Does The Weather Determine Your Book Choices? It Does For Me.

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” 
― Carl Reiner

It's snowing outside. That's nothing special, I do live in Minnesota. What is special is that there was no snow on the ground last night, and I woke up to several inches. This means two things, the first being that Josh told me that I am free to stay within the confines of my own home today. This leads to the second, which is that I'm also free to have access to my bookshelves all day. That means that the second my work is finished, it's time to make a pot of tea and enjoy some quality reading time. 

But what do I read? I'm currently reading several books, because I'm one of those people that loves to juggle texts. Do I pick up my current YA series, or continue my current historical fiction masterpiece? Well, let's look outside and let the weather decide for me. Is it snowing? Yes. Will any of my friends be attempting to interrupt my reading time? No. 

The answer is:

S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst 

For me, deciding what genre is on the menu is as easy as checking the weather and it's wonderful. My system is simple, and consistent.


Rainy Weather: When it's raining, or even just a little overcast outside, there is one fork in the road. The temperature. Is it warm:

• Yes - Pick up something I've been meaning to finish, and am probably toward the end of because chances are the weather won't keep my social life at bay for too long. Someone, somewhere, will want to do something and I'm bad at telling my friends no.

• No -  Wonderful. Hot cup of tea, and I stick to detectives, criminals, and spies. 

Sunny Weather: Three options here, although they don't really differ all that much.

• Cool - Grab a YA book, and squeeze a chapter or two in on the bus ride to something fun, and hopefully outdoors

• Warm - I leave my kindle in my backpack in case I've got time for a quick fix, but I'm likely biking so this one's typically a no-read scenario.

• Unbearably Hot -  Yay, it's short-story anthology time because I know I'll have to go out, but I can delay it by just deciding to finish the next story

Stormy/Snowy Weather: My favorite reading weather, no question about it. Only one option.

• Anything long, preferably one of the amazing new long novels that have had a renaissance of sorts recently. I'll gladly spend my entire evening with the sound of rain, smooth jazz, and a fireplace going in the background (I'm a disgusting believer in setting the mood, even for reading)

So, that's me and my weather quirk. Anybody else out there have a system in place to determine what you read?