Summer Reading: Adult Style
When I was little, one of my favorite days of summer was the day my mom took me to the library to stock up on books and pick up my reading competition log. In my town (just outside of -- you guessed it -- Boston), the librarians hosted an annual contest aimed to encourage kids to read. The rules were threefold: read a book, record the title in your log, and don't cheat -- parents had to sign off on every completed title to ensure kids weren't just writing down the titles of every book they saw without ever cracking a spine. At the end of the summer, prizes were awarded for the most books read in every age group. Over various years, I received several laminated bookmarks and one much-coveted book jacket. I think it goes without saying that I was the coolest kid in school.
That annual summer thrill was not in the competition, though -- it was more in keeping the logs from year to year and looking them over to re-live the splendors of each book (I starred my favorites for easy re-reading access). Summer was a time that allowed me to completely lose myself in my imagination, whether I was at the beach, riding my bike around the neighborhood, climbing trees with my cousins, or curled up on a couch or in a hammock, transporting myself to worlds created by Roald Dahl or Jane Yolen or Lois Lowry.
Even though we're just weeks away from fall, summer is still emphatically here in Boston -- and particularly in my top-floor South End apartment, where a wall of windows and a gasping, little engine that could AC window unit is keeping the temp at a toasty 89. I'm 28, but I'm taking the next few weeks and beyond to feel eight again. I'll be reading as much as I can and sharing my thoughts here. And between pages, I'll be strolling around the city, finding more literary inspiration around every corner.
