It’s Memorial Day . . . a day for honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country . . . a day for cook outs and ice cream . . . and a day to mark the official start of summer (my favorite season!).
I love summer for so many reasons. Long days. Balmy evenings on our deck. Breakfast under the pergola. Container gardens bursting with color. Trips to the beach. And (you knew this was coming) summer reading.
As a kid, I loved the summer reading program at the library. I have always been a keeper of records, so I put a lot of importance on tracking the books I read with the folder the library provided. I used markers and stickers and glitter to personalize it. I loved visiting the library every week to show them my progress and pick out books to take home. I loved reading in the yard, in bed with a flashlight, in the car on road trips, on picnics, at the beach and more.
For the past several years I have participated in Summer Book Bingo. I’ve gotten a cover all every year and I enjoyed finding ways to fit the books I planned on reading into the squares on my card. However, Mary isn’t hosting it this year and, while you can still access her site and create a Bingo card, I will not be doing that. I’m ready for a break from the pressure of a cover all. I’m ready to read whatever I feel like reading or, if I’m being completely honest, whatever becomes available from the public library. I’m ready to loosen the rules and make summer reading fun and easy.
I’m hoping you will join me in a Summer of Reading here at Carole Knits. There are no rules other than to read. Track books if you want. Track pages read if you want. Track hours spent listening if you want. Or don’t track anything at all. I’ll be posting about reading on a regular basis, tempting you with topics to encourage you to read. Like any summer reading program worth its weight in salt, there will be prizes! Every comment you leave on any posts about reading will equal one entry. There may even be special contests that I will announce at random. The program starts today and ends on Labor Day.
And that’s it . . . Summer Reading on Carole Knits has begun!
Sounds good to me! I’m in the mood for some lighter fiction having spent the long winter on heavy stuff about current events.
I’m with you! I gave up Summer Book Bingo after a few years as it felt more like a chore. Your version is my kind of reading!!
This is my kind of reading Carole! Thank you for offering this version! XO
Now that I am retired, I feel like my whole year could be summer reading style but you are so right, these next few months are a special reading time for me too. If we could get some dry days and something above 55 degrees I could set up the hammock and read on the deck without a blanket!
I’m happy to have a summer sans Bingo, but would like to track my books in a fun way. Your list of books with color and stickers, etc. sounds fun, but it’s likely I’ll get distracted and do nothing. Or, I just thought that maybe I would track by the authors gender or ethnicity. There are so many options and I’ve got to find the right one for my summer (or not). Thanks for the inspiration. Reading is summer fun, no matter how to track it.
I’m in! I miss being able to do the summer reading program at the library, so I’m looking forward to this!
This is my kind of summer reading program – doing something I would be doing anyway with no rules! Thanks, Carole!
I was the obnoxious child who always maxed out the reading program. Seriously. Who’s competitive in third grade about reading? I mean, besides me. Light reading it will be this summer, as I catch snippets here and there with big changes being prepared for in the background.
Happy Summer!
Happy Reading!
Random thought. How about a “Reader Review Day” later this summer for people to share their favorite read so far this summer in the comments? I love your reviews and I think you have a smart, thoughtful readership so I’d like to hear what others are liking. Is that weird?
Not weird! I like your suggestion very much, Robby. I am always looking for recommendations from readers rather than publishers.
I’m up for that!
Right now I’m reading a “fluff” book. They’ll probably be a LOT of that this summer. I can’t wait to read about what YOU read AND what others say in the comments.
Summer reading is the best reading. It feels absolutely luxurious. I’m sure that’s a throw back to being out of school for the summer!
I’ve been tracking and posting about reading since the start of the year (once a month) and it really helps me ‘curate’ my reading—when I get tempted by something I look back to see if it reminds me of something I thought I’d like earlier in the year and see if that was worth the reading time commitment or not. This summer I want to intersperse more ‘challenging’ reading with lighthearted summer reading.
I feel like I have just been given permission to read like a kid again. No boxes to check off, no “must” reads. Thank you!
I love this idea. I’m in!
I love this idea! What better way is there to relax than with a good book and a cold drink while sitting on the patio!
I decided this year that I want to read some books I own (I did that mostly last year for book bingo). So I created a list of books I want to read. I had my father draw me a bingo card and I put all the books in a spreadsheet with location on the bingo card and am adding them to the card as I read them. I can change my mind and it will also depend on what I find at the library but I have a Nora Roberts 3 book series I have had for years and I want to read them and donate them to a nearby used bookstore. I also have about 4 or 5 left to read in the Sookie Stackhouse series that I want to finish up along with a few other titles. I have no desire to fill up the card, I just find it fun to write them in and cross off a row or two.
I’m feeling the same here but decided to make a bingo card to loosely fit what I’d written down and am looking forward to reading this summer. I never get a cover all because I stray off on my own by the fourth of July anyway. Lol
Such a GREAT idea, Carole! XO I just loved the Summer Reading Program at my library when I was growing up, so count me in. I really love a nice, “loosey-goosey” read-whatever-I-feel-like summer reading plan. (My kind of reading program, for sure.)
Sounds like fun! I finished a book this morning and started not her this evening.
Let’s go! I think I’ll make a list in my iPad notes.
This is the perfect time to suggest this type of reading, Carole! Some comfort reading and a lack of rules is just what is called for now. I think Robby’s suggestion above about sharing favorite books is a good one.
I’m in as I prefer a no-rules kind of summer reading program. I usually make a short list of things I might want to read. Most summers I read some of my list and some other books that I come upon during the summer. My summer reading is a throwback to the years when I worked in early intervention with the school district. I like to read a library book with a plastic cover and order a few used books too.