Five Fall Favorites 2026 – Day 1 (Books I’ve Recommended)

by Kellyn Roth |

September 22, 2025

Five Fall Favorites is here, and most of you probably know what that is. It’s a bunch of bloggers getting together to share about their favorite books for a week! And here I am, joining them! (It’s hosted by Once Upon an Ordinary and Read Another Page!)

I know, I know. You’ve not seen me doing Five Fall Favorites since … *does a quick search* Uhhh … 2017?

For those of you who are like, “Kell has never done Five Fall Favorites!” Yeah, that’s right. Back in 2017, I was a part of Five Fall Favorites. See my intro post here. See? Proof is in the linking! Actually, I did it in 2016, too, so I was ~there from the beginning~ but after that …

Then I went, “Well, I’m not a fall person. At all. So will people think I’m lying if I do an autumnal activity? Will people think I’m a fraud? WILL THEY HATE ME? I DON’T WANT TO BE HATED! AAAAH!”

Spoiler alert: no one cares. It’s okay for me to not love autumn and still participate in Five Fall Favorites.

But regardless, I decided it was time. Why? I don’t know. I just wanted to talk about books. As someone who has little time for reading anymore, talking about books can be … fraught … for me. Embarrassing, one might even say. It makes me feel like a fraud!

But I do read … mostly, I just reread every book I’ve ever read before that I enjoyed, and then, when I’m done with that, I also read a lot for work and start a lot of books and don’t finish them. So most of the books I read (and am recommending this week!) are classics, not newer novels.

That doesn’t make me seem less like a fraud, but hey, I … don’t care.

I STILL WANT TO TALK ABOUT BOOKS.

SO THERE.

Today is about books I’ve recommended, so let’s talk about that!

Books I’ve Recommended

Emma by Jane Austen

Of course, I recommend Emma all the time! It’s my favorite Austen novel, and it’s just. so. good. I cannot describe what a hilarious, enjoyable, heartwarming story it is. Though not for everyone (as some people just don’t seem to get it – especially those who don’t like heroines with a little more spice than sweetness), it’s definitely a classic for a reason.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

I am forever recommending this novel! Anne is at her most talented here, and though it is in some ways a “Gothic drama,” it’s a seriously underrated novel comparable to the other sisters’ more popular novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. It does have some insane moments (GILBERT I TRUSTED YOU FOR HALF A SECOND AND YOU DID WHAT?!), but like all the Brontë novels, it’s both progressive and problematic, and you have to acknowledge them both.

That said, it’s not “Hi, I’m Edward, and my wife is locked in the attic, and this is a child who I got … somehow (you know how don’t make me say it) … and this is my girlfriend, Blanche; I love her; I adore her; I will marry her; whoops, I was just kidding; anyway, want to get married?”

So … progress?

The Betsy-Tacy Series by Maud Hart Lovelace

I don’t hear a lot of people talking about Betsy-Tacy anymore, but I recommend this series to anyone who will listen! (As a sidenote, I even got to visit the author’s childhood home in Mankato, which was so fun!) This series grows up with you. The first several novels are children’s fiction, and by the end, the last few are geared more toward what I’d call a “new adult” audience. I’m only sad the author didn’t choose to continue the series!

Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter

I always think everyone should read Freckles at least once in their teenagerhood ~~if only to realize how subtle eugenics can be and how prevalent it was~~ I MEAN, if only to enjoy the drama! YES! THE DRAMA AND THE TRAUMA! THE DRAMA AND THE TRAUMA IS ALL THAT HAPPENS IN FRECKLES. There is only drama and trauma. As long as we ignore EVERYTHING ELSE, this is a very fun read.

But seriously, I do think it’s fun, but it’s tragically underdiscussed! And it’s not ANY MORE racist than, like, I don’t know, Wuthering Heights.

~~I’m sorry, this is becoming the “bash Emily and Charlotte hour” which is not what I intended~~

As such, I decided to make a meme since I couldn’t find one:

I am so sorry.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Ah, yes. Controvery.

Okay, so, hear me out. This book is a racist and deeply inaccurate (in terms of how the characters understand the world) product of its time, and it also features the most toxic romance you’ve ever experienced in your life (to the point where, once again, I ask you if we can call it a romance??), but I DO RECOMMEND IT.

I feel like this is the novel that really helped me understand a lot of things about that period in history that just seemed so obvious to me, and it also helped me understand myself a little better as a woman who was … um, not Melly Wilkes.

BUT it also helped me understand women who are like Melly Wilkes, too, and made me feel a little more like her. (And as a sidenote, I want to both be Melly and have a Melly in my life; I adore that woman.)

I’ll stop.

And move on.

But also, if you haven’t seen Went with the Wind, please see Went with the Wind.