If you are anything like me, you understand that autumn is for the sad girls. The girls who let melancholic mood swings carry them through long walks, watching the leaves change colors, reminiscing and over thinking every past life event. These periods, I have found, are best coupled with writing in cafes, listening to Bon Ivor and Phoebe Bridgers, and reading the most delightfully depressing books. If you in any way relate to the sad girl autumn aesthetic, then this piece is for you. Here I have compiled a list of books I recommend reading on gray and dreary days as the leaves change and the air grows crisp.
- Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Ariel, and The Unabridged Journals
As the original sad girl, Sylvia Plath understands depression and melancholia like no other writer. From her poetry to prose to journal entries, Plath writes of living with insurmountable grief and despair, capturing the nuance of mental illness and the tenderness and light that can still appear even in the darkest of times. There are so many pieces of hers I could recommend but here I have settled on the big three: The Bell Jar, Ariel, and The Unabridged Journals. Each offers the reader something intricate and challenging to explore. The Bell Jar follows the story of Esther, a young woman navigating a life that is slowly crumbling under the weight of crippling mental illness. Ariel follows a poet through the intricate and complex pains that plague the human experience. And The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath give the reader a glimpse into the life of a writer, a mother, a wife, and a fragile woman living as deeply and fully as one can. Each book holds a special place in my heart. Sylvia Plath is a writer everyone should read, especially on dreary and cold autumn days.
2. Anne Sexton, The Complete Poems
One of the only collections of poetry I devoured in a single sitting, The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton is a must read this November. In her complete collection, Sexton explores grief, suffering, mortality, beauty, and reverie – stringing words together so delicately they float from the page. With an intensely readable and accessible writing style, Anne Sexton is the perfect poet for those looking to get into poetry this fall.
3. Mary Oliver, Thirst and Upstream
Another poet – because autumn is a time for poetry, in my opinion. A little less depressing than Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, Mary Oliver primarily writes about the beauty, power, and divinity of Nature. Her writing style is simple yet effective in capturing the magic of a quiet life and paying tribute to the trees, the flowers, the animals that make our existence here so special. My two Mary Oliver recommendations are Thirst, her poetry collection centered around grief, and Upstream, her collection of essays. Thirst is one of her later collections of poetry, centered around the author working through the grief and loss of losing her partner. Upstream details the quiet and intimate moments of her life in Providence Town, complete with endearing stories, meditations, and musing on nature, poetry, and companionship. Mary Oliver is a writer you read and feel like you know deeply. After reading almost all her work, I think of her as a dear friend. I believe her writing is meant to be enjoyed by all.
4. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
I would be remiss to not include a gothic novel in this sad girl autumn list, and Jane Eyre is the perfect autumnal read. Set in the desolate Northern English Countryside, Jane Eyre follows a young woman from Lowood Institution — a boarding school for poor and orphaned girls — into adulthood where she becomes employed at Thornfield Hall, to work as a governess for Mr. Edward Rochester, a brazen and lonely man. Following Jane as she discovers her independence, uncovers sinister secrets buried in Thornfield Hall, and awakens a powerful and unyielding love, Jane Eyre encapsulates everything gothic literature has to offer. A simultaneously eerie, powerful, and delightful novel, I cannot recommend enough.
And there you have it! A sad girl autumn literary starter pack. Happy melancholic reading!
