Does the smell of sunscreen versus the warm crackling in the fireplace alter your reading habits?

I am quite interested to know your answer.

During the months of hot sun and swimming pools I am drawn towards books about summer. Stories of summer camps, summer vacations, black-market lemonade dealers, or anything with a bright and summery cover are books I am likely to read during the annual season of suffocating heat.

In contrast, my grandma chooses books that contrast current seasonal changes. She would rather tuck a book of hot sunshine into her coat pocket than her swim bag.

I am a seasonal reader to my core. Not only that, but I pick books based on what activity I will be engaged in while reading them. If I’m going to the ocean I will be packing books set at beaches, on the open ocean, or in the deeps with the fishes.

A camping trip? Give me a story of wilderness disaster please.

And the same is true for every season! I am anxiously anticipating the arival of septermber and October when I will break open the scary stories again. And this hunting season I will probably most likely read the next couple books in a series my dad and I both enjoy, simply because they are about a game warden during hunting season. Don’t even get me started on Christmas.

I often times don’t even think about my literarry-seasonal choices. Actually, that last sentence is a little bit untrue. If I’m going away somewhere I stress about what to bring for so long and I fully embrace my need to have a book that matches my own setting.

I like that reading a book about summer in summer makes me feel like I’m part of the story. When a character is in agonizing pain due to a defeated battle with the UV rays, I close the book for a minute to go in search of another tissue box (to commiserate) and a bottle of aloe (because I look like a lobster). I can so fully relate to the characters that I almost start to think I am one of the characters. (And just now I realized I legitimately might be insane.)

I also find that when I’m reading a book out of season, I tend to start longing for something else. If I were to read a book about springtime right now I might actually go into a state of deep despair for the long wait until next April. So instead, a go in search of a new book about weather so hot that airport runways are actually melting, and I take it as a chance to live in the moment.

This is not to say that anyone’s seasonal reading choices are wrong.

I love getting to know why people read what they read. So tell me, if you are an inverted seasonal reader, what is it about a snowstorm that appeals to you in the summertime? Is lemonade in the winter refreshing or cozy?

XOXO, Jess