Some books are just better depending on the season (or really, depending on the room you’re in, the time of day, your frame of mind, whether you have a mug of tea vs. a shot of whiskey in front of you, etc). Dickens is great around the holidays. Nathaniel Hawthorne resonates when the air turns crisp at the end of September. Edith Wharton’s prose fits with a long summer day. So in the spirit of a spring that has (almost) sprung, here’s a list of classic reads that are a little bit more special when read as the long nights give way to longer, milder days.
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The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Like much of Fitzgerald’s writing, The Great Gatsby is best taken with sunshine overhead and a cocktail in hand. I’ve read this in every season, but never does it seem so enchanting as in the spring. Gentle breezes call to mind the swaying curtains of the Buchanans’ seafront home, and fresh flowers evoke Jay Gatsby’s tense anticipation before his reunion with Daisy. BRB, mixing a gin fizz.
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The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Something about this book just makes you want read it from cover to cover after you’ve climbed a tree and scraped your knees to a soundtrack of chirping birds. It’s a children’s book, sure, but that doesn’t make it any less magical as an adult. There are still times when I pass by an ivy-covered wall and wonder if there’s a door there somewhere, leading to some version of a secret garden.
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
A coming-of-age story and a searing social commentary all in one, To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Deep-South Alabama, a setting which always evokes feelings of warmer weather by virtue of its description as, well, hot. As Scout Finch grows up and becomes more aware of the injustices around her, you can’t help but feel that you’ve grown a little along with her. And isn’t growth of some kind a hallmark of spring?
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A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
Paris and springtime go main dans la main, and this memoir of a 1920s-era City of Light only prove that sentiment even more correct. Hemingway’s Paris is the one that comes to mind whenever good old Ernie’s name is dropped, the Paris where writers rubbed elbows with artists in the booths of a French brasserie, amid cigarette smoke and heady conversation.
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Emma
Jane Austen
No, I did not include Emma on this list because I have fondness for the name. Although the iconic 90s flick Clueless is a bit of a departure from the book, if you liked that, you might also have a thing for the 19th-century novel where the movie got its core themes from. Spring is the season of romance, and Emma sets the tone in true Austen fashion, with a little youthful entitlement and a lot of mixed signals thrown in for good measure.
By Emma Lifvergren, Staff Writer
