Summer Reads!

(Mortsan/ Flickr)

July 4th, that most quintessential of summer holidays, has come and gone.  For me, this is the point in my summer when I finally feel the grip of school start to loosen, and take up the projects I have neglected for the previous nine months of the year.  Among them is the decadent luxury of reading --at length--for pleasure.

I hope you'll settle in on the porch, at the beach, or even at a local coffee shop with great book for an afternoon or two this summer.  

Looking for titles?  Check out these lists:
NPR's Summer Reads 2011
The Guardian (UK) "1000 Novels Everyone Must Read"
NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) "Summertime Favorites"

My favorite independent book shop, The Harvard Bookstore, also maintains user friendly lists: check out their slick Top 100, and Staff Fiction Suggestions.  Their homepage, complete with interactive store window display, is an engaging example of a bricks and mortar business adapting to the new 21st century landscape of digital bookselling.  Not to be too preachy, but remember to buy locally, and support the businesses that make your community a unique place to live.

Read on, readers!