Since indie bookstores are the lifeblood of Toronto’s lit scene, we asked five of the city’s beloved booksellers to share their favourite fall titles.
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we → ask → titles
Most of their recommendations are new books and some are older classics that capture the cosiness of fall reading season.
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that → capture → season
Your fall reading list starts here (and here and here too.).
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list → start → ?
The bookseller: Kai Yu, owner
“The author of ‘Pachinko’ is back with another big, absorbing family saga.
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author → absorb → saga
Yes, it’s 640 pages.
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it → ’ → ?
Yes, it’s worth it.
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it → ’ → ?
The book follows the Koh family after the 1997 IMF crisis knocks them off their feet, from Seoul to Sydney and finally Southern California, where all the kids end up working at the same prep academy while their parents figure out American life.
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parents → follow → life
It’s about immigration, about the enormous weight immigrant families place on education, and about growing up with your family split across oceans.
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families → ’ → oceans
It’s like reading about the kids I grew up with.”
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I → ’ → kids
“Start now, before Book 5 (of the series) comes out next month.
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Book → start → series
Tara Selter, an antiquarian bookseller, wakes up on November 18.
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Selter → wake → November
It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ without the jokes.
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It → ’ → jokes
The books are short and somehow you can’t put them down.
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you → put → them
It’s a whole seven-book series, a modern-day odyssey: one woman’s quest to reach November 19.
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It → ’ → November
And whatever you’re going through this fall, just remember it could be worse.
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it → go → whatever
You could be trapped in the same November day forever.”
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You → trap → day
“In this 1989 novel, Stevens, an aging English butler, takes his first-ever road trip to see Miss Kenton, a former colleague he cared about more than he’d ever admit.
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he → age → Kenton
Along the way he looks back on decades of service and all the things he never said.
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he → look → service
He also spends the drive practising ‘banter,’ which is exactly as funny and sad as it sounds.
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it → spend → banter
It’s a book about the autumn of a life, and I reread it most falls.
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I → ’ → it
The ending gets me every time.”
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ending → get → me
As the name suggests, Book Bar is both a bookstore and a place to grab a drink while you dive into your latest read.
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you → suggest → read
The bookseller: Kudakwashe Rutendo, bookseller
“This book just won the 2026 Hugo Award for the best novel, and though I read it before then I was not at all surprised to see it lauded in that way.
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it → win → way
At once probing institutions and the countries we are taught to serve, it illuminates so viscerally the malleability of the ‘national story’.
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it → probe → story
Part time-travel epic, part love story, I have never read anything like this.
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I → read → this
I think everyone deserves to.”
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everyone → think → ?
“This was a fantastic debut by a Canadian author, perfect for the reader craving gothic themes.
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This → crave → themes
Here, where playmates are crafted from the seasons, readers can wholly abandon the world around them.
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readers → craft → them
The novel encourages you to.
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novel → encourage → you
This is a story of creation, a story of loneliness, and one so thoroughly captivating that it will be devoured.”
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it → devour → loneliness
“I doubt there are many people left in Toronto who haven’t heard me talk about this book (published in 2024).
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me → doubt → 2024
I think short stories are the perfect kind of books to delve into in the fall — so easy to slip back into, like a well worn sweater.
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stories → think → sweater
This collection is set in Toronto and Nigeria and follows a series of characters (who sometimes re-emerge!) as they navigate failure.
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they → set → failure
It’s spooky season and what greater fear than the existential, of failing not only ourselves but those closest to us.
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It → ’ → us
Known for championing diverse voices and a particularly great kids section, this friendly spot is a Roncy booklovers’ staple.
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spot → know → voices
The booksellers: Anjula Gogia, manager and event co-ordinator, and Saul Freedman-Lawson, event co-ordinator
“Everyone should read ‘Housing Inc’ to understand the housing crisis on both the global and local scale.
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Everyone → read → scale
In her role at the United Nations, Leilani Farha visited homes worldwide, from Gaza to Lagos to Paris.
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Farha → visit → Paris
Housing Inc. unpacks how the privatization of housing impacts all of us, shaping our families, our communities, and our world.
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privatization → unpack → families
Toronto readers will recognize ourselves and our neighbours in these chapters.
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readers → recognize → chapters
Farha describes what’s at stake in the fight for home, and how community organizing and activism can lead us to a better future.”
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organizing → describe → future
…and 33 more, not listed.
The Aporia
