The joy of summer reading...

One of the things I always loved about summer when I was growing up is that you had unlimited time to read. I loved going to the Olivia Raney Library in my hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina and checking out as many books as they allowed so I always had a book to read. There is something absolutely magical to me about books.

I remember the summer I read through all the Nancy Drew books and a few of the Cherry Ames books. Some of you may remember those. They were the “girls” version of the Hardy Boys series. There was even a summer when I read through the World Book Encyclopedias that my mother had purchased and filled the bookshelf in our hallway.

There was a truly exceptional summer when the book Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White was printed in our Raleigh newspaper in serial form. My mother and I could not wait for the paper to arrive each day so that we could read the next chapter. I have read Charlotte’s Web multiple times over the years and given it as a gift to others. You can also buy an audio version of the book with E. B. White reading it and it is wonderful. If you have never read this book, don’t for a minute think it is only for children. Find a copy, sit down and fall in love with the story of Charlotte and Wilbur and Fern.

I have always loved reading. So here are a few more suggestions for your end of summer reading. All these books were available in our local library but if you like to buy your own copies or read on a Kindle that is fine too.

This book is written as a series of letters between two women who become unlikely but wonderful friends. There are lovely little tidbits about cooking and eating and falling in love with a recipe, too. But mostly it is just a beautiful story of how friendships can grow and nourish our spirit.

This book was one of a more serious turn. I was drawn to it because I was a speaker at a conference in Berlin not long after the Berlin Wall came down. I even purchased a little chunk of the wall to bring home to our son. Of course someone could have just been making those chunks in their basement as trinkets for gullible tourists but I truly believe it was a piece of the wall. There are some eerie parallels in this book (a true story) between how Russia gradually kept tightening the controls over East Germany and what we are seeing today with Donald Trump’s actions in our own country. This is a beautifully written book about one family’s experience.

I must admit that there was a lot of scientific information in this book that I did not understand, but what I did understand was how genetic genealogy is helping solve crimes. In this case, Joseph James DeAngelo had evaded capture for over 40 years and then with the use of genetic genealogy and DNA, he was captured. I must admit that some of the descriptions of the gruesome crimes he committed were disturbing, but it is fascinating how Barbara Rae-Venter (a volunteer) assisted the police in solving this crime (and others).

This is the book I read most recently—and I read it in less than two days as I just could not stop reading. Wally Lamb is a brilliant writer and this book is brilliant in multiple ways. It is also heart-breaking in multiple ways but it is not a book you will start and then stop. You will keep reading until the last page. It is a book you will not forget either.

So those are some of my summer favorites. I will confess that if I get a book from the library and I do not like it (for whatever reason) I just stop and put it in our pile of books we will return to the library the following week. I used to never stop reading a book that I started, but those days are gone. Life is too short for a book that I am not enjoying.

So make time for reading. Make time to thank a librarian. Visit your local book store, especially the independent ones. Find a book (or two or three) and end the summer with a great read.