Reading the news these days can be enough to bum me out. Last week it was National Guards and Marines arresting people in LA exercising their rights to free speech and (generally) peaceful protests. This weekend it was two politicians, their spouses, and one golden retriever shot for the “crime” of being a Democratic politician (or living with one). Today, it is worrisome comments by President Trump about going to war in Iran.

However, I try to keep things in perspective. I stay informed. I attempt to do what is mine to do about these concerns. This weekend, I joined a beautiful, joyful, inspiring, and completely peaceful No Kings protest. At the one I attended, my Congresswoman gave a speech urging us all to use our First Amendment rights to free speech, to assemble peaceably, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. I exercised that final one this morning by sending emails to my Congressional representatives about some of the grievances I have around today’s politics.

And then I try to let it go. I choose to focus on something else. Today, I’m focusing on summer, particularly summer reading.

Traditional calendar schools are done for the year here, and the final track of the year-round schools graduates next week. And do you know what that means? At least here in the admittedly-nerdy Town of Cary, it means the libraries are PACKED!

The Cary Library has always been one of the highest-circulation libraries in the Wake County Library system. But now that a new two-story Regional Library replaced the older Cary Library, and was built next to the new Downtown Park that was chosen by USA Today as the BEST Public Playground in the USA… All I can say is that when I dropped by to drop off the latest books I had finished and to pick up my holds that had come in, the JOINT was JUMPING, to say the least.

And I loved it.

My visit was a little bittersweet. When my son was young, we participated fully in the many summer programs our library held for children. We did story time and hands-on activities and OF COURSE the summer reading program. We did everything they offered for his age. And we loved them. Of course, many of his fellow homeschooling friends joined us in these programs, which was great. I have great memories of those times, and I miss them sometimes. Summer was when we really dove into our love of reading as many books as possible.

But children grow up, and the library no longer becomes the place they want to hang out. And perhaps that is how it should be.

However, I’m still ALL IN for our county’s summer reason program. I fill out my slip every time I come, and color in a dot for each day I spend at least some time reading (which is EVERY day). The Wake County Library System’s goal is for us to check out at least 2,000,000 (TWO MILLION) books this summer. And I’m doing my best to help meet that goal.

I just picked up three books. One I’ve only had to wait for a few days. One I’ve been waiting for weeks, and another one for months. But as I looked at them, I realized the ones I just got are great representatives of my preferences in reading.

The one I’m starting on is this:

This book is like literary catnip to me. It is the story of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of a more progressive version of Jim, the runaway slave that shares much of Huckleberry Finn’s journey. It came out last year and was highly received. Then it won the Pulitzer Prize this year. So it has great literature cred. I’ve only read a bit but I really like where it looks like its going.

I have to admit that this is about my 3rd or 4th time getting the book from the library. However, the previous times the book showed up when I was SO busy that I just didn’t have the time or attention to do it justice. A book like this has hundreds of people on the waiting list, so you just don’t know when it will be your turn. But if it’s a bad time for you, well, too bad, so sad. I thought I was really going to enjoy it, and I didn’t want to start it and not finish it. Things are little less hectic right now, so I’m determined to get through it this time.

Once I finish that, I plan to move on to this one:

This is another book that looks like a natural for me. When I was growing up, I was SO into Greek mythology. I thought it was so much more instructive than the Bible was. I couldn’t relate at all to the Old Testimony Jehovah that I was exposed to, but Zeus and Hera and Athena and Aphrodite and their entire crew made so much more sense to me. Sure, all of them did a lot of bad things, but at least I could learn from them.

I have since moved on from my adolescent understanding of the Bible, and have been a serious student of New Thought spirituality for over 25 years now. But I never gave up my love for Greek mythology. So of course I’ve been loving a new trend in the past few years of women rewriting traditional Greek mythology from a female character’s point of view. The one that really kicked off this movement, at least for me, was Circe by Madeline Miller. It tells the story of Circe, a sorceress and demi-goddess who was one of the sources of Odysseus’ delay in coming home from the Trojan War. But rather than being another bit player in the Odyssey, we get the entire life story of a strong and compelling character. It is great to revisit these myths through the eyes of female characters, especially those who tend to be vilified in the traditional versions of the myth, such as Medea or Clytemnestra. Granted, they did some bad things, but only after others did some pretty terrible things to them.

This book doesn’t seem to be based on an actual Greek myth, but rather to be an original story set in the world of the Olympians. So we’ll see. But I do enjoy reading about strong women from that world.

My final book is a unique entry into one of my most common reading genres:

I like to read before I go to bed, to help me make the transition between the digital world (with its sleep-disturbing blue light) and the land of dreams. But if I’m really tired, I don’t want to read a serious book like James or Circe. My favorite chick-lit/minimal brain required book genre is what are called “cozy” murder mysteries. In these books, the murder victim is always someone someone who has been nasty and you don’t mind them exiting the story. And the ones solving the mystery are women in women-favorite occupations, running bakeries, craft stores, or bed and breakfasts in quaint towns, or working in home decorations or bookstores or such. The story is as much about these female protagonists and their friends and families as the crime. They just happen to be better as solving the mystery than, say, THE POLICE! The end of the book usually contains recipes or craft ideas or something else that women enjoy making or doing. I’m sure you know the kind of book I mean. Ridiculous scenarios, but nice light reading for me.

I like those books because they are quick and easy to read but require at least a little brain power (as opposed to most romances, in my opinion, in which the only mystery is what twist of faith is going to bring together the two romantic leads who are obviously meant to fall in love since the second chapter).

So this is also a common genre for me.

HOWEVER, this is also a first for me. This is the first murder mystery I’ve ever read in which the unprofessional detective who will obviously solve the crime is a …..drum roll….DRAG QUEEN! So it sounds like it should be fun.

So that’s my reading agenda going into July. How about you? Do you tend to read different books in the summer than the rest of the year? Have you found a book that you really loved lately? Be sure to post any reading recommendations or insight in the comments below.