It is currently halfway through October, making it prime Spooky Season in my eyes. I haven’t read as many seasonally appropriate books as I’d like, though. The books listed in “20+ Books That Are Perfect for Autumn: 2025 Edition” are only a tiny fraction of the fall books on my TBR (to-be-read list). Realistically, I understand there’s no way I’ll be able to read all of them, or even most of them, so that presents a dilemma.
Which books do I read?
To help me decide this dilemma, I’ve decided to use the tried-and-true method of a TBR Jar, filled with random prompts to make me choose a smaller list of books to read this fall. I was able to find a cute glass jar, but you can genuinely use anything as long as it fits the prompts inside and you can shake it easily. For the prompts themselves, you can get creative and come up with your own or use online ones for inspiration. When you’re picking prompts, be sure to give yourself enough of them that you’ll have plenty of possibilities but be careful not to add any that you would be disappointed getting. I’ve put the ones I’m using below!
- a classic novel that you haven’t read yet
- (sidenote: I added this specifically so I wouldn’t give in to my urge to re-read Frankenstein or Dracula)
- a book that has been adapted into a movie (or will be soon)
- (sidenote: I added this specifically so I could re-read Frankenstein or Dracula; it would be fate at this point)
- a book with “murder” in the title
- a book that you’ve previously given 5 stars
- a book that you’ve purchased this month
- a nonfiction book
- a book with the color green on the cover
- a book with a number in the title
- a book with a house on the cover
- a book with a name in the title
- a book by Stephen King
- (sidenote: There are so many of them, and I own them all because I’m a little insane)
- a book with a person on the cover
- a fantasy book that you’ve owned for longer than a year
- a book with the color blue on the cover
- text a friend and have them pick one
- a book longer than 500 pages
- a book shorter than 300 pages
- a translated novel
- a book with dark academia vibes
- a book with a location in the title
- a book with the color yellow on the cover
- a book with vampires
- a cozy fantasy novel
- a book from an author you’ve never read before
- a book from an author of at least 5 books you own
With that decided, I turned on some fun music and sat down to write them all on little slips of paper. Feel free to abbreviate as necessary – the smaller the pieces of paper are, the better they’ll mix when you shake them up! Once they’re all written out, fold them small and add them to the jar, or whatever you’re using.
From there, just pick a number for how many books you want on your new TBR list. There are tragically only a couple months left of the fall season as I’m writing this, so I’m only going to choose five prompts from the jar. I’m a mood reader with a crazy schedule, so I could read all of them in a weekend or only get through two of them – we’ll see how it goes!
Pull one prompt from the jar for each book you want to add to your new TBR, shaking the jar thoroughly between each pick. These are the prompts I got!
- a nonfiction book
- It feels a little hilarious that this is the first prompt I pull, given how infrequently I read nonfiction books. I’ve been saying that I need to read them more, though, so here’s my opportunity! The first thing to come to mind was something related to the witch trials, followed closely by something related to football — two very different vibes. Given my continued obsession with football, though, I’m going to go with Why We Love Football by Joe Posnanski!
- a book that has been adapted into a movie (or will be soon)
- That’s fate if I’ve ever seen it! I’m tempted to go with Dracula by Bram Stoker, but I’m going to go with Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Guillermo del Toro directed a new movie adaptation for Netflix, and it’s set to release in November 2025. It will be really fun to re-read the book and then compare it to its newest adaptation!
- a book with vampires
- I was really hoping that I would get this prompt! Spooky season is the best time for vampire books to me. The only thing is — I own a lot of vampire books, with a lot of different vibes. I feel like I’ll enjoy a darker theme, though, so I’m going to go with Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. I’ve been eyeing that book for a long time, but I haven’t picked it up yet, so it’s long overdue!
- a book that you’ve purchased this month
- Despite my efforts to slow down the number of books that I purchase, I have plenty of options for this prompt. I was able to visit a couple of indie bookstores this month, so I couldn’t leave without purchasing something, of course. One of those purchases was Alchemised by SenLinYu, and that’s what I’m going with for this prompt! There’s a lot of buzz online for it and I’m really curious how I’ll like it. I’ve seen the reactions, so I already have a tissue box ready.
- a book with “murder” in the title
- It is either really funny or really concerning how many options I have for this prompt. I’m going to take it as an opportunity to read a book that I’ve been putting off for a while – The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I picked up a copy back when it was initially getting popular because I loved (and still love) the premise of a group of retired people getting together and solving a murder mystery. Now, though, it’s a multiple-book series and it’s also been recently adapted into a movie by Netflix, who is very much on a roll with adaptations. I think it will be a fun, cozy read!
This has trimmed down my TBR a lot, which is great for my brain and makes it a lot more likely for me to actually pick these up. I’m looking forward to my reading this fall!
Thank you for exploring with us! Until next time, may the pages and paths ahead of you be great.
