After endless months of sticky summer humidity, the arrival of a blustery autumn can feel like the seasonal equivalent of a wellness retreat. It’s a time for jumpers, soups and books. Books! And yes, surely the best bit about autumn is that the drop in temperature means that flaking on plans is socially acceptable. Suddenly it’s OK to forgo all commitments, as nights spent sat outside a Späti are quickly swapped for evenings wrapped up with books and novels, and all kinds of stories. With that in mind, we’ve compiled our favourite autumn reads, from fiction to essays, non-fiction and photography.
Grand Union by Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton)
Five novels and two collection of essays into her career, Smith has now turned to short-form fiction with her recent release Grand Union. The glittering volume contains a mammoth nineteen short stories, allowing Smith to experiment in genre, style, location, characters, tone, form, quite literally everything. And—somewhat extraordinarily—each one is as good as the last. In the robust Grand Union, there is not a single weak link as Smith slickly pivots from comedy to speculative fiction with ease. It would feel like showing off if it wasn’t so readable.
Read if you likeA Death In The Family, and being reminded that Zadie Smith published White Teeth when she was still at university rendering you a comparative failure.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Penguin Random House)
No autumn reading list this year would be complete without Margaret Atwood’s triumphant return to speculative fiction. In the follow up to The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood is back in the dystopian land of Gilead, which, in 2019, feels distinctly less dystopian, and a lot more real. Where Atwood’s imagined military dictatorship (in which women have been stripped of their rights) was once only ‘loosely’ based on the United States of America, in the current Trump-era, Gilead seems all too familiar. Despite the nagging feeling that we are on the precipice of descending into Atwood’s variety of madness, The Testaments is an unsurprisingly excellent, and at times surprisingly hopeful, read. A masterfully plotted book which further cements Atwood’s position as one of the most urgent and inventive voices in literature.
Read if you like: Nineteen Eighty-Four, and any recently made documentary about 21st century politics.
The New Black Vanguard by Antwaun Sargent (Aperture)
The New Black Vanguard is a book to be celebrated as much as it is marveled at. The first, and long-awaited, book from writer Antwaun Sargent, The New Black Vanguard considers the past and future of fashion photography through the work of 15 black photographers. The result is a glorifying exploration into the art form and celebration of visionaries including many of SLEEK’s favourites such as Tyler Mitchell, Stephen Tayo, Ruth Ossai, and Nadine Ijewere. Sargent’s pages teem with both shrewd dissections on the fashion world and a selection of incredible imagery—important and beautiful in equal measure.
Read if you likeTyler Mitchell, and judging books by their exquisitely shot covers.
Sleeveless by Natasha Stagg (Semiotext(e))
Few people could elevate the thong to an object of poetry and academia, but Natasha Stagg is one of them. Her collection of essays and fiction Sleeveless is a fascinating look into the fashion and media world, as Stagg effortlessly and lyrically dissects topics from Sisqó’s ‘Thong Song’ to the #MeToo movement. A wry and cutting narrator, Stagg guides us through some of the industry’s most salacious and intriguing secrets. Reading Sleeveless is a bit like stealthily eavesdropping on a dinner party, only the guests are New York’s fashion elite.
Read if you likeTrick Mirror, and reframing gossip through a high-brow lens.
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead Books)
Jacqueline Woodson’s arresting novel is a lesson in quality over quantity. Writing in short, sparse sentences, Woodson manages to explore themes of motherhood, sexuality, race, family ties, and class in just under 200 pages. And still no part of Red at the Bone feels rushed or undercooked, as Woodson’s prose is filled with fleshed out characters and nuanced relationships. It is tempting to tear through Red at the Bone, but we think the book is best enjoyed slowly. A glimmering novel worth savouring.
Read if you likeBeloved, and quietly crying on your morning commute in between chapters.
Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison (Little, Brown)
Following up from her eviscerating exploration into alcoholism, The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath, Leslie Jamison is now returning to the form that made her a star: essays. Her 2014 debut collection The Empathy Exams was a millennial sensation, quickly establishing Jamison as one of the most honest and potent voices in contemporary memoir. Her latest work Make It Scream, Make It Burn, has all the incisive commentary of her debut, but marks a distinctly introspective shift for the author—Jamison darts around topics from her unique appreciation for Las Vegas’ to her history of romantic heartbreak.
Read if you likeFeel Free, and momentarily feeling like a brainiac as you nonchalantly peruse an essay collection.