Carol

Is Summer Reading Season a Thing?

May 14, 2021

Is Summer Reading Season a Thing?

Is Summer Reading Season a Thing text over a photo background of a woman reading next to water

Image Source: Canva

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Is Summer the Super Bowl of Your Reading Life?

Do you read more in the summer?

Do you have a preferred genre for summer reading?

Do you have a favorite reading season?

Do you like to read

By the Pool?

At the beach?

On your porch swing?

Snuggled on a cozy couch?

Hunkered down in the AC?

On a park bench?

Gif: Summer Reading is here! a large cat holds a book with a shining sun over its shoulder

When my children were young, I could only read late at night (and paid for it the next day). When I was earning my degrees, I didn’t read for pleasure at all. When I taught, summer was definitely my reading season. During the school year, I was preoccupied with lesson plans and grading papers and I was afraid to start a book because I’d get lost in the book and neglect my other responsibilities.

Now that I’m retired, I read every day….I read late at night….I read in bed in the morning. Summer is no longer my main reading season because every day is summer for me now!

An online book club I’m a member of puts out a Summer Reading Guide and it’s a big deal as members seriously plan their summer reading. (a shout out to MMD book club members who are reading this!)

Do you plan your summer reading? Do you consider summer your main reading season or are you more of a winter reader? Or do you read evenly all year and perhaps a bit more on vacation? Or maybe you only read while on vacation?

If you’re a summer reader, what type of books do you like to read in the summer? Do you continue reading your preferred genres or are you looking for something different for summer? Do you pack more books than clothes for a summer vacation? Oh, just me?!

beach reads cartoon

In the summer I continue reading what I usually read for the most part. However, I think that when I take a book to the pool or beach, I like to take a lighter read. That way if I’m interrupted by children or conversation or people watching, I’m able to look up and easily take a break. In other words I probably wouldn’t grab my next intense and heavy histfic. I’m looking for light (but thoughtful) women’s fiction, light memoirs, or essay collections.

With the qualification that ANY book you read at the beach is a BEACH read, here are 20 LIGHTER titles that I’ve read and would recommend for beach (or vacation or backyard) reading this summer. I hope some of these newer and older titles might appeal to you (titles are links to my reviews or Amazon affiliate links):

I could go on! I hope you found an idea here!

Happy Summer Reading Book Friends!

smiling stick figure girl holding an open book (caption: Summer Reading)

QOTD:

Is Summer a big reading season for you?

Happy Reading Book Buddies!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

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26 comments

  2. I agree with everything you said, including the not reading while working. I became a readaholic (is that a word) once I retired and especially after my husband passed away and I was by myself. I do like to read lighter, summery stories by the pool in my yard, but will read a bit heavier story if I know no one else is coming over. I always do Christmas in July, so will read Christmas stories then to cool me down in the hot weather. 😅🎅

    Reply

    • I need to try Christmas in July some year! Yes, retirement is wonderful for the reading life….and to pass the loneliest of days.

      Reply

  3. My reading doesn’t change according to the season so I can be found reading books set in wintry conditions while I’m enjoying blue skies and warm breezes. I’m not a beach or pool goer so any summer reading is done in my garden lounger or on park bench.

    Reply

  4. I generally read the same in the summer as I do the rest of the year. However, if we are going on vacation, I will choose something a little lighter, so that if I am interrupted I can easily get back into the story. I have taken heavier reads on vacation and always regret it.

    The biggest change for me is that in the summer I like to sit on my front porch to read.

    Thanks for the suggested reading, Carol! Looks like a good list.

    Reply

  8. Great post! I read the most in the winter because I’m a cold weather hibernator! In the summer I am always working outdoors and doing things, but I listen to a ton of audiobooks while outside!

    Reply

  10. I love to read anywhere, summer or winter. But the books can’t be too easy, those so called “beach reads” really bore me. Doesn’t mean you can’t read a chunky, heavy book on the beach, right?

    Reply

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