From One Book Lover

I hope your summer reading is coming along swimmingly.  If you are in the areas on the globe experiencing record rains and/or record heat, hopefully you can spend extra time indoors and get more reading done. Intrepid Reader Karen has planned her summer reading carefully, and I see at least one or two books from her list that dovetail with titles I find interesting. Who among us has not salivated over adventure tales or time-travel stories? I rest my case. So, without further ado, here is Karen's reading list (also fondly referred to as TBR, or to be read, stack): Pope Francis’ Little Book of Compassion Troublemaker  Never Broken: Songs are Only Half the Story  Outlander series books 1-8 The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost  Beyond the Fortune Teller’s Tent Legend of the Jade Dragon  The Pocket Watch Holy Bible  Morna’s Legacy  The Ruby Red Trilogy  Dragon Bones Lost City of Z The Source  The Secret Scroll Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America 

Summer is the perfect time to read.  Even though summer days remain 24 hours, they feel longer, which is a delicious situation for readers.   School is out, work very well could slow down, and summer vacations away from the distractions of life present ample opportunities to bury yourself in a book. We can create opportunities to increase the amount of time we read with a few tweaks to our habits. (By the way, feel free to apply these practices appropriately to other activities you'd like to spend more time doing.) Put down the social media. Take the summer off of your personal social media use. Trust me, it will still be there when you get back — and chances are, it will be easier to use, less intrusive, and maybe even a little more civil.  Can't step away from personal  social media use? First, see a professional about this issue, then  set limits for social media use : set a timer for only a few minutes, then stop when the timer goes off only read social m

Summer reading is fraught with peril. Choose the wrong books and you've wasted your summer reading bad books. Choose nothing at all, and you may read nothing. Choose too many books and you could be paralyzed with fear at the tide of books you face, and the possibility that you may not finish. Choose only a handful of books and so many are left unread. Choose books, then risk not reading those particular tomes because you stumbled across other books. Okay, "peril" is a strong word — but you get my drift. With choice comes limitation, or responsibility, or paralysis. Or, in my case, failure. Last year, I listed 45 books I wanted to read. Of the 26 books I read last summer , eight were on the original list. Some books have been on the list for years. Some books are pies in the sky. Some books will always be on my TBR shelf. However, this year, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of rustling up gobs of books from my bookshelves, scouring my library

Summer reading means hot days and humid nights reading any book you darn well please. Reading with friends makes it even better — so get with the Program! That's the whole reason for the Summer Reading Program: to gather friends, make new friends, and READ . The Summer Reading Program lasts from the Friday before Memorial Day and the first weekend in autumn. In 2018, that is Friday, May 25 through Sunday, September 23.  If you read the most of anyone in our program, I will give you a book. (I know, right?) So, to get in on this sweet deal, what do you have to do? Not much. Contact me directly or leave a comment below.  We programmers can tell each other what we are reading, what we plan to read, what we actually read, and what we would read if we had way more time. What kind of books count? All kinds! Mix a few graphic novels in with non-graphic novels, catch up on your comics, toss in some audiobooks, and front-load the e-reader of your choice. (We are equal opp

I hope you had a good Memorial Day, stacking up your books on the nightstand or desk, putting them in order for — Oh, maybe that was just me.  Anyway, summer reading has begun, so join the club! Summer reading means long days and humid nights reading any book you darned well choose. The club counts books read between the Friday before Memorial Day and the first weekend in autumn. This year, that is Friday, May 25 through Sunday, September 23. I am still trying to decide what's on my reading list. After reviewing last year's list and realizing how many of those books remain in my TBR pile, I may skip the list and just wait for the Fall for the Book participant list. (Please note; I always welcome suggestions.) Visit your library (public or private), your local bookstores and thrift shops, yard sales and online book suppliers, friends and family, and choose what books look like they need to be read this summer. Join the Summer Reading Club and put yourself in