It’s been a hot summer here in New York. Our family’s apartment isn’t air-conditioned; we usually just have a nice breeze from the Hudson River, and fans helping to push the air around. But pushing the air around doesn’t offer much relief when the temperature is 95 and the humidity is 93 percent. On days like these, it’s a blessing for the kids that the playground up the street has sprinklers, and for me, it’s a blessing to take refuge in my air-conditioned office.
I’ve been so frazzled by the heat this summer that my usual reading fare—history, Biblical studies and the like—has been a bit more than I can handle. For the first time, I really know what people mean by “summer reading”—something that’s interesting and entertaining but doesn’t demand intense concentration. For my summer reading, I have a preference for stories about people living out their faith in the world, whether in a different time or place (Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed, an exciting, romantic tale of seventeenth-century Italy is a favorite of mine) or in a time and place close to our own (the contemporary writer Marilynne Robinson, for example).
If you’re looking for some wholesome, entertaining and faith-building reading this summer, we can help you. My colleagues Beth and Lindsay edit our unique brand of faith-affirming fiction (and do exceedingly well). With series like Patchwork Mysteries and Stories from Hope Haven, they’ve provided books we can all use to beat the heat. So pick up a Guideposts book, settle down in your beach chair or porch swing, and as my kids like to say, “Chill.”
Andrew Attaway
GuidepostsBooks
