Seasons for Classics

I have recently noticed certain trends in how I order what classics I read. Specifically, I tend to have certain authors who I love to read in fall or winter and others that seem much more fitting during hot summer weather. Do you guys tend to do this, too?

Some authors that I associate most strongly with seasons are Dickens (fall and winter), Dostoevsky (winter), Thomas Mann (winter), Virginia Woolf (spring) and Tolstoy (winter). Many of my favourite classic authors that I associate with a season I tend to associate with fall and winter. I really can't think of anyone that I associate with summer. When it's hot, I tend to shy away from classics and read more poetry and contemporary Canadian fiction.

What authors, if any, do you associate with a season? Do you find it harder to pick up certain books during the summer or winter? In particular I would be curious to know if anyone has any classics that they associate with the summer.

As much as I love the Russian classics, I almost never touch them during the summer - it just does not feel right - they are for the dark seasons when the wind is blowing and it is cold outside (and living in Arizona that had become a very hard to find time but that's beyond the point).

Dickens on the other hand (or Austen or almost any of their contemporary English authors) are full year authors - I just need to be in the mood for this kind of a novel and they work.

And thinking back, the French adventures (Dumas for example) had always been a summer treat.

I agree. For me, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Dickens and summer wouldn't be summer without Steinbeck.

I totally do not do that at all. lol.

In re #1. Summer? Definitely! Anatole France, esp. LA ROTISSERIE DE LA REINE PEDAUGUE (varioulsy translated into English, but always with the name QUEEN PEDAUQUE). Wodehouse: almost anything. Try those for starters. On the other hand, there are plenty of droopy-drawers authors who can bum me out at any season. I think we covered THAT like a rug in a different thread in re Classics we'll ever read. Peace to all, -- Goddard

I'm not sure this is the kind of thing you meant, but I'm in the habit of listening to audiobooks when I walk my dogs--a process that can take several hours because I live on the ocean, so our habit is to wander through fields and scrub and woods until we reach a little beach, spend some time swimming and looking for shells, (well, the dog looks for other things) before ambling home. One summer I spent this time with performances of the Greek and Roman classics--a wonderful experience. But now I always associate Virgil's Georgics, Hesoid's Work and Days, and Lucretius's De rarum natura with those hot summer walks in the sand.

In re #6. Interesting about you and Lucretius. I read Leonard's English version last Summer -- also by the sea, incidentally -- but found myself getting into such rows with both author and translator that I thought the whole process was contributing to global warming. O well, de gustibus ain't what dey used to be. Now Vergil, that's another story. However, since he was a city-person and free, he almost inevitably separated his lovely poetic visions from any suggestion that farming might involve WORK.

and yet such fantastic descriptions of how to test the soil for acidity, and how to treat a mangy sheep.

In re #8. In note in your Profile that you are -- on your own testimony -- not good for much except book-selling. Pshaw! I think you're wasting your time in trade. Back to the land!! Incidentally, have you considered Vergil's careful omission of what to do about mangy shepherds? One of the burning questions of our time, to be sure.

>9 HarryMacDonald: Back to the land I do spend a lot of time in my garden. I prefer Shakespeare to Virgil for straight up weeding and hoeing though. All those plant references.

Russians in the winter. Ho, hum, what a surprise. Hey, maybe we should switch? During a heat wave, read Master and Man, and in the dead of winter, read anything by Faulkner?

And yes, SBL, Shakespeare comedies and romances are definitely Spring/Summer fare. I guess per my suggestion, they'd also be good for a dreary winter"s night.

I enjoy reading Victor Hugo over the summer for some reason. Pretty much do that every year. Other than that, I don't think I have a particular preference for when I read which author other than my feeling at that time.

Charles Dickens always seems more of a winter/Christmastime author. Ghost or horror stories seem more suited to the darker months, as well. Summer is the time for lighter fare. Maybe Jules Verne or H. Rider Haggard

I have to add Thomas Hardy as a summer writer for me. No idea why, as so many of his books contain memorable winter scenes. I think it may be all that outdoor stuff while I prefer to huddle inside in cold weather.

I was thinking of Hardy for summer as well: I suppose the big agricultural outdoor scenes outweigh the Under the greenwood tree stuff. I often seem to read Trollope in summer too, although when you think about all the fox-hunting scenes he might qualify more as an autumn/winter read. Sir Walter Scott is definitely winter reading.

Maybe E.M. Forster would be the quintessential summer classic? Not The longest journey, perhaps, but all the others are best read when equipped with a Panama hat and a deck chair.

Not quite a classic, perhaps, but Simenon is an excellent resource for miserable wet days: wherever you are, it's a comfort to know that the rain will be much wetter in Maigret's Paris...

Absolutely agree about Forster too.

In rebus 15 & 16. Forster? Not in my case. Last Summer, full of good intentions, and indeed glowing with pleasant memories of other Forster works, I read HOWARD'S END. Hated it, the beach-Sun and the Ocean notwithstanding. Thought the female lead -- so-to-put -- was a twit. As always, de gustibus ain't what dey used to be. -- G