Some nights call for reading a few chapters before bed.
But the arrival of fall always brings another kind of night for us. It’s our favorite kind of night.
The kind that calls for a blanket, a suspicious number of candles, something warm to drink, and several uninterrupted hours in a world where dragons are a perfectly reasonable form of transportation.
It’s the best way we know to end a blustery day of raking leaves (maybe jumping in them?), picking apples, harvesting those last few garden veggies, or experiencing that first glorious nip in the air.
It’s the best way we know to end a blustery day of raking leaves (maybe jumping in them?), picking apples, harvesting those last few garden veggies, or experiencing that first glorious nip in the air.
Maybe this comfy evening is a gift to yourself (you deserve it!) Or maybe you want to set someone you love up for an enchanting evening. Either way, we’ve got you covered. Prep your supplies now, tuck them into a special little basket next to your favorite chair, and you’ll be ready whenever the autumn mood strikes!
A cozy fantasy reading night doesn’t require much. You probably already own most of what you need. But if you’re going to disappear into another world for the evening, you might as well make the real one particularly nice before you leave.
Here’s what we’d put in the basket.
Start With the Blanket
This is non-negotiable—or at least as close to non-negotiable as anything in an article about recreational reading can reasonably be.
You want something oversized, soft and substantial enough to disappear under. Bonus points if it looks like it belongs in a castle library, wizard’s study or extremely comfortable inn where adventurers mysteriously keep meeting before quests.
What we’d look for: An oversized throw in a deep green, rust, burgundy or warm neutral. Cable knits, velvety textures and subtle celestial patterns all work beautifully.
Our Pick: A Faux Fur Throw Fit for Royalty
This ridiculously plush faux fur throw looks like something that belongs draped across the bed in a fantasy castle—which is considerably more appealing than admitting you’re actually curled up on the couch ignoring the laundry. Add a book, something warm to drink, and suddenly staying home feels like the superior plan.
GET THE BLANKET →
(paid link)
Add a Light That Doesn’t Ruin the Mood
The overhead light has been dismissed for the evening.
A warm reading lamp or rechargeable book light gives you enough illumination to actually see the words without making your carefully constructed fantasy tavern feel like a dentist’s office.
If you share a room with someone who has inexplicably decided to sleep rather than read until 2 a.m., a clip-on book light also becomes a useful diplomatic tool.
Our Pick: A Reading Light That Lasts Through an Entire Epic
Because nothing ruins a late-night reading session quite like realizing your book light is dying three chapters before you’re willing to stop. This rechargeable one has five different light temperatures and adjustable brightness, so you can go from a warm, cozy glow to bright reading light depending on the hour—and the mood. Best of all, it lasts up to 90 hours on a charge, though you should probably get some sleep *somewhere* in there…
GET THE READING LIGHT →
(paid link)
Choose a Mug Worthy of the Occasion
Tea, coffee, cocoa, cider—we’re not prescriptive about the contents.
We are in favor of a mug with a little personality. This is an excellent place for something handmade-looking, botanical, celestial or vaguely medieval rather than a mug with enormous lettering announcing that you like books. The goal is less BOOK LOVER MERCHANDISE and more this may have come from a very charming apothecary.
Our Pick: A Tea Cup Worth Making an Occasion Of
There’s something about drinking tea from a ridiculously pretty cup that makes an ordinary evening feel a little more intentional. This glass one, with its delicate enamel flowers and butterfly details, looks like something you might find in the cupboard of a particularly stylish cottage witch.
GET THE TEA CUP →
(paid link)
Something Warm to Drink
This part doesn’t need a shopping link at all.
Make whatever you genuinely like drinking. Brew tea. Make cocoa. Add cinnamon to cider. Pour your ordinary coffee into the aforementioned unnecessarily lovely mug.
If your fantasy novel contains an inn, tavern, feast or cozy kitchen scene within the first hundred pages, you are also legally entitled to start wanting bread and cheese.
We don’t make the rules.
A Candle for Atmosphere
This is where you can have some fun.
Forest, old books, cedar, amber, smoke, vanilla, moss, rain—fragrance can do a surprising amount of world-building.
One important caveat: If you are the sort of reader who gets completely absorbed and forgets the outside world exists, an LED candle may be the wiser bit of magic.
Our Pick: A Candle for People Who Miss Actual Books
In our fantasy version of reading night, we’re tucked into an old library surrounded by towering shelves of first editions. In reality, the Kindle is just so ridiculously convenient.
Fine. We’ll read the ebook.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t smell like we’re reading an ancient leather-bound volume by firelight. This library-scented candle brings a little old-book atmosphere to the room, without requiring us to give up adjustable font sizes or carry 400 books in our purse.
GET THE LIBRARY CANDLE →
(paid link)
Snacks, Obviously
This is another no-link-needed category.
Fruit. Chocolate. Popcorn. Cookies. Cheese and crackers. Something baked if you’ve planned ahead.
We would simply recommend choosing things that don’t leave enough orange powder on your fingers to permanently annotate Chapter 37.
Finally, the Book
The one thing we aren’t going to tell you to buy.
Pull something from the ever-growing stack beside your bed. Reread an old favorite. Start the fantasy novel everyone has been talking about. Pick something enormous and intimidating purely because you’ve finally created an evening worthy of it.
Then put your phone somewhere you can’t reach it without making an actual effort.
The Basket Is Really Just an Excuse
You don’t actually need special equipment to have a wonderful night with a book.
That’s rather the point.
The blanket, candle, mug, and snacks aren’t what make the evening good. They’re just little rituals that tell your brain that, for the next couple of hours, you don’t need to accomplish anything.
You get to go somewhere else for a while.
And sometimes that’s reason enough to make an occasion of it.
Prefer having someone tell you a story?
We’ve got a few thoughts about The Magic of Audiobooks —and the narrators who make a great book even better.
