Autumn reads to fall for, according to Tulane literature experts

Don't let the heat index fool you. The fall season is officially upon us, and what better time to cozy up with a good book? As we looked for the right page-turner to help usher in autumn, we asked Tulane's literature experts to recommend their fall favorites and which books deserve to be read - or reread - right now.

Their selections range from classic to contemporary and from fiction to memoir. Some evoke the changing landscape and gathering darkness of fall; others capture the season's back-to-school energy or offer topical perspectives on modern American life.

Editor's note: Descriptions were developed based on responses from those featured.

Brian Edwards, dean of the School of Liberal Arts

"The Emperor of Gladness" by Ocean Vuong

Edwards says Vuong's latest novel offers both a compelling fall read and a timely connection to Tulane with the author scheduled to speak on the uptown campus next month.

Set in Connecticut, where Edwards grew up, "The Emperor of Gladness" begins in mid-September at a moment of despair before moving through sections titled "Fall," "Winter" and "Spring."

Edwards recommends the novel for "the poetry of its prose, the exploration of loneliness and found friendship, and the way Vuong centers individuals otherwise at the margins of American society."

The acclaimed author will visit Tulane on Thursday, Nov. 19, as part of the Carole Barnette Boudreaux Great Writers Series and International Education Week. The free public event will begin at 6 p.m. in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall at the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life.

Thomas Albrecht, professor of English and chair of the Department of English

"To Autumn" by John Keats

To celebrate the turning of the season and the beginning of nature's post-summer slumber, Albrecht selected a classic poem: John Keats' 1819 ode "To Autumn." In the poem, Keats captures the distinctive beauty of fall while treating the season as an image of approaching change, decline and death. He writes of the "maturing sun," the "soft-dying day" and fields transformed into "stubble-plains."

What Albrecht finds most powerful is that Keats simply observes and accepts the transience around him rather than suggesting that the power of poetry or human imagination could overcome it. The poem ends in the fleeting present, with lambs bleating, crickets singing, a robin whistling and swallows gathering in the sky.

"Nothing more, but also nothing less than that," Albrecht said. As people contemplate what he calls "the potential autumn of our humanity in the age of AI," the poem still holds meaning for the modern world.

Michelle Kohler, associate professor of English

"Tree of Knowledge: Poems" by Victoria Chang

A neighborhood eucalyptus tree cut down before its time becomes the starting point for Victoria Chang's "Tree of Knowledge," a collection of poems that Kohler describes as "gorgeous" and "haunting."

From the loss of the tree, Chang moves into explorations of other trees, other losses, natural and unnatural deaths, aging and art. The book also includes embroidered photo collages memorializing Chinese Americans who worked in California's lumber industry in the 19th century. A long poem examines their forced expulsion from Eureka, California, in 1885.

"Fall is a good season for trees; for reflecting on losses that haunt us; and for slowing down our attention to find new ways of seeing the world," Kohler said. Chang's strange and surprising poems, she added, create space for that seasonal work.

Michael Kuczynski, Pierce Butler Chair and professor of English

"The Journal of Henry David Thoreau" by Henry David Thoreau

Kuczynski turns to Henry David Thoreau's journals throughout the year, but they hold particular appeal as New Orleans waits for its first hint of fall.

Thoreau, best known for "Walden," recorded his observations of the natural world through every season. In his August entries, written in Massachusetts, autumn is already beginning to make itself felt.

Reading those passages helps Kuczynski weather New Orleans' nearly tropical Augusts. Sometimes, he admits, he skips ahead to the entries from September and October.

Kuczynski describes Thoreau as a prophet who "preached the gospel of respect for nature." At a time increasingly dominated by artificial experiences, including artificial intelligence, he believes Thoreau offers a reminder that remaining connected to nature can help people feel more at peace with themselves and the world.

"That's the kind of gift that only a good book can provide," he said.

T. R. Johnson, professor of English

"Suttree" by Cormac McCarthy

The bittersweet feeling of another year drawing to a close brings Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree" to mind for Johnson.

Set in the early 1950s in a city generally understood to be Knoxville, Tennessee, the long novel is, as Johnson describes it, "gorgeous," "sad" and "deeply poetic, but never sentimental."

"The soft, misty woodland colors of gold and red, the quietness and tiredness that the season brings, the sense of growing old and harvesting knowledge; all of that is here in abundance," Johnson said.

Johnson also finds the novel relevant to the present. Its clash between rural traditions and a dense urban landscape reflects some of the conflicts that continue to shape the United States.

Joel Dinerstein, professor of English and Sizeler Family Professor of Judaic Studies IV

"White Noise" by Don DeLillo

Dinerstein's selected novel begins with one of fall's most familiar rituals: students returning to college.

Don DeLillo's "White Noise" follows that opening with a darkly comic examination of consumerism, technology and family life. Along the way, college professors debate authenticity, cultural values and iconic figures.

Although published in 1985 - before the World Wide Web, smartphones and streaming - the novel has proved remarkably prophetic, Dinerstein said. "White Noise" anticipates current debates about pharmaceutical companies, media addiction, artificial realities and the growing power of personal data.

One of the novel's most telling lines comes when a medical technician informs the protagonist, "It just means you are the sum total of your data." That kind of observation, Dinerstein said, contributes to the novel's continuing exploration of belief, authority and conviction.

Z'étoile Imma, Michael S. Field Assistant Professor of English and Africana Studies

Three memoirs by Black women scholars

For Imma, the season calls for not one book but three: "Backtalker" by Kimberlé Crenshaw; "The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Family" by Dorothy Roberts; and "Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me" by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor.

The recently published memoirs are written by prominent Black women scholars whose work has helped shape several intersecting fields. Imma is intrigued by the ways the books take on the challenge of writing about the self and tell community stories through the perspectives of Black girls coming of age.

Having grown up in the Northeast, Imma associates autumn with back-to-school energy and what she calls the mood of "dark academia aesthetics."

"What better way to tap into that than to read and learn from the creative autobiographical work of brilliant scholars?" she said.

While rooted in the past, the memoirs speak to current realities and debates through deeply intimate perspectives.

"We all need to read books that surprise, inform, inspire and challenge us," Imma said.

Imma also recommended a fourth memoir, "Between the River and the Railroad Tracks," by Nicole Fleetwood, which will be available to the public Nov. 17.

Nghana Lewis, professor of English and Africana Studies

"The Last Suspicious Holdout" by Ladee Hubbard

Lewis recommends Ladee Hubbard's short-story collection "The Last Suspicious Holdout," which she describes as relaxing, enlightening and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

The collection brought Lewis back to her own college years at Tulane. Hubbard captures the sounds and experiences of the first hip-hop generation - those born after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 who came of age moving through increasingly integrated spaces.

Members of that generation benefited from the sacrifices of their parents and grandparents, Lewis said, but did not always fully recognize the struggles that made those opportunities possible or the importance of continuing to cultivate resistance and resilience for the next generation.

Although the collection was published several years ago, Lewis believes its blend of humor, reflection and historical awareness makes it a rewarding choice for fall.

Kate Adams, associate professor of English and Martha McCarty Kimmerling Chair in Women's Literature

"The Ink Truck" by William Kennedy

Adams suggests picking up William Kennedy's 1969 novel "The Ink Truck," which follows a newspaper strike that has dwindled to a single remaining picketer. Adams describes it as smart, beautifully written and funny.

It's a novel that captures both the changing of the seasons and characters undergoing personal seasons of change. As Kennedy's upstate New York setting turns colder, his characters move through a world that feels increasingly off-kilter.

Adams said that the novel's theme also makes it particularly appropriate for the start of fall, which occurs in the same month as Labor Day. And its focus on a failing newspaper also gives the decades-old novel unmistakable relevance to the current moment.

Thomas Beller, professor of English and director of creative writing

"A Washington Irving Sketch Book" by Phillip Lopate

Fall may be a writer's season, as cooler weather and shorter days begin to coax folks indoors. For Beller, the season brings to mind a book about the first American author known to make a living from writing: Phillip Lopate's "A Washington Irving Sketch Book."

Washington Irving, author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," was once the country's most popular writer - and its first internationally famous one. Lopate's account of Irving's life also opens a window into America and Europe in the early 19th century.

For Beller, much of the pleasure lies in Lopate's tone, which he describes as both "affable and astringent" - something readers can nestle into as they go along for the ride.

Beller also offers two bonus recommendations: Andrew Martin's novels "Early Work" and "Down Time." Readers with children or dogs nearby should exercise caution, he joked, because the books' sinuous, droll take on modern life may cause unexplained bursts of laughter.