Summer Books

Can I just say one thing about the whole "summer books" phenomenon? I don't like it.

I understand the impulse to turn to lighter reads--what my mom and I call "starchy fillers"--once school lets out you can lounge outside without scanning the horizon for ominous clouds, but is that really an excuse to pick up--and I apologize to those people who have read and loved this book--50 Shades of Grey and other equally trashy non-literature?

Yes, I know most people are not psychotic like me and my friend Casey and do not read books like Ulysses and War and Peace for fun, especially not in the summer. I know that for many, the warmer months are a time of mindless indulgence. The end of school frees up obscene amounts of time to let the brain atrophy, and the occasional mystery or legal thriller can be a great way to debrief after nine months of cold and the stress of classes. I get it.

Here is my argument, though: Does a little sunshine and a lot of idle time really excuse the kind of vacuous books that are marketed to us as tantalizing beach reads? Consider, for example, these two literary gems that I found on a number of summer reading lists:

Hush by Kate White
"The first stand-alone thriller from the best-selling series author (and Cosmopolitan editor in chief) is about a soon-to-be-divorced marketing consultant's dangerous one-night stand."

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
"This tale of a politician's sex scandal is witty and smart, as expected from the author of In Her Shoes."
  
Apparently summer validates salacious page-turners with insultingly simplistic vocabulary and plot lines that teeter on misogynistic. Now, I'm not saying that every summer book list comprises nothing but starchy fillers. One of the same lists that featured Hush also advertised In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard, a beautifully crafted coming-of-age novel that I loved about a girl growing up in a town so small that she and her best friend spent their time pondering things like why you can't say "fudge" with a British accent.

I've seen poetry on summer lists (fantastic!). Memoirs. How-To books that tout the importance of travel on warding off depression. These I can deal with because they help build a collective understanding among readers that the written word is powerful and unifying. Books don't have to be part of the literary canon to be important. Not all summer reading lists are the enemy. The very first book listed on NPR's summer list is Home by Toni Morrison. I'm not in utter, utter despair here. I'm just saying that I don't think June through August should be a time to let yourself go, literature-wise. Without all the mental stimulation of school, shouldn't summer be a time to keep your mind sharp and active?

Again, I'm not urging you to race out to the library or bookstore and snatch up a copy of Ivanhoe. I'm simply asking that you make good literary choices in the coming months. Think of this as a rallying cry--a call to battle for your mind armed with nothing but page after page of glorious words.

I'll be praying for that sunshine.