Don’t Know What to Read in November? Try These Fall Book Recommendations, From Dark Academia to Cozy Fantasy

Author Becca Freeman and book influencer Michelle Lecumberry share some of their essential fall reading

• If you're looking for a new read during November, post-Halloween and pre-holiday season, try these emerging subgenres

• Author and podcast host Becca Freeman and book influencer Michelle Lecumberry recommend some of their favorites

• Romance, fantasy, dark academia and "Sad Girl" literature are all perfect for fall — here's why

Halloween has passed, and we’re speeding toward the winter holidays. For readers, it’s also the best time of year to pull on a cozy sweater, make a hot cup of tea and settle onto the couch with a good book.

But what about after you’ve scrounged the spooky season reading lists, and are waiting until the snowy doldrums hit to dive into those cozy winter romances? With the publishing industry slowing down for the year and fewer new releases to choose from, it can be tough to decide what to pick up off the bookstore shelves.

One popular sub-genre to dip into is dark academia. Originally an aesthetic that rose to popularity on TikTok, dark academia books typically have gothic-leaning tones or themes, as seen with classics like Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey or E.M. Forester’s Maurice. They also tend to take place in schools and universities, like in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and R.F. Kuang’s Babel.

“As soon as the first breeze of fall dawns upon me, I'm like, ‘It is time,’” says Michelle Lecumberry, a book influencer who also works in the publishing industry. While she enjoys books with spooky themes, like Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Lecumberry says that one of her go-to dark academia reads is M.L. Rio’s If We Were Villains. An enticing part of the genre for her is the witty banter between characters, as well as returning to a school setting without actually heading back to the classroom herself.

“When you're an adult, you don't go back to school, so that familiarity [of] getting new books, and the structure of getting your classes, I think is very much escapism,” Lecumberry says.

Another popular type of book for this time of year is dark fantasy. These novels, a subgenre of fantasy, include scary or supernatural themes. Some popular titles include the Serpent and the Wings of the Night series by Carissa Broadbent and Anathema by Keri Lake, Lecumberry says.

Related: What Is Dark Fantasy? We Asked Author Marianne Gordon to Break It Down

“The gothic feel, [of] wearing a big dress and running through the castle and it's cold and dark — that is exactly the feel that I'm looking for in a book,” she says. “It's all about magic and power, so it's escapism to the maximum.”

For Becca Freeman, author of The Christmas Orphans Club and co-host of the Bad on Paper podcast with Olivia Muenter, fall is the perfect time to dig into a long, meaty fantasy series. A few of Freeman’s favorites include the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing and the Zodiac Academy series by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. The author has also seen readers flocking toward cozier fantasy reads, like The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“You're staying home more, the days are shorter, and so it's a great time to get sucked into something,” Freeman says, adding, “I especially love getting into a fantasy series where all the books are already out, so you can just kind of go from one to the next.”

Related: Romantasy 101: Here's Where to Start Reading the Hottest Genre of 2024 (Exclusive)

A subgenre on the rise is “Sad Girl literature,” which, according to Penguin Random House, “can reveal the uglier side of womanhood and the obstacles that come with it.” Books like My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh and The Idiot by Elif Batuman often appear on reading lists, though the genre is tough to pin down. Sally Rooney’s highly-anticipated novel Intermezzo, which came out in September, was hailed as a must-read in the genre, though the author told The Guardian that she views her books as “quite optimistic.”

Freeman describes the genre as including "heavier tones and themes."

"I think a lot of books that I associate with that genre have to do with grief in some form or fashion," she says. "I think those big negative life experiences are kind of common to those books, and kind of processing the emotions around those experiences.” Some books she considers "Sad Girl literature" are Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason and Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.

Lecumberry notes that contemporary young adult novels can also be just as emotionally gutting. One of her favorites is the multiple award-winning LGBTQ+ YA novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire-Sáenz.

“They deal with depression or mental health and all these kinds of issues that we're dealing with,” Lecumberry says of the characters. “Even when we're adults, you don't truly grow up out of that.”

Related: Young Readers Need Books Featuring Mental Health Struggles: 'Story Is What Saved Me'

Freeman also notes that, sometimes, readers just need an uplifting story, and romance novels can be the perfect pick for the colder months.

“You have the built-in guarantee of a happily ever after, so you know there's the guardrail of however hard anything gets, it's going to be solved by the end,” Freeman explains. “As we have so much anxiety about the world, that guardrail is really alluring.”

“I feel like there's so much temptation to devalue it, especially because it's something that is packaged for women and frequently has a pink cover,” she adds. “But I think it is really a mirror to both our times and what many of its readers are grappling with on a day-to-day basis.” Some titles Freeman loves are Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes and When In Rome by Sarah Adams.

Freeman also notes that there's nothing wrong with reading books that aren’t necessarily new releases, either — no matter the time of year.

“I think there's so much pressure to read what are the big, important books, the big, buzzy literary books,” Freeman says. “I'm seeing more and more people, especially women, not being ashamed by what they're into.” She’s particularly looking forward to reading backlist books by authors like Rufi Thorpe, Joan Didion and James Baldwin.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

No matter what you decide to read, what’s important is that it’s enjoyable for you. As Lecumberry puts it, with books, “you just try to find that you're not alone in this world.”