Autumn Reads
Dear Reader,
Do you ever do seasonal reading? This can be the re-reading of particular books or selections from certain genres of writing.
In many cases, people will have seasonal poems they like to read. But I don’t wish to restrict the idea of seasonal readings to poetry alone. (Although I do love how Cricket Magazine will offer splendid little poems in relation to the season, and I am not overlooking seasonal poems in general. I simply think that’s already the first sort of reading that pops into mind when one thinks of seasonal reading.)
Seasonal reading can be thematic in relation to specific holidays or religious practices, and these two can obviously overlap. (Of some curiosity, many Victorian ghost tales are set not at Halloween but instead on Christmas Eve. This curiosity makes me ever so happy, not least because it presents quite the assortment of December 24th possibilities. And they aren’t all Victorian ghost tales: one of my favorite ever Norwegian folktales is also set on Christmas Eve.)
For Hannukah each year, I get to read Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins, because goblins. I like how that one bobs up against the December 24th assembly of ghost tales. Something spooky about December, I guess. (December is technically still fall until the 21st, at least by some methods of splitting up the seasons, so it’s on the line for autumn and winter reads.)
There are a few other books that I’ll read each season, but I must admit that I’m not great about having regular autumnal reads. My re-reading habit tends to be more whimsical than regular, but I’m considering a change to that practice. Perhaps there’s something to be said for regular seasonal re-reads. Many of my favorite authors had such practices.
While I don’t have set books (or essays or short stories) that I re-read during most seasons, I do have a selection of genres I like to read. Since we switched to fall, I’ve been reading through a most excellent translation Norwegian folktales by Tiina Nunnally.
I enjoy the fall reading of fairy, folk, and other such tales. And such reading takes me into winter. I don’t read as much of it in the spring or summer, though it’s not a universal rule. Yet I’ve literally saved reads since the spring for this fall. (I’ve also had the good fortune of having two books that I’m terribly excited to read whose release date fell in the fall. I’m perfectly tickled.)
But those sorts of tales aren’t my sole fall reads. Indeed, they make up a small portion of my autumn selections. They are, however, the first that spring to mind for me. Among other fall selections for me is The Great Endarkmenment, which I think a splendid choice for a season of increasing darkness. (Too on the nose? Eh, I’m not that sophisticated. And I’ve been wanting to read this book. This is as good a method as any to force myself to open it in truth.)
I find it harder to uncover good nonfiction seasonal reads, but they exist, as the above work suggests.
So, what do you think? Do you ever partake in seasonal reading, whether related to individual holidays or changing weather patterns? Do you have specifically autumnal reads? I’ll note that your answer doesn’t have to be about whether you’ve ever consciously planned out reading for autumn. Perhaps some favorites just seem to appear.
Happy reading to you,
Kreigh
P.S. I am about to start one book that I typically wouldn’t consider as a fall read. I’m reading Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage, which has always struck me as a spring or summer read. But I’ve got a student getting after it, and so that one’s added to my list. As I’m finishing up Dreams of El Dorado by H.W. Brands, it makes for a good paired read.