The Constant Reader

5th August, 2020

Bookish Stuff: Summer Reading or How the Heat is Slowing me Down

When I think of summer, I immediately think of holidays on the beach, lazy days by the pool and, of course, lots of good reading material. My reading tastes vary quite widely and that also - or maybe even more so - goes for my summer reading. One day I prefer that typical fluffy beach read, while on another day I might grab a horror novel that would be more suitable for Halloween. I'm definitely a mood reader.

These last few years, summers in Germany have become quite intense with long stretches of horrible heat and drought. As someone who has never really been a fan of hot weather ("Sweater weather over sweaty weather," is my opinion on the matter!) I find that this is really taking a toll on me. Maybe it's also because I'm older now but the heat is definitely slowing me down as well as making me lose precious reading time. I simply have difficulty concentrating on a story when I feel like my skin is melting off my body. And I hate that as there are so many books out there that I want to get to, so many amazing new publications this summer. Luckily I've so far managed to tackle most of the latter - yet, I am most definitely looking forward to September and October.

What do you do to stay cool during the summer heat? Here are a few things I've been resorting to:

- Read with my feet in the kiddy pool

This is actually working quite well. The kid is happy when he can play in the water, he is supervised as I'm sitting right there, and I can read a few pages while staying (relatively) cool.

- Read in a bathtub full of luke warm water

This is even better than the kiddy pool as it's almost like a mini pool of my own. The luke warm water cools you down without making you freeze to death and you end up both clean and refreshed. With both this and the above, however, there is always the hazard of dropping your book in the water. Yikes!

- Move to the basement

Our basement is so heavenly cool during the summer that I'd almost want to sleep there at night - if only it wasn't for those creepy critters that seem to sneak in no matter what you do to keep them out. I've made myself a cosy reading spot down there so whenever I'm alone in the house (i.e. there is no need to watch an active 6 yo) this is my ultimate escape.

- Read at night with the windows wide open

That's of course another option I've tried because once the sun goes down it obviously gets cooler and oftentimes there is a slight breeze. However, if you are also a parent you will probably be familiar with the problem this poses: As soon as my head touches the pillow, I'm OUT! *rotfl* So yeah, that didn't work so well.

So, how are you keeping up with your reading during the heat? Do the temperatures disturb you at all or do you just not mind being scorched? Do you read as much in the summer as you do in autumn and winter? Do you have secret strategies for keeping cool that I'm unaware of?  Let me know in the comments.