It’s hot out there
Summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21 but the thermometer on my car’s dashboard is already registering temperatures of one hundred. My phone informs me that it’s a mere 87 degrees F today. I won’t lie, when the mercury (or whatever they use in thermometers these days) reaches past 85 degrees, I don’t feel like moving much. I used to tease my mother, who grew up someplace a lot hotter than the place where I grew up, for moving so slowly. Then I spent a summer in her home state, and I got it. Hot + humid = walk real slow.
Hot, or not, reads
Hot weather puts me in a quandary about what to read. Part of me gravitates to sultry Southern stories, books like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Cutting Season. Perhaps through some sympathetic literary magic, immersing myself in a hot fictional world will help me feel cooler. The other part gravitates to stories set in the coldest winter, like Murder on the Orient Express and Mystery in White. Reading about crimes set in cold climes might help me imagine that it’s not so hot out.
Your turn
What say you? When the day is sweltering, do you reach for hot books or cold books? Tell us in the comments or on social media (Twitter and Facebook). Whichever you choose, I hope you pair it with A/C or a fan and a tall glass of something refreshing.