It’s been a long time since Gershwin’s “Summertime” had much meaning for me. Living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan means summer is a relative term. It doesn’t really get warm (at least 75) on a consistent basis until mid-June. By mid to late-August, just in time for the U.P. State Fair, temperatures can struggle to reach the 50s and 60s during the day in a bad year.
So a lot of outdoor activity gets crammed into a two-month timeframe. All home and yard maintenance must be done before it’s time to dust off the snow shovels and tune up the snowblower. On the fun side, various baseball games, weddings, barbecues, picnics, etc. must be attended lest one be considered a complete hermit (a title I can rightfully claim more and more each year).
I’m also carving out some time to read, write, and get ready for the release of "Page One: Whiteout" later this year. My reading list is now so long that, even if I live to 103, I will die before I even get through half of the books on my shelves so what I read has no particular logic.
This season’s “musts” include several fantasy selections such as Tolkien’s "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s "The Mists of Avalon". Since I AM a mystery writer by trade, however, I’m making room for Sue Grafton (I’m up to "G is for Gumshoe") and more of Wisconsin writer Victoria Houston’s delightful Loon Lake mysteries.
I also have a supply of humorous novels that serve little purpose other than to make me forget my lousy mood. For those times when I feel the need to boost my IQ a point or two, I have what one of my professors calls “chewy” books that remind me how little I really know about anything. Then, of course, there is my dark side which can only be satisfied by Stephen King or Anne Rice (I can almost hear "The Witching Hour" calling to me).
What about writing, you ask? With the end of the Page One trilogy, I am now at work on a series revolving around a couple of college professors (something my colleagues here at Michigan Tech have long predicted would happen once I got clued into just how, um, ripe an environment a college campus is for a good murder).
As for sleeping and eating, well, who has time for that when summer lasts but a moment?
So what’s on your reading list for summer? Who’s your favorite “beach read” author?
