Like Steel Magnolia‘s Annelle Dupuy once said, “I like themes”. If it’s autumn, I’m going to be sipping a pumpkin spice latte wearing an orange sweater and reading something atmospheric and spooky, like Dracula. In winter I wear increasingly ridiculous thigh-high socks and reach for my lingering classic novels with meandering segues and complex class systems to celebrate my frost-born idleness. Come to me, Dickens! I’ve missed you, Anna Karenina! The chlorophyll-drenched tall days of summer find me settling in with short stories and novelettes, my favorite for the season being Ray Bradbury’s superb Dandelion Wine. I usually reach for light, fluffy, and embarrassing books too, enjoying romance novels about young succubi in love and corset-busting damsels.
But spring? What the hell do I do for spring?
I have no idea about spring. To my credit, I rarely experience the same spring as other people due to my ALL-CONSUMING SEASONAL ALLERGIES, spending the season surrounded by pillows of soggy Kleenex hating my life. This year promises not to be as bad as the others given my recent move out of Florida, and I realize that I am neglecting my theming! I don’t even know how to correct it.
So please, readers: what books or stories remind you of the fairest season? I read anything and everything.
Banjos and Bordeaux 
Wuthering Heights is a Springtime book for me. It is so full of terrifying energy. Perhaps it’s the whole untamed, /nature v civilization thing? Also last spring I read Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. That was unsettling. Maybe that’s what spring is? Uncertain? Unsettling? Young and unsure of itself.
Oooh, both are excellent suggestions! I’ve read the former but not the latter. Spring is definitely wobbly on its feet.
It occurs to me based on your suggestions that “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro might be a good selection as well.
I enjoyed The Paris Wife by Paula McLain which I read last spring at coffee shop patios, and my outdoor screened porch. Set largely in 1920’s Paris it is a great read if you enjoy historical fiction. It peeks into the life of Hadley, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife.
That sounds fascinating! I love historical fiction, and I remember seeing that book on several lists. I’ll add it to my e-reader.
Thank you for your suggestion!
Absolutely welcome! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
It’s kind of crazy; I don’t read within themes, and reading this really just brought that to life. But thinking about it, Jane Austen’s Emma strikes me as a spring-y novel.
If you want to go the route of the so-called “guilty pleasure” books, then the entire Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn is light, easy, and humorous reading. I tend to associate all Regency romances with spring, as they invariably take place then. They start with The Duke and I; my favorite is Romancing Mr. Bridgerton.
I love “Emma”, and haven’t read it in a while. Might be due for a reread!
I haven’t heard of those, but I will check them out! Thank you!
I unabashedly second the Bridgerton series and note that Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is, also, my favorite book. It might win the award for the book I have read the most times. Seriously.
I like a good intricate novel in the spring, and I recommend any of Kate Morton’s books, but The Secret Keeper and The Forgotten Garden are my two favorites.
Oooh! Okay! Well, I’ll definitely check them out now. 🙂 Thanks!
I’ve heard her name, but haven’t read anything by her. I will head on over to amazon later and get some goodies.