The Dog Days of Summer

“Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.”  

“To Kill A Mockingbird” (Harper Lee)   

The Dog Days of Summer―the phrase catapults me to a place where the air is sticky as molasses and on sultry afternoons, a dog has no more ambition than to loll in the cool dirt beneath a shade tree.

Despite this vision of hounds seeking respite from the earth’s stifling heat, the saying actually comes from the heavens, or more precisely from the Canis Major constellation. From July 3 through August 11, one of the stars in the constellation, Sirius, (AKA “The Dog Star,” AKA “The Scorching One”) lights up our southern night sky.

With its usual steamy days, August is a month when we humans also enjoy lolling about the seashore, or anywhere else that offers us cool breezes. That’s when friends ask about “beach reading.” I know what they are asking: “Give me something that is light and breezy and won’t force me to think too much. Nothing too sad, or too deep, or too heavy…just a lazy bit of adventure, mystery, romance, or fantasy…please.” Sometimes, we just yearn for the joy of escape.

You can find plenty of good recommendations about new releases on book review sites or at your local bookstore or library. Instead of highlighting the hottest books (pun intended) on today’s shelves, let me share some earlier publications that you might have overlooked. I promise they will provide delightful vacation, or even “staycation,” reading.

If you are among the throngs who gravitate to Cape Cod, be sure to check out “That Old Cape Magic” by Richard Russo. Like all of his work, this one weaves in the complexity that relationships bring to us (and that we bring to relationships), but it has a light touch that won’t weigh you down.

Hikers (and sloths alike), you do not want to miss “A Walk in the Woods,” Bill Bryson’s memoir of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Bryson is a master of poking fun at himself, at things that go bump in the night, and at stuff that can go right, and awry, during a walk in the woods:

“Nearly everyone I talked to had some gruesome story involving a guileless acquaintance who had gone off hiking the trail with high hopes and new boots and come stumbling back two days later with a bobcat attached to his head or dripping blood from an armless sleeve and whispering in a hoarse voice, “Bear!” before sinking into a troubled unconsciousness.”

I dare you to read it and not laugh out loud.

Author Nevada Barr’s 18-book mystery series is set among the various U.S. National Park sites and features a female park ranger, Anna Pigeon. In writing the series, Barr draws from her own history as a park ranger. The first in the series, “Track of the Cat” (1993) commences in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas and “Destroyer Angel,” published just this year, takes place in The Iron Range in northern Minnesota. A friend recommends this series as solid vacation reading, saying, “Every book is a trip to a park, or wilderness or monument. Barr is a genius at placing the reader into the setting and unfolding a mystery there.”

Whether you’re planning a trip to the circus or you just want an enchanted escape, “The Night Circus,” by Erin Morgenstern is a must-read. From the opening line, “The circus arrives without warning,” this book is a another page-turner. While it isn’t a Harry Potter copycat, it is filled with its own breed of bewitching magic and fantasy. It really should be made into a movie and I’ll be the first in line to see it.

And finally, along with dog days, vacations and “beach readings,” August comes with the reality that back-to-school draws nigh. With that in mind, consider adding to your summer’s (re)reading list, “Up the Down Staircase.” Bel Kaufman, author of this 1965 classic, died last month at the age of 103. The book still offers wit and wisdom for inside and outside the classroom along with first-rate entertainment. As students file back to the classroom, let us offer our salutes to Ms. Kaufman. And on the first day of school, we can hope that some teacher, somewhere, is greeted by the words, “Hi Teach!”

What is on your “beach reading” list this summer? 

P.S. The right side of the blog now has a list of recent posts. I hope you will check out some that you may have missed. I welcome your comments, questions, and any suggestions!