A Summer Reading Friday Five

Rev Gals Blog Pal Songbird writes: Back in the day, before I went to seminary, I worked in the Children's Room at the Public Library, and every year we geared up for Summer Reading. Children would come in and record the books read over the summer, and the season included numerous special and celebratory events. As a lifelong book lover and enthusiastic summer reader, I find I still accumulate a pile of books for the summer.

This week, then, a Summer Reading Friday Five.

1) Do you think of summer as a particularly good season for reading? Why or why not?
For the past dozen years or more, I have done most of my reading for enjoyment during the summer. I do so in part because our family vacations at a very restful place along a lake in Northern Michigan, and reading has always been central to our time there. I began reading the Harry Potter series to our family there years ago, and the reading tradition has continued.

2) Have you ever fallen asleep reading on the beach?
Yes, a few years ago when I was reading through a slow part of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Thankfully, I had lots of sunscreen on!

3) Can you recall a favorite childhood book read in the summertime?
Nancy Drew mysteries - started reading them when I was about 8 or so. Now as I look back at my sons' childhood, the evenings we spent reading the Harry Potter books aloud, sometimes with extended family there as well, will be cherished memories.

4) Do you have a favorite genre for light or relaxing reading?
I enjoy the First Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. My guilty pleasures include the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanonich, anything by Janet Cruisie, Maeve Binchy, or Nicholas Sparks.

5) What is the next book on your reading list?
I have several ready to read when we head up north- including the latest from the First Ladies Detective Agency series, Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich, as well as several others that friends have loaned to me. 21 days and counting!