Those Lazy, Hazy Days of summer

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summerreading 1Do you remember summer as a kid? Those weeks seemed to stretch on forever. There was so much time to run unfettered by thoughts of homework or school clothes and shoes. It was dungarees and sneakers; shorts and sandals; bathing suits and bare feet.

And there was time to read and dream. My family had a barebones lake house. The lake was nothing to speak of: small, muck-bottomed, filled with minnows, frogs and the occasional snake. It was bordered by wild blueberry bushes and ended in a marshy area filled with water lilies. But did we have fun!

The hammock swung out over the shore of the lake; the row boat was tied to the dock; the porch had squishy chairs. All made wonderful places to spend an afternoon reading whatever we had taken out of the library that week.

Kids today seem not to have that time to dream and imagine, to look at the clouds and see dragons and angels and wild beasts.

But the material to stoke dreams is still available in every library in every community, no matter how large or small and summers still stretch on forever. So take advantage and bring your kids to the library so even if you are enjoying a “staycation,” they can travel and explore.

As for the grown-ups, those summers which were endless when we were kids now seem to fly by. But there’s still time to dream and explore. Whether you come to the Lampert Library for Jewish themed books or to your local public library for general interest books, you’re never too old to dream away a hot summer afternoon.

There are lots of new books on the Lampert Library’s shelves. In addition, coming in very soon is the latest Daniel Silva thriller, House of Spies, with its Israeli hero Gabriel Alon. Also arriving shortly is the 21st century update of Anita Diamant’s guide to Jewish weddings, The Jewish Wedding Now.

Here are some other goods reads:

  • David, An Improbable Friendship: the remarkable lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil (Yasser Arafat’s mother-in-law) and their forty-year peace mission began after the Six Day War.
  • summreading2 (1)Doran, Ike’s Gamble: America’s rise to dominance in the Middle East is a more serious summer read about a problem that still plagues the political world
  • Gidwitz, The Inquisitor’s Tale works as a great family read aloud filled with terror, belly laughs, and a palatable dose of medieval Jewish history. (J)
  • Glickman, An Undisturbed Peace is the story of three outsiders, an immigrant Jew, an Indian princess, and a black slave at the time of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which resulted in the Trail of Tears.
  • Jacobson, Shylock is My Name is the Booker Prize winning author’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Read the book then get tickets for The Merchant In Venice at Peak Performances at Montclair State in September.
  • summerreading3Kadish, The Weight of Ink, set in the 1660s London and the early 20thcentury, weaves the stories of two strong women from very different times. At 500+ pages, this will keep the summer reader swinging in that hammock for several days.
  • Pogrebin, My Jewish Year: 18 holidays, one wondering Jew details the author’s search for a deeper understanding of the Judaism she was born into. A good book to read as the turn of the year nears.
  • Stein, The Six-day Hero is a fictional look at the war through the eyes of 12-year old Motti who learns that there are many kinds of heroes. (J)
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