Summer Reading

With summer vacation just days away, no one is thinking books they are planning to read this summer. All everyone is focused on is the beach, the sun, and most importantly, no school. I, too, look forward to summer for all these reasons, but I also use summer as a time to catch up on my reading.

During the school year, I have found it nearly impossible to keep up with my school work, read the required books for my english class, and still read for pleasure. Between a busy schedule and rigorous work for my classes, there just never seems to be enough time for me to read what I want. The only exception to this has been my Readers' Choice class that allows me to read what I want for homework.

At the beach, I am the person who sits under the umbrella, sun glasses on, headphones in, book open. During this time, I like to read books that are not very heavy in topic, something light and easy. Some titles that I have read over the years was The Last Lecture and Something Borrowed.

So what makes a beach read a beach read? These books can come from many different genres and span a number of different authors. It all depends on what your individual reading tastes are. However, there are a couple of key characteristics of a typical beach read:

1. Fast paced, but not frantic
2. Compelling but not taxing
3. Light but not frothy
4. Fun but not dumbed-down

These characteristics came from a Sacramento Bee article written by Allan Pierleoni. This article also includes a list of this summer's best beach reads.  http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/09/5477837/cozy-up-with-these-beach-reads.html

To me, a hot summer's day at the beach would be nothing without a good book and I look forward to the novels I will read this year.