Summer Reading

I'm a reader, friends. I am a reader from a young age. A lover of books. A person who balks at the thought of reading from anything other than the pages of a book.

I have so many stories of being a reader as a child-- books being confiscated at night, reading all the Harry Potter series before my friends could dig in-- and that continues today. The one difference is time. When I was younger, I read every day. I would go to bed a bit early, or sit with my family while we watched television, and stuck my head into a book. These days, it doesn't happen. During the school year I try-- seriously do-- but I always have so many other things to do that a book gets pushed to the back burner until I realize, weeks later, I'm still on page 50.

But then the summer comes, and I make up for ALL of that reading! A couple weeks ago I re-read The Book of Negros in less than 72 hours. Soon after I flipped through 50 Shades of Grey and almost cried at how horribly written it was. Honestly, I have no idea how I finished that book. Yesterday (yes, in 24 hours), I re-read the 700 pages of The Chamber by Grisham and today I read The Birth House.

The Birth House was my book in every way. I loved the way the writer painted the story, the Canadiana, the history of doctors and midwifery, and the plot line which was not so much predictable as it left you wanting events to occur. Amazing! I am kicking myself, now, because I remember working at Chapters when that book came out and thinking about buying it, but I never did. With hundreds of thousands of books and 15% off of any books I wanted, it was a dangerous place and I had to carefully plan every purchase. Somehow this was one of the many books that fell to the bottom of the list before I managed to pick it up.

As the summer goes on, I am looking for new books to read. I went to good old Value Village yesterday and picked up a bunch of books for under $20. There are a few great titles I'm excited to read, such as The Birth House, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and Belong to Me, but we shall see how it goes.

How does your summer book list look right now? Are you an avid reader?

Miss Sunshine.