Seasonal reading

I am an avid reader. I always have reading material surrounding me....stacks of books by my bedside, books at work for my lunch breaks...books in the den, books in the car...I usually average 3 or 4 new ones per month and I re read my favorites every day. I can't help myself. Hello, my name is Jennifer, and I'm a bookaholic.....

For the past couple of years I've made an effort to match my reading material to the season of the year. Summer is for long trashy novels, childhood favorites, in general lighter fare. Which is all well and good, but my favorite reading is winter reading. And my favorite month for seasonal material is almost here. October!

I think the first part of the month is going to be devoted to gothic literature. I devoured Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White" last month (I got an early start!) in 4 days. And it's not a short novel by any means! I had a splitting headache for the last two days I was reading it, but it was totally worth it. I could not put that book down! I had to know what was happening! So I think I'm going to read some more Wilkie Collins in the upcoming week. He wrote plenty of short stories so that should be fun.

Last year at the beginning of October I listened to an audiobook during my work commute. It was Neil Gaiman reading his book "Fragile Things". I am a big Neil Gaiman fan, and I really enjoyed hearing all of those short stories read aloud by him. My favorite was "October in the Chair" which the author dedicated "to Ray Bradbury, who would have told it so much better than I did". I thought most of the stories were really good and I'll probably re read it this year.

October is going to be busy for me. The store I manage will be doing holiday transitions, which always require long hours. I think that must be why I'm drawn to quick reads this time of year. When November arrives, I'll be ready for longer novels again. By then we can start lighting the fireplace and I can cozy up in front of it, with a book and a blanket and a glass of wine. Heaven!