Monday, August 26, 2013

Seasonal Reading

One of these days I will read enough books that I can post a review instead of just spouting off my thoughts about bookish topics that occur to me.  Today is not that day.  
 
 
As summer fades into fall, I find myself thinking about books I want to read in the coming weeks and months.  In a few weeks, we'll be doing a Top Ten Tuesday post about the books we plan on reading in the fall.  I'm not pre-empting that topic.  I know that a lot of people always participate in those because reading plans are fun to think about and I don't want to take away from that. 
 
Instead, I've been thinking about the WHY behind these reading choices of mine.  For instance, I always want to read something kind of spooky in October (Dracula, I believe, for this year); I think that fall is the ideal time to read Moby Dick; I gravitate towards Faulkner every spring; I think about reading Leaves of Grass every fall and every spring; and I want to read long epic works every summer.  Fall is also when I find myself wanting to finally take on (and stick with) the Rory Gilmore list, even though I am atrocious at sticking to lists.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who falls to the same topics on an annual basis.  But why do we do that?
 
OK, the spooky thing in October is pretty easy to explain.  We're trained to look for the spooky around that time of year because of Halloween.
 
But the other things...why should the temperature is outside or the upcoming holidays make me want to read this or that?  Does is have to do with the cover of the edition you have?  Does it have to do with the title?  Or is it perhaps the subject matter?  Or, maybe less specifically, do you find your reading habits or preferences changing over the season or do they pretty much remain constant?
 
Personally, I think it's all of the above.  My copy of Moby Dick has a really somber cover and it has red and that makes me think of fall.  Leaves and grass are emblems of fall and spring, respectively.  I think that in the summer I imagine a version of my life where I have tons of free time to do nothing but read all day.  That never happens.  My reading stays pretty constant throughout the year, despite my best efforts to read more at different times, like during the summer or over Christmas break.  And the Gilmore Girls thing...maybe it's because the fall is when I am at my most organized with the new school year, so I think about organizing my reading as well.  The Faulkner thing is purely inexplicable.
 
What about you?

11 comments:

  1. I think around the fall/winter I want to read cozy/murder mysteries, paranormal, etc. The spring/summer months I want to read epics or contemporaries. But then I find myself having certain moods during these seasons and read things that have absolutely nothing to do with the season or don't fit within those above mentioned genres. One thing for sure...I have to read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice at least once a year but the time of year doesn't necessarily matter.

    Great Post!

    Wendy @ Escape Into Fiction

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  2. I don't typically choose my books based on the season, but I'd be curious to go over my Goodreads bookshelves for the past few years and see if there are any patterns. Maybe the seasons do affect my reading choices after all, and I don't even realize it.

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  3. I always want to read books with a Christmas theme in the winter (I try to wait until at least after Thanksgiving!). And then in the summer, I love to read anything set near the beach.

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  4. To be honest, I can never stick to a theme for any season. I think that I want to read summery books during the summer but I always end up reading more fantasy/action/paranormal you name it. But I would love to be able to make a theme for myself and read books in that genre or with the same undertone. Good luck with your reading!

    -Mari @ The Sirenic Codex

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  5. Lol. I could never get into the whole seasons thing. I just read what I read, when I read it.
    Happy reading
    Jackie

    http://www.nobentspines.blogspot.com/

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  7. I think part of the fall thing might be that after the summer, I expect to be home more and have more time to devote to more serious reading. And even though I have been out of school for a while, there is still that idea of getting back to work and challenging oneself a bit more as part of the new school year ... Right now, my only goal is to try and read the majority of the new books I bought this year before January.

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  8. Interesting post! I'm very much a seasonal reader. Like you I want to read horror/mystery/detective novels in the fall (I'll also be reading Dracula this year) while in the spring/summer I tend to go for lighter books. For me it's just natural that certain books have a typical "seasonal feel" to them. I think it's also about the time period because I find that I'm more likely to read older books in the fall/winter and more modern ones in the spring/summer. It's hard to explain why that is though!

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  9. Interesting post! I'm very much a seasonal reader. Like you I want to read horror/mystery/detective novels in the fall (I'll also be reading Dracula this year) while in the spring/summer I tend to go for lighter books. For me it's just natural that certain books have a typical "seasonal feel" to them. It's also about the time period because I find that I'm more likely to read older books in the fall/winter and more modern ones in the spring/summer. It's hard to explain why that is though!

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  10. I've noticed this, too. With each season I tend to add a certain book to my TBR solely based on the weather outside. During autumn I like to read Gothic novels - the dark, heavy atmosphere sprinkled with some supernatural here and there simply fits the season. During winter I particularly enjoy the fantasy genre. In spring I like inspiring, youthful, romance novels mostly because that's how spring makes me feel. I don't have preferences for summer though. That's the weird time of the year, I guess.


    Mada Sch @ All Fantasy Worlds

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  11. I feel the same way. I find myself reading lighter reads, more YA, books about summer flings, etc. in the summer. Come fall and winter I am reading more classics, longer books (like epic/high fantasies), and gravitating towards biographies. Something about all that snow and being indoors so much that feels 'heavier' and it shows in my reading!

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