Summer 2007 Reading Guide

There's nothing as relaxing as summer reading. You can bring old favorites on holiday or simply discover new authors by the backyard pool. One week it can be romance, the next adventure - with quick trips into the world of history, non- fiction or mystery. Any page turner will do during these kick back and chill times.

The best part about summer reading is rediscovering the classics. Novels read twenty years ago seem to take on a different spin as we age. We may identify with the characters more or better understand the themes thanks to experience. Most classics are heavy reads, suited more to a winter's night than a summer's day. This is not true in the case of one of my favorites, George Eliot's Middlemarch (Penguin Classics). This is an epic book but a page turner. It may have some obscure references such as the Corn Laws for example but get beyond those and it's still a brightly woven tale. Read it and fall once more for Dorothea Ladislaw and her fellow neighbors. Jane Austen's novels are always fun to revisit , especially Pride and Prejudice and Emma (both published by PenguinUSA). Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) is another book to bring along on holiday. Get lost in the Dashwood sisters' stormy affairs of the heart as a summer rain pours on.

If you're longing to join in on the pirate craze, then spend time in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (Penguin Classic) Read it on the beach for the whole effect of being at sea. You'll have the smell of the ocean and the squawk of the gulls to add to this fascinating swashbuckler. Beats sitting in a stuffy movie theater eating stale popcorn and watching Johnny Depp overact . Another fun adventure read is Jonathan's Swift's Gulliver's Travels (Penguin Classics). Readers can follow Lemuel Gulliver in his travels to fantastical lands Other classic adventures are Jules Verne's Around The World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, (both published by Penguin Books)