I love it when September is almost over. The end of September means October (the best month) is right around the corner, along with beautiful fall weather, 100 shades of orange, pumpkin-flavoured everything, and long evenings filled with reading.

Fall has always been my favourite time of the year to read in. There’s nothing better than curling up with a good book once the days start to get shorter.

People often ask me why fall is my favourite time of year to read. To make things a bit easier (and to stop myself from sounding like a broken record), I put together this list of ten reasons why fall reading is the best reading. If you disagree with me on any of these we probably can’t be friends.

1. Re-reading Ray Bradbury’s short stories from The October Country in October just feels right. He is the King of Fall, and crafts such powerful stories in only a few pages of text.
2. Being able to use “autumnal” to describe everything I’m reading and where I’m reading it, because it’s the best adjective.
3. It’s the only time of the year I can justify reading scary books. This year’s line up includes The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, and The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft. Let’s hope I can make it through them without crying or losing sleep.
4. Cozying up in a comfy chair with a hot drink (I like cider with whiskey) and a book.
5. Wearing a knitted sweater/wrapping yourself up in a knitted blanket while reading.
6. Sitting in front of a window and reading, especially when the backdrop is a rainy day with colourful leaves falling everywhere. PERFECTION!
7. Sitting on a blanket in the park and reading, preferably with friends, and being surrounded by the beautiful orange, yellow, and red colours. Damn.
8. Some of my favourite lines of literature are about fall:
   • “…that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and mid-nights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain…” – The October Country, by Ray Bradbury
   • “…all the houses shut against a cool wind. And the town was full of cold sunlight. But suddenly, the day was gone. Night came out from under each tree and spread.” – The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury
   • “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
   • “You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen.” – A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway
   • “I’m go glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” (Preach, Anne). – Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery
9. With less daylight there’s an eerie sense of darkness that starts to fall, which is the perfect setting for some spooky story-telling sessions.
10. You can dress up as your favourite character for Halloween!