It’s summer, and I sometimes feel like the only bookish person for whom “summer reading season” isn’t really a thing. (If this is you, too, please tell me so I feel less alone!) I will happily read steadily through the winter and spring, and generally the fall too – but when summer comes my reading slows way down. Not for me the hours of paging through a book at the beach; before kids, I preferred to spend every second I could soaking up ocean views, and these days I’m usually knee deep in water making sure no one gets drilled too hard during wave-jumping activities, or squatting in the sand making drip castles. I still make my way through books, slowly and steadily, but more than any other part of the year, summer is the season I do things instead of reading.
Instead of long afternoons of lounging with a book and a cup of tea, weekend afternoons are spent on the river and the lakes, with a paddle in hand instead of a paperback.
And I always pick up steam on my running, as I start thinking about fall race season. October is the biggest race month of the year in D.C., with the Marine Corps Marathon weekend (I’ve run the 10K a few times, but the full 26.2 is on my bucket list – someday). So instead of a slow, leisurely morning with my coffee and latest read, most summer mornings find me out pounding the pavement in the neighborhood or on the bike path – and frequently dealing with digestive pyrotechnics, darn my weak stomach. As for the evenings, well, there are all those Garmin stats to comb through from earlier in the day.
This is new for 2021, but biking is back on the agenda! Another morning/afternoon weekend activity drawing time from books, and on Monday I did my first group ride (with, I hope, more to come).
Kid sports have started taking up time, too. Tee-ball wasn’t too demanding, but we’re into the season of baseball and soccer camps, and fall will bring Nugget’s first season of house soccer and swim lessons for both of the kids – so summer is about getting ready for all that. This is all about to take over my life in a big way – I can see it coming.
Honestly, I don’t worry about it. There was a time, a few years ago, when I would stress over my reading speed and book totals taking a nosedive for several months out of the year, but not anymore. Instead, I just soak up the summer sunshine, ocean views and salt air, and easygoing river afternoons. Fall will come before I know it, bringing dark evenings and yellow pencils, and books will be there. In the meantime, you can find me by the water.
Do you have a season when your reading always slows down?
covered in flour 
I tend to read more in the summer. I can’t handle hot weather (heat triggered migraines are evil beyond belief) so I end up inside in the air conditioning more than I would like. Ideal me is outside enjoying summer; real me is inside desperately waiting for the humidity to dissipate. Not that I don’t do anything outside. I just have to be careful, pace myself, and read a lot of books! I love reading about your summer adventures. I am always impressed with how much energy you have.
Aw, thank you! My mom was a first grade teacher, so I come by the energy levels honestly. And they’re a lot higher now that I am no longer in private law practice and actually sleep at night! Heat-triggered migraines – yikes, sounds awful. I’m so sorry to hear that! I get headaches from barometric pressure changes (and too much screen time) so I can sympathize – fortunately heat doesn’t bother me, because I love hot weather, the hotter the better. But the older I get, the more I realize that’s not a popular opinion!
My reading definitely takes a hit in the summer, too, for many of the same reasons you listed! Also, with school age kids, most traveling happens in the summer, and we are even more active and busy when vacationing than when home — gotta have the adventures we traveled for WHILE we’re there, so we just go, go, go! I’ve never done page counts and don’t worry about it too much, but it is odd to realize that I’ve only finished two books so far this month. You are not alone! (Except with the heat love, haha).
Good to hear I’m not alone – heh! The summer definitely gets busy and reading takes a backseat. Fall is busy too – adventures, school, etc. I’ve definitely noticed that reading speed is cyclical and I read more in winter and spring than in summer and fall. C’est la vie.