Friday Fun - Summer Reads

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, writing-related question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: Now that summer is  here, do you find yourself indulging in “summer reads” – books that you don’t mind getting full of sand or covered in suntan lotion or water? What types of books do you like to read during the summer (or when you’re away on vacation)?

Susan Nye: I don’t really change my reading list from winter to summer. Unlike many, my summers are my busiest time of the year. I’m a detective and legal thriller fan and will undoubtedly inhale a few this summer. I’ve got Nelson DeMille, Steve Martini, Robert K. Tanenbaum, John Sanford, Rober B. Parker and Janet Evanovich in my beach bag. Charlotte Bronte, Ann Patchett and Adam Gopnik are in there as well, duking it out for space.

Jamie Wallace: Like Susan, I don’t have a seasonal library. I am, however, reading something that some might consider beach-worthy: the first book in the Game of Thrones series. It’s not at all what I’d expected – a bit more violent than I’d anticipated – but I’m enjoying it all the same. I’m secretly dying to watch the HBO series, but am determined not to do so until I’ve read enough of the books to “catch up” to the miniseries’ interpretation. I also just treated myself to two new tomes from my favorite local, indie bookstore – Jabberwocky of Newburyport, MA. I’ve already started reading Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal, and I’m looking forward to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces (though I sense it may be more scholarly than Gottschall’s entertaining read). Mostly, I’d just like to find some time to read this summer. I’ve no shortage of books, it’s the time to read them that I’m lacking!

Lisa Jackson: I have a bunch of authors I enjoy (in the broad category of ‘mystery’) and I tend to keep those books after I read them, so I treat them gently. But I do admit to having a guilty pleasure of raiding book sale bins once or twice a year looking for romances. The ‘bodice ripper’ types where the strong hero saves the equally-as-strong-but-not-allowed-to-be-until-she-meets-Mr-Right-heroine. I pick up whatever catches my eye and have a handful of those books. I don’t keep them after I read them, and only read them when I take luxurious, guilt-free downtime – which happens more often in the summers, but also some Saturday afternoons during the rest of the year.

Diane MacKinnon: My reading time is limited these days, so I listen to books on CD that I get out of the library whenever I’m driving alone in the car. I’m planning to go to New England Crimebake 2012 in November, so I started listening to the books of the guest of honor, Joseph Finder. I enjoyed the first book I listened to (Vanished), but the second one had me sitting in my car in the garage, not willing to shut the car off until I found out what happened! That was Killer Instinct and it was great. Other than the suspense, which was so well done, I also learned a lot (as did the protagonist over the course of the book.) I love when that happens!

Julie Hennrikus: My basic reading stays the same. But during vacation, I delve in. And read a lot. A lot. I’ve been known to read a book a day. The summer I read the “Girl With A Dragon Tattoo” series I didn’t talk to anyone for three days. Complete and utter bliss. My Kindle has saved my vacation packing. I used to have half my suitcase full of books. Now I just throw in a few (in case of a prolonged power outage and a dead battery) and my Kindle.

Deborah Lee Luskin: I’m hardly reading this summer, in part because I’m writing so much, and in part because when I’m not writing, I’m not sitting down. I rarely read fiction while I’m writing it, so when I can keep my body still and my eyes open, I’ve been reading The New Yorkers that have piled up around the house, and poetry. Currently, I’m reading the work of Ruth Stone, and my husband’s been reading Billy Collins aloud to me – when I can stay awake. Of course, as I write this, I realize that I’m about to turn in a review of two books by local authors that I read yesterday – so maybe I’m not a very reliable narrator! The books are by two local authors, Believe in Me, by Judith Dickerson Nelson, the story of a teen mom, and In Good Hands, a guide to receiving massage, by Debra Ty; both very good.

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