Summer Reading

This week at the library I picked up the kids's summer reading game boards.  They read some books, tear off a coupon, and are able to pick from such fabulous prizes as vials of slime or rubber ducks in rain coats.  They are thrilled and motivated to keep reading.  

While I was standing at the desk I noticed coupons for adults to turn in for each book that they read.  I grabbed a few to fill out and maybe fill out for my husband (who is on a reading roll).  Each coupon is entered in a drawing for various prizes.  I am usually incredible skeptical of drawings but recently a friend told me her son won an iPad in a drawing at his school.  Our luck has to hit sometime, right?  

I want to set a few reading goals for the summer to keep me motivated.  The more coupons, the better chance I have of winning a mountain bike or vitamix.  

The first thing I've done is pull a bunch of my friends from various circles into a book club.  Summer is usually a bad time for book clubs, but I figured, if we start now, at least I will have the pressure to finish whatever books are picked, even if I can't go to the meetings.  Brilliant.

Ambitious to say the least...

Next, I've gathered a bunch of books (grown up books and tween books for my other blog) that I want to read so I can just plow through them, without having to wait for new materials to come.  I mean, amazon prime shipping is such a nuisance ;).  I'm going to try not buying any books in July or August and just reading through the ones I've stacked up to get through this summer.  

Aside from book club, and Shogun (which my husband recommended to me), I will not be taking suggestions on what to read for the next two and a half months.  I get tangled up with books I'm not really that interested in because a friend passes me the novel they've just finished or insists I check out this life changing book they loved.  I enjoy reading what others suggest but usually the books I pick for me to read compel me to finish much quicker.  That being said, I am using this guideline to work through my books this year and it is kind of fun to try to find a way to fit a book into this list.   

Finally, I am being practical and making a flexible daily schedule for summer since I will have four kids at home.  Part of this schedule will include DAILY reading time.  And I will force myself to read then too.  I try to read at the pool sometimes, we spend so much time there, but I usually wind up running into someone I know and then my book goes untouched.  

I'm excited about summer and hopeful that I will finish some great books and some books I've been meaning to read for a while.  How do you manage reading time during the summer months?  What books are on your 'to-read' list?