Summer is here. As I write this, the temperatures are in the 90’s and the humidity is about 100 percent. May was a blur and now the lazy sweltering days of June and July are before us.
I am sure summertime means different things to people. Vacations, golf, baseball, county fairs, and swimming are just some of the activities enjoyed in the heat. Growing up I never participated in sports, the bugs loved to nibble me, and the sun made my skin blister, so I filled my hours with books.
Browsing the aisles of the Drake Library was a joy! Where else could one spend hours on end and be left alone? No nosy store clerks asking if assistance was needed. No parents or teachers checking to make sure the books were age appropriate. I devoured the V.C. Andrews’ books, worked my way through Stephen King, dabbled in true crime, and read whatever I wanted. I learned all about the seedy dark side of life! It was fabulous.
I logged hundreds of summer hours with my teenage nose buried in a book, eating sunflower seeds and sucking down generic Mountain Dew. I was never bored! My mom knew better than to recommend that I spend some time with friends outside of the house.
I miss those days–especially when I wake up with a start, fumbling to take the book off my face after I have dozed off after five minutes of reading. Being a grown up is hard and tedious! So try to carve out some time this summer and dig into a trashy read. Preferably one that would scandalize an upstanding adult.

Three summer books.