Warning! Reading Can Ruin Your Life!

For most people summer seems to be a time for activities, road trips, and the great outdoors. Not for me. For me summer has always been a time to unplug the phones, lock the doors, and hide away in the darkest corner I could find with a flashlight and as many books as I could carry.

When I was in school summer was my cherished time. All that time wasted during the school year on assigned books and math worksheets (not that I actually did many of those assignments, come to think of it) gave way during the summer months to uninterrupted, unadulterated reading. My parents and friends knew better than to bother me. I would take cartloads of books to the downstairs guest room in my parents house and set up camp, coming up only for meals, and that only occasionally.

Now that I am older, this hermitous instinct that takes over my brain from late May to early September gets me into trouble. I lose friends who think that my lack of communication means I have become a snob and don't have time for them anymore. My children wear their pajamas all day long and eat cereal bars and macaroni and cheese for every meal. (My children obviously love this aberrant habit of mine and doubtless wish it would manifest itself throughout the entire year.) My work--well, my work gets done, but reluctantly; while I, like the dog in the old adage, curse this distraction that ironically allows me to buy the very books which tempt me away from it. And my blog.... well, obviously, my blog languishes. This blog post is my apology to my readers, and my plea for understanding and forgiveness.

I have, however, been able to burn through a number of books so far this summer, some bad, some good, some excellent; and I can't wait to tell you all about them. Here is a preliminary list of some of the books I've read in the past few weeks, including the ones I have on my plate right now:

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Southern Vampire Series (first 3 books) by Charlaine Harris

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

Turbulent Souls by Stephen J. Dubner

Choosing a Jewish Life by Anita Diamante

Hamlet by Shakespeare

The Tales of Mutt-Bly Akarkin by Michael Chester

No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Readings by Michael Dirda

So now I have to ask... How do you like to read? Do you have a favorite time of year to hole up and surround yourself with words? And, as always, my favorite question of all... what are YOU reading this summer?