Summer is upon us and with that will come weekends lounging about by a pool or the beach (for us lucky ones) with a nice cold drink and a good book. There is no better way to pass the time in the heat than losing yourself in a good story but sometimes figuring out which story to give yourself to can be difficult. Here are some tips to get you started in the right direction.
Classic vs. Modern
I for one have always been a fan of classics. I remember when I was twelve or so sitting down to try and read Great Expectations and, while I was a pretty advanced reader and I did in fact finish the book, I could not for the life of me tell you what it was about. My point is, is that for some reason, for me, classic literature is always something I lean toward in the summer. A few summers ago I picked up Steinbeck’s East of Eden and never put it down. Right now it’s staring me down from the bookshelf and I’m tempted to begin it again. Sometime though, it’s nice to read something new and modern, where you don’t know anything about the author, or the story.
Genre
You can’t help loving what you love–certain genres just pull us in. For me, any Dean Koontz science fiction thriller is always a good guilty go-to for a poolside perusal. This summer I’m thinking of picking up an Esquire recommendation, Michael Paterniti’s The Telling Room. It’s got revenge in the book summary and it may just be because I’m coming off of a week long bender of ABC’s Revenge (both season 1 and 2), but that sounds mighty fine for me this summer. Sometimes our favorite genre is the perfect place to start for a summer read because it’s the summer and we don’t want to have to work at anything.
Page Length
Okay, now as someone with a degree in English Literature and one in Creative Writing I feel like I’m going against everything I was ever taught in saying this, but page length definitely goes into my decision when choosing a summer read. If I’m going away for a weekend and I know it’s the only time I’m going to have to read for a while, I’m not going to pick up some behemoth monstrosity like East of Eden (yeah, I know what I said). It might be the perfect opportunity to pick a somewhat shorter story from the list to commit to.
Recommendations
Getting a book recommendation from someone is just like getting a movie recommendation from someone, except worse because you haven’t just invested $13 and 2 hours into it, but money and however long it took you to read it. I don’t know about you but I don’t have the kind of time to invest into a story that would have been better suited as Grey’s Anatomy episode. When I sit down to read a story I want it to be good. So, I recommend taking book recommendations with caution–take into account who is recommending it and how similar your tastes are.
Make a List
I always have a running list of books I want to read going. That way if I have a free minute to start a new one I don’t have to spend 3 hours scrolling through Amazon and the never-ending reviews. My list always has a lot of variety so that I can choose based on my mood at the time. My current list contains, but is not limited to:
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti
A Map of Tulsa by Benjamin Lytal
Anything Dean Koontz I haven’t read before and of course I could always read The Hunger Games series again… what? You know they’re good.
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