25th September, 2019
Bookish Stuff: Autumn is here! What are your autumn reading traditions?
Yes! Autumn is finally here - my very favourite of all the seasons. I love the smells of leaves, earth and bonfires. I adore the colours, and I'm particularly partial to stormy nights, preferably with a hot drink and a book by my side. 
I'm not really a "seasonal" reader, meaning I don't necessarily read typical beach reads in the summer or Christmassy books in December. What I do like though is putting lots of creepy books on my October TBR. I'm not even sure what it is, possibly the fact that Halloween is just around the corner, but October is simply my go-to scary book month. I do read horror novels throughout the year, but not just Goodreads and Litsy tell me that in October the number of these book spikes.
By now, I have a few favourites that I like to return to every year: Hocus Pocus, Katherine Arden's Small Spaces, and (as said in my recent review and even though it's not scary) Rainbow Rowell's Pumpkin Heads. However, there is also a large number of books on my TBR that I haven't gotten to yet and that I plan to tackle next month. One of them is Stephen King's latest publication The Institute, another Audrey Niffenegger's collection Ghostly. I'm also looking forward to finding even more new titles through fellow bookworms on social media. Bookstagram and Litsy are brimming with October/Halloween hashtags at this time of year. From #spooktober to #allhallowsread - effectively, the list is endless.
All Hallow's Read, in fact, is a wonderful tradition started by fantasy author Neil Gaiman. Instead of candy, the idea is to give someone a scary book for Halloween. Ideally, the person will then read it that evening. Here is Gaiman's own suggestion:
You can give out scary books or comics to trick or treaters on Hallowe’en. We recommend looking the child in the eye and saying, “Take it. Read it. Trust me… around here… a book can be… safer than candy.” Then chuckling to yourself, as if remembering something unfortunate that happened to some of the local children only last year. (www.allhallowsread.com)
I've done it in the past with some of my colleagues and it was a lot of fun. I even converted one or the other sensitive reader into a horror fan. ;-)
But it doesn't really matter if you are into the scarier or Halloweeny reads, autumn is just such a perfect season for curling up with a good book. The nights are drawing in and it's time to get out those cosy blankets again that you had stashed away over the summer. For me, there is nothing more relaxing than a walk in the brisk autumn air and then coming home to hot chocolate or cider and my current read. Light a candle and I'm even happier. Light a fire and I'm blissfully contend and your friend forever.
Do you have any particular autumn reading traditions? Do you prefer scary or "normal" books at this time of year? What's your favourite drink while reading? I'd love to know so feel free to share in the comments.