Why Autumn Makes Us Want to Read More
There comes a point every year when you notice it.
Not necessarily because the calendar tells you autumn has arrived.
It's something smaller.
The light looks different.
The air feels cooler when you step outside.
A few leaves have begun gathering along the pavement.
And somewhere around half past seven, you suddenly realise it's getting dark.
Summer hasn't disappeared completely.
But something has shifted.
And for readers, that shift seems to come with a very particular urge.
Perhaps autumn gives us permission to slow down
Summer tends to pull us outwards.
Long evenings.
Gardens.
Days out.
Open windows.
That wonderful feeling that there's still plenty of day left even after dinner.
Autumn does something different.
It gradually draws us back in.
The evenings become shorter. The weather becomes less reliable. Suddenly staying home on a Sunday afternoon doesn't feel like wasting the day.
It feels rather lovely.
Perhaps that's part of the reason reading and autumn fit together so naturally.
A book doesn't ask us to go anywhere.
It simply asks us to stop.
Sit down.
Turn the page.
And stay for a while.
The weather helps
There are few sounds more satisfying when you're reading than rain when you don't actually have to go out in it.
Rain against a window.
Wind moving through the trees.
The occasional proper autumn downpour that makes everybody outside walk considerably faster.
Meanwhile, you're indoors with a book.
There is something deeply comforting about being sheltered while the weather carries on without you.
We've written before about why rainy days are made for good books, and autumn gives us rather more opportunities to put that theory into practice.
Not that we're complaining.
Our reading tastes seem to change too
Something curious happens to the books we reach for as the seasons change.
The light summer read that felt perfect in July can suddenly make way for something darker.
A mystery.
Historical fiction.
A gothic novel.
A psychological thriller.
A long family saga that requires several evenings and absolutely no intention of rushing through it.
Perhaps autumn makes us more willing to settle into a story.
Take The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd, for example. Its dark eighteenth-century London setting and historical crime feel very different when the evenings are drawing in than they might on a bright afternoon in June.
Then there's The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins — the sort of psychological suspense that lends itself rather well to an evening when the rain is tapping against the window and you've decided you're not going anywhere.
And if you'd rather disappear into history than murder and mystery, The Hotel on Place Vendôme by Tilar J. Mazzeo takes us into wartime Paris and the extraordinary world surrounding the Ritz.
Different books.
Different moods.
But all of them have that wonderful ability to make the world outside disappear for a while.
Autumn is wonderfully atmospheric
Perhaps that's why so many memorable stories seem particularly suited to this time of year.
Autumn already feels like a setting.
Mist.
Darkening skies.
Bare branches beginning to appear between the leaves.
Streetlights coming on earlier.
Footpaths covered in gold and copper.
Windows glowing warmly from inside houses.
Even an ordinary walk can suddenly feel like the opening scene of a novel.
There is atmosphere everywhere.
And atmosphere makes us want stories.
Then there are the comfort reads
Of course, autumn doesn't always make us want something dark and mysterious.
Sometimes it makes us want exactly the opposite.
A book we've read before.
An author we trust.
A story where we already know everybody and nothing can surprise us too badly.
These are the literary equivalent of pulling out the familiar blanket that's been tucked away since spring.
You know what you're getting.
And that's precisely why you want it.
There is no rule saying every book has to broaden your horizons or challenge your thinking.
Sometimes a book can simply make an evening nicer.
That is more than enough.
The reading pile starts looking tempting again
Most readers have one.
The pile.
Perhaps yours is beside the bed.
On a shelf.
Beside your favourite chair.
Possibly distributed throughout the house in several increasingly unstable formations.
Books you absolutely intend to read.
Eventually.
Autumn has a habit of making those neglected books look interesting again.
That enormous novel you didn't fancy starting during summer suddenly seems manageable.
The old paperback you picked up second-hand months ago gets another look.
The mystery you were saving for “later” finally reaches the top of the pile.
Maybe it's the longer evenings.
Maybe it's simply the change of season.
Either way, the unread books begin calling.
It's also a lovely time to discover something unexpected
And this is where second-hand books come into their own.
You don't necessarily need an autumn reading list.
You don't need the newest release or the book everybody on the internet is currently discussing.
Sometimes it's much more fun to browse and see what catches your eye.
A cover.
A title.
An author you've never tried.
Perhaps something completely outside your usual reading habits.
We talked recently about the “Oh-Go-On-Then Book” — the one you weren't planning to buy but somehow comes home with you anyway.
Autumn seems like an excellent season for a few of those.
Reading gives the darker evenings something to look forward to
It's easy to complain when the days start shortening.
At first, it feels slightly unfair.
Wasn't it light at this time approximately five minutes ago?
But perhaps the darker evenings bring something with them too.
They create space.
An evening doesn't always need to be filled.
There doesn't have to be somewhere to go or something productive to accomplish.
Sometimes you can simply decide:
And there is something rather luxurious about that.
Maybe autumn really is the reader's season
Every season has its own kind of reading.
Summer books taken to beaches and gardens.
Winter books read beneath blankets while the world outside goes quiet.
Spring books carried outside on the first unexpectedly warm afternoon.
But autumn sits somewhere beautifully in between.
The world hasn't closed down for winter yet.
There are still bright days.
Still walks.
Still sunshine.
But everything is beginning to soften.
The pace.
The light.
The evenings.
Perhaps we soften with it.
So pull out the blanket.
Find the book that's been waiting patiently on the shelf.
Try the mysterious second-hand paperback you bought months ago.
Or choose something completely unexpected.
Then find somewhere comfortable and let the evening do whatever it likes outside.
You've got somewhere else to be.
Wherever today finds you, I hope you find a story worth getting lost in.
The BookBuddies Team