Weekly Geeks: The Start of Summer

Since I have an interview this morning, I’m a little nervous and thought I’d focus on something happier: summer!  And so we have my first Weekly Geeks post.  I read so much that I have trouble fitting memes in and have decided to go ahead and do the more flexible ones, so I can fit them in between book reviews.  Here’s this week’s task:

Again with Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S. starting traditionally on Friday evening, it also is unofficially the start of summer. You’ve probably been asked this in other meme groups in which you participate, but do your reading habits change over the summer? Do you choose lighter fare? What do you enjoy to take to the beach, for example? What is the ultimate summer book? OR what are your favorite travel guides — official or unofficial guides? Again, an example, I think of Holidays In Hell by P.J. O’Rourke, of places I’d rather not vacation. Along those lines, where do you vacation? Any places you recommend or even don’t recommend?

My reading habits barely ever change. Maybe it’s because I almost never go to the beach, either! Despite living only about an hour away from the Jersey shore while with my parents, I can’t swim.  We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I was very shy, so somehow I never got signed up.  By the time it became weird, I was already scared of water from an altercation with a floating device attached to my back at a friend’s pool party.  I’ve heard they’re no longer sold because of this very problem.  I don’t feel the lack much, to be honest.  Keith and I want to honeymoon in a very warm place with beaches this fall, but we’re not sure if we can afford that yet, so right now my next few months are very likely beach-free.

Were I to choose some ideal beach reads, though, I’d go with lighter fiction.  Inevitably, going to a beach involves traveling, unless you’re lucky, and I know that’s stressful.  So who wants to read something angsty or thoughtful when they’ve got their mind on where they’re going?  And once arrived, relaxation is surely in order.  For me, this means romance, YA, or perhaps some of the urban fantasy genre I’m just discovering.  Sometimes regular fantasy works too, as there’s nothing like a great chunkster when you have nothing but time, but I’d prefer to find one that wasn’t too deep.  I’d like to calm down, not spend 800 pages worrying over whether my favorite character in the book is going to make it to the end.

I’m not sure if I could choose the perfect summer read.  What do you think?  Is there a book that I really should read this summer?