Many people believe that winter is the best time for reading. Curling up on the couch with a blanket and spending the afternoon savoring a book is a fabulous way to spend those dark winter months. But for me, the perfect season for reading is summer. Memories of being stretched out on my bed as a girl, reading book after book; as a teen, discovering a new author just in time for days at the pool or a week at the beach; and long afternoons in the public library: that's what summer meant to me.
That hasn't changed. With the slower pace of life that summer provides, my stack of books is calling to me. There is a lot on my virtual bookshelf right now, but what I want right now is not just any book - I want the elusive "perfect summer read."
There's a lot that goes into the criteria for the perfect book, and each person's list is different. On my list of criteria is that the book must be enjoyable but not necessarily deep, preferably fiction, long enough to sink my teeth into, and most of all, "unputdownable." You know what I mean - the kind of book where you look up and two hours have gone by, the kids are tugging at you asking "where's lunch?" and you find yourself daydreaming about it when you're NOT reading. That kind of book.
My search continues. There is a new Lisa See book due out (a sequel to Shanghai Girls, which I really enjoyed), a new Ann Patchett, and a few books which have just come into paperback, including The Passage by Joseph Cronin. When I find that perfect book I will let you know, but I hope you will be looking too - because everyone has their very own summer read just waiting to be devoured.
