Summer Reading

by Sheila Webster Boneham



I confess. I’m a bit behind the total word count I plotted out months ago on my fancy schmancy spread sheet. Not far behind, mind you, but a bit. Summer is not a good time for me to write, you see. I need winter, the colder and nastier out the better (unless I need to go out for something, in which case a chinook is good). But summer is seductive. I want to be outdoors. I want to go play. Ride my bike. Lie in the grass and watch the clouds. Travel. Walk on the beach at sunset and watch the sand change colors.

Sit on the porch under the ceiling fan and read some good books. And that’s another thing I’m a bit behind on – reading. I read a lot, both a lot of pages and a lot of things made for reading. I read mysteries, literary nonfiction, thrillers, memoirs, biology, mainstream novels, ethnographies, short stories, new stuff, old stuff. There’s just so much of it, isn’t there?

As usual, I currently have several books going. Here’s what’s on my night stand with bookmarks somewhere inside right now. (Don’t laugh at how far behind I am getting to a few of these, okay?)

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, which I didn’t want to read but have to for a workshop I’ll be attending in July, and I like it better than I thought I would

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, ditto everything above except I don’t like it much at all

Delights and Shadows by former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. As a collection, I like it a lot. A few individual poems I absolutely love.

Wicked Eddies by Beth Groundwater, which I’ve barely stuck my toe into but I’m already hooked.

Entering the Stone: On Caves and Feeling through the Dark by Barbara Hurd, which I’ve also just started but, knowing how much I loved her Walking the Wrack Line, I expect to like this one.

In the past week I finished a novel, The Cyclist by Viken Berberian, and a memoir, Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl. I recommend both of them.

What will I read the rest of the summer? I’m sure I’ll be adding more, but here’s what I have on my pile so far:

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Love is Murder, the new Thriller Writers’ anthology edited by Sandra Brown

The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson

At least one book by each of my co-Midnight Ink authors, which I expect to enjoy immensely

So, what’s on your summer reading list?



Sheila W. Boneham, Ph.D., is the author of the forthcoming "Animals in Focus" mystery Drop Dead on Recall (now available for pre-order) as well as award-winning books about pets including Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals (Alpine, 2009), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting and Owning a Cat (Alpha, 2005), and fifteen others. Sheila's books are available from your local bookseller and on line. Learn more at www.sheilaboneham.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sheilawrites , or at Sheila's Blog.