V.E. Schwab’s star in the fantasy community continues to rise, with her latest, “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” (Oct. 6). Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy is one of my bookselling colleague’s favorites, and is soon to be turned into a movie.

In Schwab’s lovely new novel, Addie LaRue makes a desperate choice that changes her life forever: it’s 1714 in France, and Addie has made a pact with the devil to live forever. What’s the catch? She is cursed to be forgotten by everyone who meets her. Three hundred years later, Addie has done just about everything she can think of to leave her mark on a world that can never know her, when she stumbles upon a young man in (of course) a bookshop who remembers her name. In that precious moment, everything changes.

Halloween is not the only holiday we celebrate this time of year, of course. The Day of the Dead, celebrated by many European and Latin American countries but most popularly in Mexico, starts Oct. 31 and ends Nov. 2. In recent years, this holiday’s unique, lush aesthetic as well as its beautiful sentiment honoring the dead and our ancestors, has enchanted many and inspired artists of all kinds. (Did you all cry as much as I did watching the Pixar movie “Coco”?)

Clarisa Moura’s “Day of the Dead: Artists, Makeup, Rituals, and Tattoos” (Oct. 31) collects images from around the world of contemporary artists who are reinterpreting the colorful imagery of this holiday. The vibrant masks and body art make this a stunning and exotic coffee table book, while the attractive $24.95 price makes it accessible to all.