Have you ever picked up a book that sounds interesting and realized it’s set in the same month or even on the same day that you’re reading it? Talk about bookish serendipity! It gives me such delight. A few years ago, I picked up Daisy Darker on October 30th and was absolutely gleeful to find out it takes place over a particularly creepy Halloween weekend. Every time this happens I feel such nerdy joy, which has led me to make it a consistent reading habit.
Looking back, I read seasonally long before I realized it, gravitating to spine-tingling gothic literature in the fall, cozy heartfelt reads in the winter, love stories around Valentine’s Day, and fast-paced beach reads during summertime. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise since I adore seasonal watching, matching the television and movies we watch to the time of year. My husband Chad and I keep a shared Google document titled “Halloween yearly scary movies” where we track the mildly frightening stuff we watch in October. And don’t get me started on Christmas movies in December and romcoms in February.
I often refer to myself as a mood reader. While that is still partially true, once I began more in-depth tracking and reading reflection inspired by our MMD Book Club community, it became obvious that my “moods” are usually dependent on the season. Turns out my literary choices have always been clearly influenced by the calendar. Now that I am more aware, I love planning out my reading depending on the time of year. I keep the process simple by adding seasonal titles I want to read in my priority TBR list. To make it handy when I am out and about, the list lives in my iPhone’s Notes app and is broken down by month. Under October’s header, I already have Deja Brew, a fall-themed romance that begins on Halloween but when the main character wakes up the next day, it is magically October 1 again. Planning out my reading brings calming predictability and ease of choice to a world filled with so many books and too little time.
Another aspect that makes seasonal reading perfect for me is the atmospheric vibes it brings to my Florida life. Living in almost perpetual summer makes the change of seasons easy to overlook. Colorful fall leaves just aren’t a thing here, nor is snow a possibility. By leaning heavily into matching my books with the time of year, I can still enjoy the seasons and not take our ability to go to the beach every day for granted. If I hear about an eerie tale set in October, I will save the book until our local grocery stores start selling pumpkins and mums. I may not be big into decorating our home for the holidays but I make sure to visit the library to rent a huge stack of Christmas-themed romances and mysteries come December 1. Visiting the pages of these seasonal settings helps me immerse myself in wintertime even though the weather around me is hot and sunny.
Reading seasonally also builds bookish camaraderie: it makes my social heart happy. Many people have books they read at the same time each year or titles they save for just the right date. I thought 10 Blind Dates was a cute book but buddy reading it over Christmas break at the same time the book takes place made it even more fun. When my local in-person book club chose to read Oona Out of Order one January, we were all pleased to chat about New Year’s Day and how the start of a new year can be meaningful. One of my friends starts The Scorpion Races on the first day of November every year, just like the opening line; maybe this will be the year I finally join in with her.
In all honesty, these seasonal reading patterns occasionally backfire on me. It is slightly embarrassing to admit that I have meant to read Seven Days in June for years now and keep missing my chance. (What can I say? It’s June or nothing for that one!) Most recently, I fell behind while buddy reading Dracula Daily this summer. Now, there is nothing wrong with an occasional “Summerween” read or “Christmas In July” pick. (In fact, those have become their own little mini seasons in my book!) It was just TOO sunny to read about an old vampire named Dracula in a crumbling castle. Once the calendar got closer to fall, I was able to catch up and start sinking my teeth into the creepy classic again. Luckily, I am part of a few book clubs that usually choose picks coordinating with the season.
Reading seasonally has been one of the best discoveries I have made in my reading life: it is just so aesthetically pleasing to match the calendar date and my current reads.
I would love to hear from those of you who enjoy seasonal reading, those who don’t, and everything in between! Come share how you set up your calendar of reading in the comments below.
P.S. What Should I Read Next #411: Super-seasonal reading, all year long.
P.P.S. 31 spooky (but not too scary) books for your fall reading list, 20 books to cozy up with this winter, 11 books that are better in the spring, and 15 backlist books that feel like summer.
About the author
Brigid Misselhorn is our MMD Book Club Community Administrator. Her go-to genres are mystery, romance, and sci-fi. You can find Brigid on Instagram @brigid_emily.
48 comments
I nerded out and created a spreadsheet broken out by season of books on my tbr. For example, the fall sheet has columns for September, October, November, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. When I add a book to my tbr that is set at one of those times, I also add it to the spreadsheet. Having this resource makes it much easier for me to pick a seasonal title or two to read each month.
Haha I love this. Might have to try it — I have really started planning out things I want to read during different seasons but it’s a mental list right now!
Love this spreadsheet idea, Angela!
I can totally relate to this, Brigid! I, too, love to read books that match the seasons. It does give such a bookish thrill when things unintentionally work out!
Right, Jennifer? Such bookish kismet!
I seem to remember a whole WSIRN episode about this… 😉 (featuring yours truly! Haha)
Still loving seasonal reading 2 years later!
Love your episode Kim! https://modernmrsdarcy.com/411-episode/
Seasonal reading for the win!
I love this! I’m the same way. I save Christmas stories for December and love fall books in fall. It is probably along the lines of why I don’t like listening to Manic Monday on any day but Monday!
HA! Great point about that song.
I, too, love seasonal reading, especially spooky gothics around Halloween and frothy holiday rom-coms in November and December. I also love beachy summer reads while I’m reading poolside in the summer! I love the tip of creating lists set up by month or season to record titles as they come to my attention. I’m going to start that habit with this fall season and see how it goes!
Hope that tip works good for you, Melinda!
I love learning about all the ways to embrace seasonal reading! I have discovered I am most selective (aka picky) about books for the Fall but gaining insights to my other seasonal preferences.
Dejay Brew has been on TBR for a while, but I did not realize it was a perfect pick for October! I will definitely be picking it up this year! Thanks for sharing!
I can’t say that I make a concerted effort to read seasonally but I do find myself craving the “summer feeling “ a book will enhance in the height of summer. A book like The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova definitely adds to the enjoyment of an approaching Halloween, and a book like The Secret History is perfect for back to school when you’re well past the back to school stage of life!
I have been loving the Emma M. Lion series and have stopped reading to wait until the month catches up with the next volume, it’s much more fun to read in the same season as the volume is set and helps spread out the joy as I find them so charming and wonderful!
Lauren! What a fun tip about the Emma M Lion volumes. I haven’t started those yet but will keep that in mind.
I didn’t even realize seasonal reading was a thing, beyond Christmastime, until it came up in one of my online reading groups a few years ago. My brain latched onto it with a vengeance. While I’m still more a mood reader than a seasonal reader, I do try to match books that obviously fit a certain season to the appropriate reading time. I also very much relate to the problem of “missing my chance” to read a book and then waiting a whole year for the right season to come round again.
I am glad I am not the only one “missing my chance” when it comes to seasonal books!
Reading seasonally is the main way I can read things that are out of my romcom/romantasy go-to. After listening to an episode of the podcast that talked about some seasonal picks, I read The Bear and the Nightingale in the bitter cold of January (I’m in Canada) and oof that added to the book so well.
Oh that sounds like the perfect time of year for that book, Jess!
Brigid ………you are a great writer !
Awe, thank you Penelope! Glad you enjoyed reading.
I enjoyed your post! I like seasonal reads too. Although I still have some books set aside for Christmas that I never seem to get to, once the bustle of the holidays starts. Maybe this year. We have winter here in northern Virginia, and February can be long. Not as cold as farther north, but there are often stretches of sunless, gray days. Years ago I once spent February reading The Far Pavilions (anyone remember that oldie?) because the setting in India seemed so warm and sunny.
Definitely remember THE FAR PAVILIONS! Hot and simmering and dusty!
And that reminds me that I often like to read the OPPOSITE season–something to cool me down in summer and something to warm me in winter!
Another Floridian and I absolutely think our rather monotonous climate makes seasonal reading all that more appealing!! We NEED to have some evidence of the seasons, you know!? (Maybe esp if we didn’t grow up here – I’m from Philadelphia, def 4 distinct seasons there vs mayyyybe 2 wishy washy ones in SoFlo).
So true SHU! Especially the “mayyyybe 2 wishy-washy ones” Hahha!
I love this idea – I know exactly that feeling of bookish serendipity when you do so accidentally but I love being intentional about these choices. For the past couple of years, my husband and I have “buddy read” a spooky classic in October. We started with Dracula and then did Frankenstein – Rebecca is on the docket for next month. Other suggestions for this spooky reading tradition? And Brigid – you’re going to LOVE 7 Days in June (when the time is finally right)!
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury for October! It begins on October 24 and is SO atmospheric for that time of year. Not exactly “Halloween”, but definitely has some spookiness going on. Plus, there is a fantastic father/son relationship that I just adore – something that I hardly paid attention to when reading it as a teenager, but really impacted me when reading after I was a parent myself. Just love this book for October!
I’m reading “Something Wicked” in October! I tried to get my local book club to read it because we have read spooky classics for several years as our October book, but I wasn’t there on the night we made decisions for the year so I didn’t get to put in a good plug! I’m really looking forward to it.
I love serendipitously reading a book at the right season! I believe it was “Parable of the Sower” this year that began on Feb 24 — when I was reading it!
I have tried to read “Seasonally” for years.
I just read “The Year of the Witching,” and “A Dark and Secret Magic,” which would both be perfect for Halloween reading. I was a little early, but they were both library holds, so.. Especially “Dark and Secret” would be great for Halloween, b/c the action occurs during Halloween week.
Enjoy your fall reading!
I love reading seasonally! A few weeks ago a book that I had on hold at my library came in, Departure 37 by Scott Carson. I quickly discovered that it takes place on a specific date in October, so back to the library it went and I will check it out again soon so I can read in October. I have a super simple method to organize my seasonal reading. I still use a paper planner and at the beginning of it there are months views (before the more detailed week views). I use the month views to write in the date books are coming out that I am excited about, and in the space off to the side of the month, I write books I want to read that month. I don’t sit down and try to come up with them for each month. Rather, when I hear about books I want to add to my TBR, I go ahead and slot them in for a particular month rather than adding them to my large TBR IF it seems like it would be a good seasonal book and would be best read in a particular month. (School and college settings go in August or September, spooky stories in October, cold settings in Jan or Feb, etc) My only exception to seasonal reading is very occasionally wanting to read a cold book in the middle of a hot humid summer as an escape, or a sunny warm book during the darker colder days of winter.
This is a brilliant idea! I love it!
I wholly agree about sometimes reading ‘cold’ reads in the summer and beach reads in January when you need a change of setting.
Serendipitous seasonal reading is one of those things I never really gave intentional thought to but gives me joy. I love this post!
I agree with Hilary that this a great idea, Patti! Such a clever way to keep track of those seasonal reads.
Brigid, my discovery of seasonal reading made a huge improvement on my reading life. Mainly, it’s really made winter much more postive for me. I don’t hate winter, but in Boston it seems. to. go. on. too. long. LOL. But with winter weather adventure stories or historical fiction from people with less protection from the cold, I’m able to embrace the season, or at least take it in stride. And it adds joy to reading in Autumn, my favorite season. 🙂 Thanks for linking to these lists!
So glad it helps during those long winters, Dylan!
Just about every December, I read “The Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis. Some of my friends think this is a little dark. A time travel book where a British historian goes back in time, mistakenly, to a small English village at Christmas time, just when the bubonic plague strikes. Fascinating book.
I know what you mean. I’ve read it at least three times. Each time seems a little different. Odd that it’s something of a comforting book despite the subject matter.
Okay, maybe I’m alone in this, but I like *opposite* season reading. I learned this years (*cough* decades *cough*) ago when chaperoning a group of teenagers at a summer music camp. It was July in SC — sweltering heat and high humidity. The book I brought along happened to be James Michener’s “Alaska” and I *loved* it. Reading about glaciers forming and snow falling and freezing journeys across the tundra took me into a cold, icy place that felt great.
Of course it’s not for all my reading, but I do like a Christmas story in the middle of summer more than in December when they are everywhere. And reading about a summertime fling in cold rainy February helps remind me that warmer weather will come.
Elza, what a great point. Opposite season reading is totally a thing!
I happened to read How to Winter in the summer and it was definitely weird. Minnesota summers are warm and humid, though we are always mentally prepared for the “six months of winter.” Not recommended for Floridians but it’s a good book for those of us who live in places where winters can be cold and long.
It boosts the enjoyment for me to read in this way! My TBR is broken out by month, a few months ahead. Not only does this help me spread out and always have the next book or choice of books ready, but I can add in those very specific seasonal picks. Thanks for sharing!
I am the exact same way. I think this is why I’ve struggling so hard to get through the Onyx Storm audiobook all summer. I struggle with war-focused fantasy reads in general but it’s wayyyy too heavy a read for sunny days while wearing tshirts and shorts. On the flip side, I have put so many Falloween holds popping up at the library that I can’t keep up 😅😅
This makes total sense about Onyx Storm, Meagan!
I also like to read seasonally. Of course holiday stories during November and December started it. I wish I could find more stores centered around Thanksgiving. Same with movies (the few I’ve seen are not great, you know, the formula written romance, yuk! Or the deeply depressing Family Thanksgiving.) I adore scary movies at Halloween, my favorite is The Skeleton Key – deeply atmospheric with just the right amount of creepy factor without a lot of gore.
I just finished my annual reading along the timeline of
Rosamunde Pilcher’s September
which actually starts in May. https://www.instagram.com/p/DOtWnDOkcOv/?igsh=MXJuZWw3djhmd3lzOQ==
But my absolute favorite Rosamunde Pilcher is Winter Solstice. I have pages on my Google Calendar to remind what to read on what day.
This is so great, Annie! I have yet to read Rosamunde Pilcher and will have to try her books that way. And what a smart idea to have the pages in your Google Calendar!
Being a seasonal mood reader, I will definitely save certain books for the right season (or mood). I wish there was a list of what season other readers would recommend to read the books they’ve already read. Of course I am referring to those books that don’t have an obvious season associated with them. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune is an obvious summer romance but would anyone who has read Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall recommend it for fall, like the cover image suggests. I acknowledge that the season may not matter in most books but I’m curious about what season other readers would recommend for the books that have a definite seasonal vibe but is not clear in the title or storyline. Sounds like a good conversation topic for MMD Book Club.
I don’t know that I was always a seasonal reader, but I definitely am now and I wrote about it in today’s Reading This Week post. I took a hard turn toward “fall” books recently and it was very noticeable this week! My “seasons” include: Hallmark movie type books the whole month of December; chunky family sagas in January and February; lighter reads and romance in the summer; darker stories and books set in academia and even heavier nonfiction histories in September (it makes me feel like I’m going back to school!); light witch-y books and gothic/horror classics in October (Rebecca, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc). I use Google To-Do for my TBR lists; I can tag new entries with the month I want to read them and it is easily searchable that way. I do a monthly “wish list”, similar to a priority TBR, on the first of each month. Great post, Brigid!
In the fall book sneak peek podcast ANNE mentioned two books that are either set at Thanksgiving or have a Thanksgiving theme, but then I didn’t hear her say what they were. Does anyone know which two books on the fall book preview fit this description? thanks!
Wreck and The Irish Goodbye!
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