Things I Love About Summer Part 4

Summer Reading!!  Doesn't that bring back memories of being a kid and going to the public library at the beginning of the summer to sign up for summer reading?  That was always fun to get rewards for reading books in the summer.  I wasn't the best at reading a ton or getting many prizes, but the effort of opening a book on a rainy summer afternoon wasn't the worst thing in the world.  

When I made my way into junior high the motivation for reading waned a bit as I got my first job working at the local swimming pool hocking pop corn, Ding Dongs and soda in the concession stand.  But then, a neighbor introduced me to the X-Men and The Hobbit.  This was summer reading where the prize wasn't something a librarian gave me, the prize was imagination and discovering characters I could get behind.  In high school, summer reading got me through the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.  

Today, summer allows me the time to read books that aren't necessarily just for work.  Yes, I have a summer reading group with students that meets three times through the summer to discuss three books we have read.  Those books are a hit and miss on stories that I like, but the discussion with the kids are always fun and insightful.  Many times they convince me that I shouldn't have liked the book that I liked, and that I should have liked the books that I didn't.  I can never win.  

Then I get to the books that I really want to read.  Most of them fall into a few categories that I will never tire reading: Star Wars, fantasy (Forgotten Realms, DragonLance), graphic novels and comics.  I save the non-fiction for the school year when it feels a little more, scholarly.  

This summer I have continued my read-through of the X-Factor comic run of the 1990s.  I keep up-to-date with my current comics both in print and digital.  I finally started reading the classic X-Wing series from the 1990s.  I found Rogue Squadron by Michael Stackpole to be as exciting as watching the trench run through the Death Star.  What a great book!  I blew through it as I found it hard to put down.  

I am now, on July 19, between books and struggling to choose.  I am in the mood for fantasy but the lure of book 2 of X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble is really strong.  So, as I decide, I consume comics and graphic novels.  

This is one of the things I love about summer.  I get to read and read and read, take some time between books to decide what is next, and enjoy the real prize of great stories and good relaxation.