Noshing on picnic lunches, attending outdoor concerts, lazing at the beach, barbequing burgers in the backyard, bringing kids to the park, watching movies under the stars, hanging out in a hammock, visiting museums, vacationing with family, flying kites, catching up with friends, stargazing, swimming, chilling at the library, hiking on nature trails, devouring an ice cream cone, camping, rooting for a favorite baseball team, sleeping in, riding rollercoasters, oohing and aahing at a fireworks display, nibbling on watermelon slices, and quaffing cold lemonade…ah! What do these experiences have in common? To me, they can only mean one thing, it’s…SUMMER!
Yet, there is another terrific pastime I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention. It’s one of my favorite activities any time of year, but especially pleasurable in the summer. It’s reading, of course! Summer just wouldn’t be complete without a Summer Reading List. Since I was old enough to understand words on a page, I’ve looked forward to scoping out some shade on a hot lazy afternoon to cradle a book in my hands and head out on an adventure. I recently took a gander at titles that were most popular over the last 50 years. Wow – what memories they stirred!
As a child I couldn’t get enough of Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew mysteries. When I was a little older, I vividly remember being captivated by Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and stunned by Beatrice Sparks’ paperback Go Ask Alice. Years later, it was John Irving’s The Cider House Rules, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic Love in the Time of Cholera and Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg. All of the J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie, and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith…and so many many more! The genres I still enjoy today include kid lit, young adult, classic and contemporary fiction, non-fiction, mysteries, spiritual, poetry, sci-fi, and once in a while a good old romance. Ha! For years I reread classics such as: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engel and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. That is until I realized there were so many books and so little time!
Like many readers, I was first encouraged to “read over the summer” by my teachers. Staving off learning loss, helping to maintain reading skills, enhancing knowledge, expanding vocabulary, and improving comprehension were most often cited as the reason to keep up this “activity”. But I didn’t need a push as my love of stories came as naturally to me as breathing. And the fact that my mom was an avid reader and still is, was all the incentive I needed.
While it is important that children continue reading over the summer for the reasons mentioned, summer reading is not just for kids. It’s good for adults, too! If you have children or grandchildren, you can help them become life-long readers by reading to them or with them. Once a reader, always a reader. And although adults may have busy schedules, even delving into just a few books over the summer can enrich your life. Reading keeps our minds engaged, whether we read for information, education, entertainment, or all three!
From my journal: July 31, 2019, Newbury Park, California
“Thoroughly enjoying being in the front room with a nice breeze blowing through…best of all, I’m reading The Right to Write by Julia Cameron and I’m loving it!”
Now that summer is officially here, I’m anticipating getting through the stack I have piled up on my desk. I am currently reading The Wager by David Grann for book club, and the others I have at the ready include: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Somehow by Anne Lamott, and a book entitled The Signal that my former writing instructor, Ron Carlson wrote. I scour titles highlighted in current magazines, consult the NY and LA Times Best Sellers lists, check online websites for recommendations, wander aisles in bookstores, and rely on word of mouth to choose what’s next for me. Current novels I want to get my hands on before fall rolls around are: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Emily Henry’s Funny Story, and Camino Ghosts by John Grisham. So much to look forward to!
So which books are on your reading list this summer? Which genres do you like most? I’d love to know! Sharing titles is a great way to learn about others, ourselves, and our world.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a book, or two, or three, calling my name.
A Journal Journey 