The air is so crisp outside today and it's been raining. It smells amazing, but it makes me feel so melancholic. Fall is always a season of strong melancholy for me, with the year ending, nature going to sleep, the days getting darker and rainier, and it feels awful in the only way that also feels okay. It feels a bit inappropriate to go read upbeat stories of new things, openings, beginnings, or things where the seasons don't exist, like stories set on a spaceship or in cities that exist beyond nature.
I'm not looking for horror, or overly sad stories, melancholy isn't just sadness. It's a feeling of endings to me; it exists in that place where you realize something good is now over, and that's okay. What book captures that really well?
(Realistically I probably want something contemporary, something with relationships and/or something nature-themed, but light fantasy could work too?)
(Also it may not be fiction either, maybe poetry? Or essays? Or short stories?)
(Also preferably no books about death; there are other endings)
by Creator13
9 Comments
Sipsworth may fit the bill for you
The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells
These are both memoir manga but I think they capture loneliness very well.
– The Girl That Can’t Get A Girlfriend
– My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness (TW for this one it covers a lot of very triggering, graphic and uncomfortable topics )
Maybe “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman
Stoner by John Williams.
“Norwegian Wood” by Murakami, “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk”, and “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson
All wintry books (a season I associate with melancholy) that explore themes of loss, endings, etc
[The Book of Disquiet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Disquiet)
Kent Haruf! All of his books have this in spades and are beautifully written. He only wrote six so read them all!
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – not contemporary, but dripping with melancholy
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee; the author looks back at his childhood with nostalgia for a time and life that’s completely changed. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury has this too.
And for nature themed essays and poetry, I strongly recommend Kathleen Jamie (Cairn is her most recent and has poetry and snippets of prose, her older collections like Surfacing have longer essays) and Helen MacDonald – H is for Hawk is a beautiful book about losing her father while Vesper Flights is essays.
Mary Olivers poetry too.
(And it doesn’t fit any of your other prompts but man, Lord of the Rings has all the ‘loss of something beautiful’ feelings for me)
Sorry for the long reply – I love this feel too!
Me before you.