Settling Into the Season: Autumn 2015.

There's magic in the way the sunlight looks in Autumn.I wish I could bottle it up and dab it behind my ears and on my wrists during the winter.

I think this year makes me feel the most like Luna Lovegood, because if I could I would make a cardigan out of the treetops, a scarf from the skies, and a brooch from a crackling oak leaf, and go about everywhere feeling like there is something more to this season besides rediscovered aches and pains and chills and the sinking feeling that we are trampling out of the year just as firmly as we stepped into it.

This is as much a time for reveling in shedding leaves, lining your pockets with stray string and plucking out lint and forgotten candies, and the giddy joy of hot chocolate with whipped cream, as having existential crises, tallying off another umbrella casualty because of strong winds, and stepping into dismal, ankle-deep puddles when you aren't prepared to.

Disappointment and ruminations aside, though, October in particular has felt like a month of stories: buoyant, salt-tinged nostalgia for the summer, spine-tingling expectation building up toward the last week, and yes, whatever readings you are printing out or hurriedly yanking off the library shelves and stuffing into your backpack before dashing off in the general direction of your next class.

(Particularly re-reads. If there's anything I love more than an oversized sweater, it's a book that I've already hugged and know the shape of just as well as it knows me and is willing to reach out and squeeze back every single time.)

Because October is a month of stories, and no matter how much I have on my plate this semester, I am determined to revel in it with every rebellious, not at all on the syllabus title I can squeeze into it.

 

howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones (ya)*

 blood and salt by kim liggett (ya)

slasher boys and monster girls, edited by april tulcholke (ya)

p.s. i still love you by jenny han (ya)

dreamstrider by lindsay smith (ya)

strong poison by dorothy sayers (adult)*

night film by marisha pessl (adult)*

graceling by kristin cashore (ya)*

the village: achiara's secret (korean drama, currently airing)

kill me, heal me (korean drama)

hocus pocus (movie)*

over the garden wall (animated series)*

limetown (podcast, currently airing)

the black tapes podcast (podcast, currently airing)

* denotes that i've already seen/read this before
** i spared you the titles that are purely for school. you're welcome.