Dear readers, I’ve missed you!  I’ve been gone for the last several weeks working on my dissertation, on a topic I’m sure you don’t care about, and frankly, I’m not sure I care about anymore either.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though, and so I’m back to bring a bit of magic into what might otherwise be a prosaic Thursday.

fantasy and science fiction book reviewsFall is just around the corner.  There is a crispness to the air that prophesies of shorter days, longer nights, and all the free time that comes from having your yard and garden under a foot of snow.  No more mowing, no more weeding, just the promise of dark hours and a stack of unread books.

I’ve found that my reading habits are seasonal.  I read shorter books during the spring, because I’m antsy to be outside after six months of snow and ice.  Summer is a time for rereads because it’s too hot to pay attention to anything new, or for poetic writers, where you want to slow down and savor every word.  When the leaves turn, though, so do the pages and I’m ready to settle down with a new brick of a book, and devour crisp, new prose like an apple fresh from the tree.

I think publishers know of this seasonal propensity in reading. This fall’s new publication list reads like a who’s who of fantasy publishing.  There are so many new books I’m excited for.  Over at the io9 blog they do a great run down of the fall books you’ll be lusting after, and though I can’t believe they left out Robin McKinley’s Pegasus, it’s a good taste of what’s to come.

So, dear readers, I ask you: What books are you most looking forward to?  And do your reading habits change with the seasons, or is that just one of my quirks?

One commenter receives a book of your choice from our stacks.

Author

  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.