OK so Southern Living just published their list of 20 new books they can't wait to read this fall and I have read it three times now and my library hold list has grown by an alarming amount. It's everything. Thrillers, historical fiction, romances, the whole cozy-sweater-weather buffet.

And you know what I love about a list like this? Every flavor is on the table. There's a thriller for the person who wants to stay up until 2 a.m. suspicious of every character, and there's a romance for the person who wants to be repaired emotionally by page 300, and there's historical fiction for those of us who like our feelings wrapped in period detail. Fall reading season is basically the publishing world's version of a harvest festival and everyone's invited.

My reading philosophy, if you can call it that, is that a to-be-read pile is really just a pile of future versions of you. The you who cried on a couch in October. The you who gasped on a train in November. These 20 books are 20 little appointments with future you and future you is going to be so smug about how prepared she was.

I'm personally leaning hardest toward the thrillers, because something about crisp air and an early sunset makes me want to read about someone lying to everyone in a small town. Is that a personality flaw? Possibly! But it's MY flaw and it's seasonal.

Anyway. Go look at the list. Pick two. Or seven, I'm not the boss of your nightstand. But pick at least one book you wouldn't normally grab, because that's where the good surprises live, and fall is short and books are patient and joy is worth scheduling.