Good Bye, Summer Reading

A proud reader

For some, the first day of school means the end of summer. At libraries, it means the end of summer reading. Close to one thousand children participated in the summer reading program at my county library. The finishers, who had to read fifteen books over the summer, earned a coupon book of prizes and the right to put their names on paper cut outs we display in the branch. Many children proudly visit their cut outs, so we leave them up for a few weeks into the school year. But the gears shift; the reading lists change.

Gone are the lighter, funnier, summer reads. In September, the school reading lists bristle with classics and serious novels. The Great Gatsby steps in as Bridget Jones makes her exit.

Many adults make the same shift. Instead of the brightly colored book displays of beach reads, bristling with bikinis, sand castles, and sailboats, the library book display this month features biographies, serious and suitable for September, the back to school month. Many of these books may have bikinis, sandcastles, and sailboats in the story, but these frivolous elements are hidden behind serious head shots and no nonsense titles: Fearless. Unbreakable. No Easy Day. Lean In.

As we move into the autumn, we'll display books appropriate for those lengthening hours of darkness. Autumn is the time to recommend the darker favorites, Justin Cronin's The Passage, or Alden Bell's The Reapers Are the Angels, a zombie apocalypse/Flannery O'Connor mash up. Leigh Perry's A Skeleton in the Family, about a mystery-solving skeleton, might appeal to those who want some laughs with their shivers.

I realized as I watched this transition in reading material that I had unconsciously set my work in progress in a beach town in September. The tourists are gone, the crowds have left the beach, the leaves are shading into gold and orange. The transition of the seasons underscores the transitions being made by the characters. The sun is losing its warmth. The cold days are coming. Change is literally in the air.

What was your favorite “beach read” this summer?

Writers, does the season of the year play a part in your story?