The Summer Reading Tag

The Summer Reading Tag was created by Amy Jane Reads. I found out about this tag from watching ABookOlive’s video. Obviously, I tagged myself. Summer is my favorite season. Growing up in the South, I took sunshine and warmth for granted, but then I went to college up north and lived through my first real winters. Let me tell you, I don’t take it for granted anymore. Now I am all about the summer.

Give me sunshine! Give me sweat! Give me saltwater and sand, watermelon and backyard barbeques! Give me tan lines and light hair! Give me my summer reading, lying on my towel, my sunglasses perched on my nose and an icy beverage in my hand!

Yeah, so I really like summer, and I thought this tag would be a fun way to celebrate my favorite season. Without further ado, here are the questions:

1. What three books do you want to read this summer? Firstly, I’d like to finish the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. I started this epic fantasy series at the end of June and, despite the hefty page count of the Orbit publication, I’ve been flying through these books. There just so fun, perfect for summer reading.

Secondly, I’d like to read Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg. A historical fiction book set in New York during the Depression, this book has been on my TBR for years now, and this summer feels like the perfect time to dip into some spunky, inspiring women’s fiction.

Finally, I’d like to read Rebecca Roanhorse’s recently released Trail of Lightning. An own-voices, Indigenous urban fantasy with a monster hunter set, if this novel doesn’t just scream FUN, I don’t know what does.

2. Which character most embodies the traits of summer? I’m going to cheat a little and name two – Goldie Vance from BOOM! Box and Betty Cooper from the new Archie comics. Both comics heroines are young, plucky, determined, friendly, and competent. They both also have a penchant for fast automobiles, and for me driving fast with the windows down and the music blaring has always been a hallmark of summer.

3. What book do you most associate with the physicality of summer?

A book I have not read yet, but am eager to get to, is Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, whose The Paris Wife I thoroughly enjoyed. Circling the Sun is set in Kenya in the early 20th century and follows a woman ahead of her time looking for adventure. The plot alone screams summer to me, but every time I look at its golden cover, the heroine with her short hair, dressed in light linen, the sun-soaked Kenyan landscape in the background, I can feel the sweat beading on my brow, the sunshine warm on my face, the cool breeze nipping at my collar.

4. What kind of books do you like to read on holiday? Any books that hold memories to certain places? I like my books pulpy in the summer. Summer feels like the time for character archetypes and tropes and breakneck plotting. When the sun’s out, I want all of the sword fights and femme fatales, intrigues and betrayals, quips and bloody lips. Give me the literary equivalent of summer blockbusters.

Most of my summer reading memories are connected to water, which, to be fair is where I do most of my summer reading. There was Ashley Weaver’s Murder at the Brightwell which I finished at the State Park, snacking on grapes while my family floated on the lake below. I flew through the novelization of Greg Rucka’s Batman: No Man’s Land while tanning by the pool at the resort the first time I visited Colorado. The most fun I ever had with assigned summer reading was the year before my sophomore year of high school when in between dips in the pool of my childhood home, I ate pineapple chunks and delved into The Count of Monte Cristo.

5. If you could you go on holiday with any author, who would you go with and where? What would you want to know? So you know that episode in Community, where Pierce gets Levar Burton to come to meet Troy and Troy FREAKS out because he NEVER wanted to meet his hero?

Yeah, well I’m a lot like Troy. If I love your work, I NEVER want to meet you, so the real answer here is no one and nowhere, but that’s no fun in a tag. So again I’m going to cheat and give two options.

The first is I would like to go to Florence with Jane Austen. I think Florence is beautiful, and I would love to see Austen’s critical eye take on a society that wasn’t British. (I very much would not like to have that critical eye turned upon me, see Troy freak out above.)

As far as living authors go, I think Mindy Kaling is one of the funniest people alive. I know she occasionally vacations in Hawaii, somewhere I’d very much like to visit, so that sounds pleasant and getting to hear about her experiences as a young writer on such a juggernaut like The Office, an executive producer of her own show, working on movies like Ocean’s 8 and A Wrinkle in Time might be worth getting over my deeply ingrained terror of meeting people I admire. Maybe.

6. What's your book of the year so far?

I read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden in January, and from the first page it, quite literally, took my breath away. I loved the characters. I loved the setting. I loved the mythology. I loved, loved, loved the prose. I quickly went on to read The Girl in the Tower, which I quite enjoyed but didn’t love quite the way I did The Bear. Nonetheless, I cannot wait for The Winter of the Witch, and Arden has earned her spot as an author I’ll keep my eye on in the future.

7. How did you spend your summer holidays as a child? I looked forward every year to the summer reading contests held at my local library, and I was so proud of the dinky little golden trophies I’d receive. I would read till my eyes hurt, then lie down with my eyes closed, listening to an audiobook till I was okay, then pick up my physical book once more.

When I wasn't inside reading, I spent nearly all my time outside by the pool. I have always loved the water and summer was the time when I got to indulge my aquatic tendencies to their fullest.

Summer was also the season when we would travel up to visit my family in Missouri. I’d play with my cousins, ride horses with my grandpa, gorge myself on catfish and stir-fry, and go to Silver Dollar City in Branson.

8. What are your plans this summer? I’m about to head off to grad school abroad for a year, so I’m going on a family road trip/farewell tour. For about three weeks, we’re packing up a truck and driving all over the central United States visiting family and family friends.

That’s the end of the tag! I hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as I am. If you like this tag, please feel free to do it yourself in any format you so choose and tag me so I can see your answers.

Images: Pixabay, Goodreads, Giphy

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