My Spectacular Summer of Reading Escapes

As sweater weather finally arrives, I’m looking back with a smile on a busy summer of writing, sailing—and reading. Somehow this year, I found myself devouring more books than I usually manage during the most distracting season of the year. 

Reading is a unique form of time and brain travel. In just an hour or two, I leave my actual seat on a New England porch for a small Great Lakes sailboat, a remote chateau in France, an island off the coast of Finland, or even space. 

Consuming an engrossing story occupies a weird halfway point between passive watching (think TV) and active doing (like wingfoiling). Apparently our brain waves become more active when we read, as if we are actually performing the actions described between the covers. How this happens I have no idea, but it’s fascinating. 

A really good book plonks you down right inside its story. Sometimes I look up at the end of a chapter, surprised to find the sun setting over a familiar rooftop. Again I have no idea how this happens; I just know that the sudden return to my actual location always prompts a respectful nod to the author who so successfully immersed me in their world.

Here are some of the summer reads that took me away to a very different time and place:

• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (early 1980s, Space and NASA)
• The Harvey Girls by Juliette Fay (1926, Grand Canyon)
• Letters from the Dead by Isabella Valeri (1992, remote chateau)
• The Paris Key by Juliet Blackwell (1997, Paris)
• Forgotten on a Sunday by Valérie Perrin (2013/1930s, retirement home/France between the wars)
• Believe: The Making of Ted Lasso by Jeremy Egner (2020, film set)
• The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson (1919, coastal England)

I do wonder if not-writing-fiction has freed me up to read more. When I lose myself in a novel, there’s always the worry that the story will somehow bleed into my own. This summer, as I worked to finish up The Heart of Hound, I felt free to devour as much fiction as I could. Guilt-free!

As the days shorten and we don our fall sweaters, I’m going to continue to read as much and as widely as I can. I’m addicted to both time and brain travel, so thanks to all the writers who abet my daily escapes.

Got a book that took you away? Share it in the comments below. Meanwhile thanks for spending some of your own precious reading time right here, and see you next Thursday!