When I was a kid, I loved to have a book to read. I was blessed with a mother who took me to the library where shelves and shelves of books beckoned me into new worlds. The summer was time to read. If there wasn’t anything to do on the farm which was often the case in July after the crops got started and the first cutting of hay was done, it was reading time for me. I could find a quiet spot and read all day.
“In my college years, I would retreat to our summer house for two weeks in June to read a novel a day. How exciting it was, after pouring my coffee and making myself comfortable on the porch, to open the next book on the roster, read the first sentences, and find myself on the platform of a train station.” — Amor Towles
I don’t know that I was as fortunate as the person in the following quote. I doubt I read a novel a day but I did lose myself in many books and go on adventures through the written word to places I had never been or might ever go. I could go back into the past. I could go ahead to the future. I could be a detective solving a mystery. I could be a girl falling in love. Or riding a horse or in a hot air balloon. I might step into a war or love a dog in an Alaskan snow storm. But not without the library.
“The library in summer is the most wonderful thing because there you get books on any subject and read them each for only as long as they hold your interest, abandoning any that don’t, halfway or a quarter of the way through if you like, and store up all that knowledge in the happy corners of your mind for your own self and not to show off how much you know or spit it back at your teacher on a test paper.” — Polly Horvath, My One Hundred Adventures
The library was a wonderful place. It smelled of books. I was ready to embrace every story.
“There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs.” —Henry Ward Beecher
Of course, I read books all year long, but there was something special about those sweet reading times in the summer. I still read books all the time, but now I own a lot of books that are in my To Be Read pile. I have bookcases of them. I have a bunch more on my e-reader. I doubt I’ll ever get all the books I have now read and I know I’ll never get all the books I want to read read. But that’s all right. They are there waiting for me to get to them and open to that first page and set out on a new reading adventure.
Summer Reads Sweepstake
You can add to your To Be Read pile with this great Summer Reads Sweepstake if you are the lucky winner of this giveaway. Twenty-four authors have teamed up to offer a giveaway of their newest releases. You can see the covers in the picture up top. Some great looking reads there and you might be the lucky winner. To find out more about the contest and to enter just go to this link. You could be the winner and have enough books to have nearly a month of reading a book a day. You might find some favorite authors in the bunch and you might discover some new authors too. The contest is open for entries July 11th to June 22nd, and the winner will be announced on July 25th. Each time you sign up for an author’s free newsletter, you are entered for another chance to win ALL 24 books!
Newsletter Giveaway Winners
One giveaway starts and another ends. I picked my three winners of my newsletter giveaway on Saturday via random number generator. Thanks to all of you who entered. I loved hearing from you.
I’ve contacted the winners and have already heard back from them. Dana Mc. from right here in Kentucky and a new newsletter subscriber won the $25 gift card and picked my book, An Appalachian Summer for her prize book. Jessy A from Texas was one of the second place winners. She picked Words Spoken True for her book prize. The other winner was Sarah E from California who said she rarely won anything. So, she was excited. She picked River to Redemption. Again, thanks for joining in with my book fun.
I do enjoy giving away books. I’m thinking about starting a new game here to give away some books. How about a “name the caption game?” I have plenty of pictures I can dig through for possibilities.
Do you read more in the summer or the winter?
Comments 28
I read every night before bed, year around lol
Author
I’ve been trying to reserve a little time at the end of the day for reading too, Linda. But tonight the story is going to have to be interesting or I’ll doze off on it. 🙂
Winter as in summer I’m busy with the yard, flowers, garden, and canning.
Author
Summer can be a busy time, Lucy, especially for someone who gardens and preserves her garden bounty to use when the snow flies. I used to do a lot of canning, but now I usually only can green beans. I may not do that this year after the rabbits found our tender young bean plants so tasty.
Getting used to bifocals is hard for me. That is causing me not to read as much right now. I have an eye appointment in October that will hopefully correct the problem.
Author
New glasses can be difficult to get accustomed to, Deborah. I’m very grateful for my glasses or I wouldn’t be able to read at all. So, I hope you get your glasses adjusted so they are better for your eyes. Of course, I like audio books. I could start listening if I had a hard time seeing.
Great question! I can honestly say that I read equal amounts all year round. I’ve never known a time when I did not read. Your summer memories sound so much like mine. I would walk downtown to the library and check out as many books as I could carry and then get one of Mom’s old quilts and find a good shade tree and I was in book heaven. I would stay out for as long as Mom would let me. Sweet memories for sure.
Author
You were on the “magic carpet” or quilt, Linda, when you were getting to read those books to take you into other worlds. Like you, I do have sweet memories of those early reading years.
Definitely summer! It’s 100 degrees today in Oklahoma and there have been a succession of 100 degree days! We need rain badly!
I AM CURRENTLY READING “When the Meadow Blooms” . You are one of my favorite authors! Keep them coming!!
Author
Thank you so much, Dana. I’m so glad you have read and enjoyed my stories, and I hope you are having a great time following Calla and Sienna and the rest along their story road to Meadowland.
And it’s been hot here, but not quite that hot. We’re getting a break in the heat for a few days here with temperatures a little below average. We did get that wonderful rain last weekend, but it would be nice to get some more. I hope you get the rain you need and that you can find a way to stay cool.
Hi Ann. What a wonderful question to ask! Since I retired from teaching, I read about the same amount, year round! When, I was younger, it was definitely school breaks, and summer. As a mom, I read nightly to my children. It was such a positive routine at bedtime.
Author
Glad you liked my question, Carrie. I can understand why you couldn’t have as much time to read when you were teaching. I, too, read to my kids every night. Then when the grandkids came to visit to spend the night, we read books, and because they were the grandkids, I spoiled them by letting them pick out several books to read. I miss those bedtime read aloud times.
I read both Winter and Summer but I think I read more in the Summer because it’s too hot to crochet, unless I’m crocheting something small.
I remember as a child that I had a favorite Oak Tree in the pasture field that I would go and sit under and read,it was hollering distance from the house but far enough away that I had some quiet time alone.I was one of 6 kids growing up and I absolutely loved it but sometimes a girl needs a quiet place to read.
Author
Love that reading tree, Lisa. I have read stories or heard readers say, they climbed up in trees to read. When I was a kid, I used to wish I had a treehouse where I could read, but I generally did my reading hidden away in my room or in the winter, right in the living room close to the woodstove. Of course, I only had two sisters. So, I didn’t have quite as many siblings to disturb my reading time. 🙂
Hope you’re finding many good stories to read this summer.
What a lovely post! It took me to the library where all was quiet and the smell of books like heaven. I wonder how many worlds there are in a library? Is every book a world? Anyway, I read more in winter but only because of garden work and mowing my lawn which can take almost two days a week. Pine cones and sticks by the hundreds! Someday I won’t have a yard to do and I can read and see to my hearts content. That is if I can still see! Have a great summer friend!
Author
I do hope you never lose that ability to see, Karen. I hope that for me too and I’m thankful every day for glasses that let me see now. I am blessed that we have ways to help us see when our vision isn’t perfect.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post and thinking about your times in the library. I love libraries and appreciate the service they do for a community. Without the library here in my hometown, I don’t know if I could have either become a writer. All those books I’ve read have built up a stock of words in my head. 🙂
Winter. Summer has outdoor to do items moreso than winter!
Author
Summertime, summertime. Always something to be doing outside, Sharon. Especially when you live in the country.
I think I might read a bit more in the winter since it’s colder and I stay inside the house more.
Author
I think that might be true for me too, Connie, except if I have a deadline for writing my own books. Then I usually take a while after I meet the deadline to read extra books for pleasure.
Daily Migraines have slowed down my reading some, but I still love picking up a book and getting lost in a good story, no matter what season it is outside. I used to be able to read a book in day when I was in school. I would read it during study halls in school and on the bus ride home and then in my room at home at night. Our school had a “Book-it program where you could get a certificate for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut if you read enough books and filled out a paper on what you read. It gave me a good excuse to read more and then getting to eat out (something we didn’t do often) was an added bonus. 🙂 I can’t read a book in a day anymore, it is usually more like a week or so, but I have read all of the books that your prize winners selected, and they are in for an enjoyable time of getting lost in each of those stories. 🙂
Author
So sorry about those daily migraines, Hope. That’s not good at all. I hope you can find a way to get relief from them. My DIL and my granddaughter suffer from migraines and I see what a hard thing that is for them. I’m sure that kind of headache would make reading difficult.
Fun that you were able to read a book a day when you were in school. I never managed to read that fast. I could have done better if I didn’t get nauseous reading on the bus ride to school since we had an hour long trip. Now I’m happy that I can listen to audio books when we are on long car trips. I can barely look at a map or anything while riding, but listening is fine.
Thank you so much for your kind words about the books the winners chose. I do hope they will like the stories.
I am relieved to hear that I am not the only one with a pile of books to read. I think I know which one I will read next, then I order more books, and read the next one that comes in the mail. Sometimes, too much pressure. I love reading anytime I can make the time. And, I would love to play a caption game.
Author
Wonderful, Kim. I know we’ll have fun with a caption game and of course, there will be a book giveaway too. That way you might be able to add to your pile of books to read. 🙂 I too love reading anytime I can squeeze out the time. So many great books are calling to me from my TBR pile.
I read more in the summer and I would love to play a caption game on your blog,if you please,Ann! 😊 💜Em 💜Psalm 77💜
Author
Great, Emily. I’ll start hunting some interesting photos up to see what you all think. Maybe starting next Monday.
The only difference between my summer reading and my winter reading is where I’m doing the reading – outside on my front porch or inside on my couch! I also have a book in progress on my nightstand as well as magazines on my coffee table. I usually read those when I’m having a meal, but the books are always there when I’ve run out of magazines. Because I’ve been a widow for over ten years now, I can read anytime I want to, anyplace I want to, but I’d give that up in a moment if it would bring my husband back. Well, I really wouldn’t want to do that, because I know he’s healed and well in heaven, but…..
Author
I’m so sorry you lost your husband too soon, Patricia, but love that you have the comfort of knowing he’s happy in heaven.
I like your approach to reading too and glad you find joy in jumping into stories to enjoy living some new adventures with characters in the books you choose to read. I’ve always enjoyed reading while I’m eating if I’m eating alone. Thanks for sharing about your reading.