I was surprised the first time I heard that book sales dropped in the summer.Really?
I remembered that as a kid, I'd spend long afternoons transported to other places, introduced to other ideas, all summer long through library books. Summer, to me, was prime time for reading.
As an adult, it all kind of seemed the same. Who in the world would stop reading just because it was summer?
The rationale is that people spend more time doing other things in the summer. Gardening, golf, pool, beach, hiking, whatever. Really? Enough to make that big of a difference?
So I'm asking, what are you hoping to read this summer?
Opening my Kindle (which doesn't come close to completing the books on my TBR list) I find these intriguing titles:
THE BONE POLISHER by Timothy Hallinan ( I can't believe there's a Hallinan out there I haven't read);
A few Michael Connelly's (ditto what I said about Hallinan);
THE SHOP and ICON by J Carson Black;
WHOSE HAND? by Judith Yates Borger (I enjoyed WHERE'S BILLIE? so much I can't believe I haven't read this one yet);
Something from J.D. Rhoades, who I've truly enjoyed;
And OMG… just found a Lisa Gardner in my cloud!!!
Then there's the new Alafair Burke and Zoe Sharp and oh-so-many more.
So really, what's on your list for this summer? Are you reading less?
It's all better with friends.
THANK you, Peggy, and thanks also for the lovely card, which arrived yesterday. That's so thoughtful of you. How's the new book coming????
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tim.
ReplyDeleteI'm going through my second round of self-edits (text to speech) before I send it off to a few beta readers. I vacillate between thinking it's the best thing I've ever written and a load of crap. It certainly has given me a few more challenges than my first two. Peggy will have her work cut out for her, I'm afraid.
And I'm kind of a cheating writer because I'm already thinkingabout the next one. Does that make me some kind of an adulterer-writer?
Oh, and… happy birthday, Tim!
ReplyDeleteJust a couple, I too m going to read The Bone Polisher - strictly for fun as I have 2 or 3 of Tim's latest in the TBR (that's to be reviewed) pile, other than that I have "The Salinger Contract" by Adam Langer, "he First Casualty" by Gregg Loomis, "Kinds Of Love, Kinds Of Piece" by Donald E. Westlake (I think this is a 1st in eBook release, not sure), "Unexplained Fevers" by Jeannine Hall Gailey, "Dead Brilliant" by Christoher Ward and a musical bio, "Mr. B - The Life And Story Of Billy Eckstein" by Cary Ginell....and then next week I'll be reading.......
ReplyDeleteKnowing you, Robert, you'll get those books read. All of them. And quickly.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably the slowest reader I know and I'll be lucky to get half of them read in the next few months.
I have one of Tim's books, one from Lisa Gardner, and a John Sandford I missed.
ReplyDeleteI think a big reason the luxury of reading time is shortened is for the parents out there that suddenly have children at home, all day. Trying to keep them occupied and out of trouble can seize the day, and not in a carpe diem kind of way!
Nice post!
I imagine for stay-at-home parents things are quite different when the kids are out of school, as long as it's traditional and not year-round.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm still not convinced people who are readers read less in the summer… they might just read differently.
Re-reading some Julie Smith right now. I have so many good books on my TBR list I don't know where to go next! Given a choice, I would split my time between reading, playing guitar, taking pictures and the occasional baseball break.
ReplyDeleteKathleen, you've convinced me to try Julie Smith. Which one should I begin with?
ReplyDeleteI'd start with NEW ORLEANS MOURNING, the first Skip Langdon mystery. It sets up the characters in the rest of that series. The Skip Langdon series evolves into the Talba Wallis books. Talba is a minor character in some of the Langdon books, and Smith gave her her own books. She has an earlier series set in San Francisco, but I didn't like it nearly as much. I just finished JAZZ FUNERAL and downloaded DEATH BEFORE FACEBOOK (renamed recently). BTW, most of the books are available to borrow on Amazon Prime. I'll be interested to hear what you think.
ReplyDeleteBought it. Since I don't exactly know when I'll get to it, borrowing it doesn't seem very productive.
ReplyDeleteI don't find that I'm reading any less to be honest...with the ease of downloading books directly onto my Nook I find that I'm reading a bit more! I have been addicted to psychological thrillers and murder mysteries this summer. Thank you for this extensive list! I wanted to mention a crime fiction novel I read recently that I could NOT put down. The book is called “The Gemini Factor” by author Philip Fleishman (http://www.philipfleishmanmd.com/)The action and surprises in this book never stopped! It is a superb medical/psychological mystery spun with meticulous attention to accuracy. The medical aspects are gruesomely spot-on (the book focuses on serial killers with identical “calling cards” in two different countries). There is excellent character development and plot twists and turns that left me speechless! I cannot wait for this author’s next book and hope you will give it a read :)happy summer
ReplyDeleteWow, Wendy… are you related to Philip? Love your enthusiasm.
ReplyDelete