Personality Types versus Genre Preferences
Lately my life has been crazy! If you don’t know, I live on a farm. It’s a small family [non-commercial] farm. We’re in the middle of harvesting all of the crops we planted this year. In addition to that, we preserve all of the fruit that grows on the trees and in our modest little vineyard. It’s wonderful, but it can be exhausting. All that to say, recently I haven’t been able to write every week. I didn’t want to stay away much longer, but I craved a lighter topic. Since I can feel the weather finally shifting into Autumn, I thought that it would be fun to examine what you should read based on your favorite season.
I’m basing this assessment on the stereotypical correlations between personality types and seasons. These assessments won’t be universally true, so take this all with a grain of salt, have fun with it and feel free to disagree!
Spring
If spring is your favorite season, you have something of a sanguine personality. Think of this as a sense of wonder and imagination that sees the possibility in all things. You understand that challenges and hardships come with life, but you want to focus on what can be learned, gained or enjoyed (when possible) in each situation. The spring personality wants a story that ends in an uplifting way and books that open their minds to new worlds.
Spring personalities love Fantasy tales, Folk stories and Fables, Romance including Romantic Comedies, and books in the Magical Realism genre.
These types of books include The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Anne of Green Gables, The Notebook and The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Look for books such as:
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri
The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson
Summer
If summer is your favorite season, you have a lot of energy and love to both experience new things and share life with other people. Summer is often associated with the choleric personality—the determined person who’s an extroverted, determined, go-getter. You like to explore, to take the new road, to push yourself to new heights, to test your limits and to achieve big goals. From alfresco dinners to neighborhood block parties to group camping trips, for you life is an opportunity to gather with others and to share new adventures.
The summer personality would love emotive relationship-based novels whether these are lighter beach reads or deeper explorations of how people grow alongside one another. This personality would also love Comedies, Thrillers (all of them—political, legal, military, you name it), Action Adventure, Westerns and Science Fiction.
Books for this person include things such as Summer Sisters, Gone Girl, The Hunt for Red October, The Stand, Fahrenheit 451 and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Check out the following contemporary options:
Red Rising by Pierce Brown [the first in a six-part series]
Summer Island by Kristin Hannah
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
Autumn
If autumn is your favorite season, you have a deep-thinking, introspective personality. Fall personalities are often reflective and artistic. They understand the things that aren’t said, the subtext in action and dialogue. In fact, they thrive on looking for deeper meaning and unspoken truths. They possess an exceptionally high level of emotional intelligence and clearly see the motives behind people’s actions and words.
The autumn personality thrives on Literary Fiction with all of its deep exploration of truth and meaning. This person also loves Psychological Thrillers, Gothic, Horror and Suspense. Genres such as these are loaded with underlying meaning, hidden intentions and nuance—the sorts of things that appeal to the melancholic autumn soul.
These are books like The Haunting of Hill House, Rebecca, Summer of Night, Swan Song, And Then There Were None and The Remains of the Day.
The following are some newer options to add to your reading list.
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
If You Tell by Gregg Olsen
Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe
Winter
If winter is your favorite season, you’re calm, emotionally consistent, controlled and dependable. You’re introverted and prefer to spend time alone or with a small group of close friends or family. You prefer a smaller amount of great depth in your life whether that’s relational, experiential or personal growth, over a shallower but broader range of these things. This personality craves comfort and things that feel good.
The winter person loves the Mystery genre (both traditional and cozy mysteries), heart-warming Romances, Historical Fiction and the Classics. These genres are each loaded with depth that’s [usually] more comforting than the autumn version of depth that can be unsettling.
These books include Little Women, The English Patient, All the Light We Cannot See, Shutter Island, The Name of the Rose and A Tale of Two Cities. If these are your cup of tea, try these as well:
At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
Conclusion
These are simply a starting point. The key is to understand the heart of the person behind the season. Spring people long for the hopeful adventure and new worlds; summer people want to explore and conquer their world alongside other people; autumn people seek to understand hidden truth no matter how raw it may be; and winter people want comforting depth and complexity of both character and theme.
Look for books that fit these criteria and you should be off in the right direction.
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