Starr Struck's Fall Reading List

It's almost a new season (Friday is the official first day of Autumn, woot woot!) so you know what that means...it's time for a new seasonal reading list!

As usual, this fall's list is made up of a few books that I've read recently and a few that I haven't...here's what made the cut:

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: My good friend, author, + voracious reader Jessica Shuck has highly recommended this book to me multiple times and I {finally} just started reading it this past weekend.  It's about 8 motherless children with an alcoholic father in a rural, poverty-stricken town in Mississippi, and the story takes place in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. Although I'm only a few chapters in, I'm already mesmerized by the language, the setting, and the story.  
  
  
• One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul: I loved this collection of hilarious, honest essays by Scaachi Koul! They're all about growing up the daughter of Indian immigrants in Western culture, sexism, stereotypes, and "the universal mysteries of life." She had me laughing out loud many, many times while reading about her life. A great read if you're a personal essay aficionado, too (like yours truly).  
  
  

• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult: If Jodi Picoult wrote it, I'll probably like it. Her books are intense, enthralling, and at times, melodramatic, but they always draw me in and keep me interested until the very last page. This is her newest and I hear it's a must-read if you've enjoyed any of her other books...
  
  
• Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane: Oh my, WHAT A PAGE TURNER! This novel was so good. Lehane is the author of Mystic River and Shutter Island and this book was a similarly thrilling thriller ;) If you like twisted, mysterious novels with unexpected endings, you should definitely pick this one up. 
  
  
• White Fur by Jardine Libaire: This book has gotten a lot of critical acclaim and the description is right my up alley--"a fairy tale of love and class and money and death and New York City in the 1980's, as seen through eyes so new and so young that everything seems like magic all the time..." (from NPR's book review). Sold! It's on my list. 
  
  
• Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon: This book! I cannot say enough good things about it! It seems like I've been on a WWII-based historical fiction book kick for years, and every time I pick up another one I remember why I find books about this period so important and engrossing; despite the utterly horrifying historical backdrop of these novels, there is something so inspiring about stories of the human will to survive, to help others, and to fight against hatred and tyranny. This is one of the best books I've read in a while and I can't recommend it enough.
  
  

What's on your list this fall? Read anything recently that you recommend?

Happy reading, fellow book lovers!