Light Summer Reading 2024

I signed up for a reading challenge at our local library.  They do this every summer and all you need to do is report, by August 16 (the challenge started June 24) every book you've read.  No pressure and you don't even have to take books out of their library branch.  You just write down the title and author on a form they provide you on a paper form.

Nor, like some other libraries, do you have to challenge yourself by reading different types of books they specify. or keep track of how long you read each day.  I'm way past those kind of challenges. I just read what I want, when I want. 

There is a drawing at the end.  I won a prize several years back but now I enter because I'm reading anyway, so why not?

Considering that I've recently read books like James, by Percival Everett (excellent, and I highly recommend), my first two choices may surprise you.  They surprised me.

Last year, one of my summer reading selections was a YA (Young Adult) book called The Summer I Turned Pretty, by YA best selling author Jenny Han.  I had no idea that the book was an Amazon Prime series or part of a series that has sold over four million books.

But the book was addictive.  I couldn't tell you why, but the story appealed to me.  (I do know one reason, but then I'd have to place a Spoiler Alert on this post).  These types of books are not even close to my preferred genres (SF, dystopian, and yes, I will and have read good YA books in both).  I detested the name of the protagonist - her given name is Isabel but everyone calls her Belly.  It's a coming of age story - the summer Belly realizes she is no longer a child.

And yet, here I was racing to finish the book and staying up nights to read, which I normally don't do anymore.

Fast forward to this year.

I decided to read the second and third books of the series, It's Not Summer Without You and We'll Always Have Summer  These are best sellers, also, and follow Belly and other characters as they enter their college years and become young adults.

And again, I lost sleep because I couldn't put the books down.  Turns out I liked the second book.  The third one was a major disappointment.  And yet...I still couldn't put it down.

I don't know what ingredients author Jenny Han puts in her writing, but her books (and TV series) have been big successes.  Addictive, and they were for me, too.

So now that I've finished the trilogy, what's on my reading list?

I'm not going to read any more Jenny Han books at this point of time.  It's back to my normal reading habits.

I've started The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride, but a book I had on reserve, After Annie by Anna Quindlen, has come off reserve and I need to get going on that book, too. (Yes, I read more than one book at a time).  I know the latter book won't be light reading, but we'll see how it goes.

Doing any summer reading this year?