That got me thinking about my own relationship with summer reading. I was always a big reader when I was a kid. (I know, you are SO surprised, right?? lol) In that time before cable TV, when we only got one TV channel (! -- unthinkable these days, I know...!) or the Internet, reading was one of the main ways we spent our free time. And summertime -- with no school or most other organized activities to worry about, no summer jobs (for my first one when I was 17), and many of our friends away on vacation -- gave us plenty of extra time to dive into one book after another. We spent a good chunk of every summer at our grandparents' house in northwestern Minnesota, and regularly raided the local library there (they let us have cards even though we didn't live there, because it was a small town and everyone knew our grandparents). Grandma had a wonderful screened-in porch off the kitchen at the side of the house, covered in virginia creeper vines, and my sister & I sent many hours out there with our books.
I remember the library had summer reading challenges/programs back then, and even though we weren't around for the entire summer, we usually breezed through the challenges. I remember one year in particular (possibly 1976/Bicentennial?) when we got maps of the U.S., and for each book we read, we got a sticker in the shape of one of the states to fill in the map. My completed map, with all 50 states covered in with stickers, sat in a drawer at my parents' house for many, many years (and may still be there, for all I know...! -- I'll have to check next time I'm there!). (If I threw it out, I wish I'd taken a photo first, because I was very proud of it!)
I'm nowhere near the reader I was then -- but I still find myself hoping to get through a good stack of books every year when summer rolls around. I used to regularly pack a pile of books in my suitcase when heading "home" to spend time with my parents (almost) every summer (before e-reading took over most of my reading life -- and lightened my luggage weight considerably! lol), and I did manage to read a lot of them. I've been less successful in recent years, partly because of online distractions (cough!), but also because my parents have needed more help around the house as they've aged, and that's consumed more of the time I used to spend reading. Still, there's a certain mystique to the image of lying on a beach or a pool somewhere, or sitting on a deck/porch with a glass of something cold and a good book to read...!
While I usually set a goal each year for the number of books I'd like to read (via Goodreads), I have never attempted completing a challenge like the NYT's suggested bucket list ("read a book published in the last year... a book in a genre you don't typically read... a book that takes place in the summer..." etc. etc.). I prefer to read what I want (in between book club obligations, lol) versus ticking off items on a list. (What if I'm not in the mood to read a book that would fit one of the bucket list categories right now? Maybe I'd rather read something else instead?) I found myself nodding when I read one comment that said, "No, thank you. Reading challenges are too much like homework."
How about you? Do you find you read more in the summertime? Do you look forward to "summer reading"? Do you have any particular goals for summer reading this year?
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
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