Summer Reads, Book Tours and Lazy Days

When I think of summer, I can't help but think of books. Reading was an essential part of my childhood summers. There was usually a summer reading club at the library, and I got competitive about reading the most books. When the afternoons were too hot for playing outside, sprawled across my canopy bed with a book. I'm not that different as an adult. My local library has a summer reading club for adults, and I like to read during the times when it's too hot to do anything else -- and then when it's not quite so miserably hot, there's nothing like sitting on the patio with a glass of iced tea and a good book.

Summer is also book tour time, for me and for other authors who have summer reads or beach-type books. Names I've seen on the touring roster for the next few weeks include Janet Evanovich, Sarah Bird and Elaine Viets. At my own booksignings, the big talk was of the new adult book by Stephenie Meyer, The Host. They had such a big crowd for that one that you had to buy your book at the store to get a ticket for her talk and signing at a bigger venue. (On the other hand, at my signing, we had cake!)

Now I'm about to hit the convention circuit again. My summer schedule includes ApolloCon in Houston in late June, Conestoga in Tulsa in late July (along with the Fangs, Fur, Fey urban fantasy mini-con) and then the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver in August. Look forward to lots of reports from these events.

Meanwhile, my summer reading plans (in between trips) include Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella, getting caught up on Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (which looks like the perfect book to read on the porch with a glass of iced tea) and The English American by Alison Larkin. And probably lots, lots more that will occur to me as I find them, which I'm bound to at all those conventions.

Shanna Swendson

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Shanna Swendson writes "Fairy Tales for Modern Times" and is the author of the Enchanted, Inc. series about a Texan in New York City, a magical NYC. Visit her website or blog for more information.