Every time I drink lemonade, it brings me back to my childhood, and the experience of reading an old children’s book while drinking a tall glass of lemonade (of the frozen variety, of course). I used to love reading books that had belonged to my mother, like a 1939 copy of Tale of the Witch Doll and a 1944 copy of the twenty-first Nancy Drew story, The Secret in the Old Attic. These stories were made all the more mysterious to me by the thick, yellowed pages of these well aged editions. I suppose this is part of the reason that I now have a bit of an obsession with buying books. This summer I have already been to a bookstore sidewalk sale (twice in two days) and a library fundraising sale. With prices ranging from 50 cents to one dollar, I greedily filled boxes with recent bestsellers, classics and non-fiction on topics ranging from decorating to dog training. There are few pairings more satisfying than summer and a good book. “Summer is the season for reading,” notes the jacket of The Penguin Book of Summer Stories. “Whether lying on the beach or curled up in a chair on the veranda, on a plane to faraway places or taking in the view from a hotel balcony, reading is the most decadent of summer activities.”
The only problem is I have so many books, I don’t know what to read next. Any ideas? I’d like to hear what you all are reading this summer.
