I’ve noticed that every year, around this time, this nebulous concept called “Summer Reading” pops up everywhere. My reading lists don’t fluctuate seasonally, but perhaps others’ do? If you’re a seasonal reader, how do you choose?
Here are some books that I’d slot in:
Autumn: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera – Changeable and complex, Kundera weaves together an incredible story of self and country. The obvious analogy here is richly colored autumn leaves, each leaf/page a vibrant variation on an original theme.
Winter: Headhunter by Timothy Findlay – Like winter, Headhunter is both beautiful and bleakly chilling at times: crystalline. It plays on concepts within high society, art, mental illness and epidemics, set within the occasionally wintery climes of Toronto, Canada. Sharp, like an icicle.
Spring: There is a Season: A Memoir in a Garden by Patrick Lane – Spring is the only season for this book, which focuses on the incredible life of poet Patrick Lane and the new beginning he finds as a recovering alcoholic. Full of life, growth and tenderness, like spring.
Summer: Mount Appetite by Bill Gaston – For me, summer is a time of distractions; there are lakes, camping trips, beaches, barbecues… It’s nice to have a book of short stories, something that can be put down and picked up between trips, each piece as warm and varied as the summer activites above. Mount Appetite does this brilliantly.
So that’s what I’d pick. If your reading list changes with the seasons, try these books out. Let me know how it turns out.
