Seasonal Reading: Updates and Discussion

Posted April 11, 2019 / Discussions, Features / 7 Comments

I’ve talked at great lengths about how I read very seasonally. (I wrote a TTT post and a discussion post about a seasonal book club I’d create!) I read Christmas/holiday/winter books during that season, super summery/beachy books during that time of year, and a decent amount of other books in between. After reading Stephanie’s discussion about reading holiday books during other times of the year, I thought I’d revisit this topic and discuss how I maaaay have gotten even pickier about this LOL.

Fall Reads

September

Let’s kick this off with my favorite month of the year! Books about football will be read during this month, of course, if I happen to find any appropriate ones! This is a niche topic but the start of football season brings on ALL the feels for me. I also will try to read books about schools or new school years starting up during September since it brings me back to those days of my life. Anything school-heavy (especially boarding school) will probably get read here.

Pictures: books about school (2/3 of them), all of them about football!

October

I don’t read a lot of super scary books, but generally spooky stories (especially mysteries, thrillers, Halloween-themed, and very light horror-ish books) will be read in October. I don’t lean in on this like many of my blogging friends do, but it certainly happens for me. I like atmospheric fall-time reads in October for sure – something that makes me feel the chill in the air and the slow shift toward winter.

Pictured: atmospheric falltime, Halloween, or generally spooky reads 

November

The beginning of holiday reading for me! I tend to read the lighter holiday romances, where the holiday season is a PART of the story but not necessarily the point of it. The super Christmassy books end up being hoarded in December, with the best authors and series being read RIGHT around the week of Christmas. If I’m not reading a holiday book in November, I’m probably reading books to catch up on my yearly challenges, since December is a bad month for non-holiday reads! Sometimes I also read fantasy books when the weather gets cooler, as I’m more likely to stay in and sink into the book.

Pictured: challenge books to finish off the 2018 Popsugar Challenge

Winter Reads

December

As I said, December is the ultimate holiday reading month for me. I read books about Christmas mostly but will also try to get Hanukkah and eventually New Years books, if possible. Last minute challenge books will also be finalized during this month. I’ll read about 10 books or more in December, with the split being probably 7-8 holiday books and 2-3 non-Christmas books. YOLO.

Pictured: holiday reads hoarded for December due to their super Christmassy-ness

January

I like to say that I read more fantasy books in the winter but I’m not sure that this is true. January is usually centered around the excitement for a new year of reading and making early progress on challenges. This means, sometimes, reading a few novellas or graphic novels to be sure I pull ahead on my Goodreads challenge early. I try to read according to how I want to start my year. The first book I pick for the year is VERY important to me. I’ve made it an Emma Mills book for the past two years and hope I can manage to do it again every year. In addition to all that good stuff, I usually end up catching up on egalleys/review copies. When holiday books roll in and the next year comes, I’m shocked by how many review copies I have for January already that I wasn’t able to read ahead of time. Whoops. My reading commitments and “required reading” things always catch me off guard.

Pictured: first book of the year choice and two blog tour review copies to catch up on ASAP

February

This is a grab bag kind of month for me that can essentially fall into three categories: romance, fantasy, and mysteries. I try to read some cute contemporary romances during February, especially around actual Valentine’s Day. I may read fantasy books that I put off from the previous year (or have new releases of!) as well as mysteries (no real reason, I just end up in the mood!). I’m usually still riding high and continuing to get ahead on challenges when the year still feels fresh. The shortness of the month messes with me and makes my reading feel like a free-for-all with no real theme.

Pictured: grab bag of fantasy, contemporary, and mystery

Spring Reads

March

March is similar to February in that there’s not quite as much of a theme to it. If I happen to have books set during the spring or cute books with floral covers, I will probably read them in this month! I have a lot of my usual light and fluffy contemporary reading during the month, as well as a few darker contemporaries and even some fantasy/mystery books, depending on my mood. I usually start to get the itch for some kind of challenge, whether it’s “I’m going to read a lot of physical ARCs this month” or “I’ll catch up on my egalleys” or “I need to read backlist books” … I find a way to challenge myself.

Pictured: March reads from this year – contemporaries, spring-themed, and slightly darker story

April

The same goes for April: I will end up challenging myself to somewhat of an ARC April (like the ARC August I always participate in!). I focus on a lot of review copies because I need to catch up on books I missed and get ahead for other review copies. I don’t read according to due date quite as much as others and will read highly anticipated ARCs publishing in the summer during the early spring instead.

Pictured: books I read in April for review in 2018

May

I start to get REALLY into the warm-weather mood by reading fluffy contemporaries pretty much the whole time? I also will begin plotting out my summertime reads and books centered around beach/lake towns. I will usually save these for June through August, but I always have to whet my appetite during May! The warm weather finally joined us here in New England and is likely to stay. Last year, I read 9 contemporaries in May… out of 12 books read. Yeah, it’s a fluff month for me!

Pictured: cute contemporaries read in May, including one that feels summery

Summer Reads

June & July

Like winter, summer is a top month for me to read season-specific books. I’ll be reading so many stories set in beach towns or about summer romances. There’s really no discernable difference between June and July reads so I lumped them together here. There will be plenty of contemporaries and probably virtually zero heavy books during these months. I keep it super light. Like… not even heavy contemporaries will be here, let alone fantasy/paranormal/mysteries/etc.

Pictured: summertime reads

August

I definitely try to squeeze in books set in the summertime, especially “last summer” books before college during August. It’s when I realize I haven’t read nearly enough books set in beach towns too; it’s my last chance for summer romance/flings and trips overseas. I like reading fluffy books still and like I said, a lot of these involve summer heading into fall (like back to school).

Pictured: books set in beach towns and warm climates


Do you read seasonally, or even monthly like I do?!

7 responses to “Seasonal Reading: Updates and Discussion

  1. Amy

    This is very interesting. I don’t tend to tailor my reads by the season. The only exception is the holiday-themed reads I try to sneak in around November/December. I am a huge mood reader though. When I want to read a specific genre or a specific trope, that’s literally all I’ll read until I’m tired of it.

    • Interesting! I’m a mood reader too but clearly mine tend to align based on seasons or feelings at the time. I tend to vary my reading SO MUCH and don’t even like to read the same author twice in a row, unless I’m binge-reading a series.

  2. I love this so much! I would really like to try and do it but one thing I know about myself is that if I try to make reading plans I’ll end up ignoring them. 🙁 That’s my particular messed up mood thing.

    I’m so glad this works for you. It really is a great plan! And it seems to get in all your wants during the year. (P.S. I love RaeAnne Thayne too!)

    Stephanie @ Once Upon a Chapter recently posted: Blogging Ta Da {1}

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