) ★ ★ ★ .75
LET ME TELL YOU by Shirley Jackson (2015) Read more here.
COME ALONG WITH ME by Shirley Jackson (1968) Read more here.
“As the Wheel of the Year turns, so the end of Mabon marks the barest of the beginnings of winter and as each day of autumn fades all look toward the cold, wondering what else we will lose to the coming darkness.” — Diana Rajchel, in Llewellyn’s Sabbat Essentials, Mabon: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Autumn Equinox
What are some of your favorite books to read this time of year?