Summer Reading

Lately I have been perusing blogs whereby the authors of said blogs are posting their summer reading lists. "I wish," I say to myself each time I run across one of these, "that I could be so organized." I mean, really, to actually know what I might want to read in advance! What a concept. I read all of the time. Really I do. More than once friends have asked (sometimes it is the same friend) "How do you find the time?" My question to myself is, "How do I not find the time?" Reading is a stress release for me. I can get lost in another world, other than my own. Maybe that is why I am so picky about it. I read based on feeling, "Let's see, what book in my numerous stacks by the bed and on the bookshelves, looks good today?" Then I pick it up and start it. I do this at the library as well. Last summer was a slew of surprises in reading, books that I never thought that I would pick up and good share of them out-of-print or hard to come by in this country to boot. I made my selections based primarily on how near they were to children's areas that my kids were perusing. How random is that? I would say it is fairly random, I broadened my literary scope greatly using this method I might add as well. Then there are the book clubs. Actually I should say book club. I used to belong to two, now Book Club Gone Bad appears to be on permanent hiatus so I am now down to one book club. I usually get around to reading the required reading. I usually get around to finishing it too, sometimes because I actually like the book, other times because I just can't stand to leave it unfinished unless it is really bad. I am thankful to say that no book club member has picked a really bad read yet, oh, yeah, there was one. It was so bad that I don't even remember the name, I struggled through that one, very poorly written. I can't stand it when something is poorly written. I would rather not understand what the hell the characters are doing half of the time than to read something poorly written. With that said, I will go forth and finish "The God of Small Things" which I have been meaning to read almost as long as it has been in print. Then it will be off of my "reading list," that would be the one that I will be developing as I go along. Happy summer reading.