Summer Reading

One of the things that I look forward to in the summer is the chance to stay up later than usual, read more, and sleep later in the mornings.  It’s been a slow start on my reading this year.  Summer’s been busier than usual.  My daughter’s been picking up extra hours as a nurse.  My grandson got a job in construction.  He comes home for lunch every day–hot, sweaty, and covered in dust.   Teenagers have been bopping in and out of our house.  But we’re finally settling into a routine.  And I can snatch time in the evenings to read.

I belong to Goodreads on the internet.  These girls can whip through a book in a day.  Their reading goals are almost all over one hundred books a year, some over two hundred, whereas I’m a slow reader.  If I push myself, I can finish a novel in a few days, two books a week at warp speed.  I’d like to think it’s because I savor every word.  I suspect it’s because I dawdle and ponder as I go.  I turn things over in my mind, consider plotting and pacing instead of just enjoying the ride.  I’m going to try to change that about myself, to just say Whoopee and turn pages, to go with the flow.  But it hasn’t happened yet.

Goodreads has introduced me to more series and writers than I ever knew existed.  And the readers debate what they liked or didn’t like about the books they read.  I’ve learned a lot from them, but by the time a few different people write glowing endorsements for a novel with an interesting premise, it ends up on my to-be-read list.  At the  moment, I have so many books on that list that someone will probably have to bury it with me when I pass, but that doesn’t discourage me.   Unfortunately, it doesn’t even deter me from walking into bookstores and browsing.  Okay, buying.  I have a terrible time leaving a bookstore empty-handed.  Meaning, I have piles and piles of novels to read….

But there’s hope, because summer is officially upon us.  The solstice came and went.  Warm evenings stretch before me, and I’ll have more time to read–one of my favorite parts of the long days of summer.