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Health & Fitness

Summer is the Season for Reading

What are you reading this summer?

My family took advantage of the one beautiful day this past weekend and headed to the beach. The water was definitely cold, but there’s nothing like relaxing and enjoying the company of a good book.

As a kid, my mom always made summer our time to catch up on reading. We spent countless hours at the library, picking our books for the summer. Instead of having to read what my teachers picked out for me, I got to check out just about any book I wanted. Summer was the time when I first met Ramona and Beezus, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and the Wilder family.

To this day, I create a summer reading list that I hope to get through. It’s much harder now that I have two young children. I still try my best, and having a Kindle makes it easy to carry many books at the same time.

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This tradition is one that I plan to carry forward with my children. They read whatever they want throughout the year right now, mostly because neither of them is even in elementary school yet. But, the first thing that came to my mind when I woke up this beautiful morning was that a trip to the library was in order.

I think that my love of books is what helped eventually direct me to becoming a writer. Even though most of my work is for business, blogging and some magazine writing; I still have the same goal that every other writer does—the great American novel. Yes, someday I will finish this book I am writing, and maybe I’ll even get it published.

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Now that Oprah’s no longer doing her show, I’ll have to give up my dream of introducing my book on national television. But there are still several outlets for learning about writing books and getting them published. In fact, one of them is happening next weekend—the Printer’s Row Lit Fest in Chicago.

Lit Fest is a two-day “festival” where book-lovers, publishers and authors can learn more about the craft. There’s “Pitchapalooza” for people trying to get their book published and many other presentations by already published authors on their books and motivation. Plus, the event offers lots of other interesting demonstrations, from cake decorating to poetry readings. They are even staging Chicago’s largest reading group on Saturday afternoon. For more information about Lit Fest, go to http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/printersrowlitfest/.

Even if you can’t make it to Lit Fest, you can still make this summer your reading season. Here are a few books on my list:

  • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jaime Ford
  • Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
  • The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

I’m always looking for more good books. What is on your reading list for this summer?

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