What Are The Benefits Of Summer Reading?
_____ WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SUMMER READING _____
"Summer reading is important for adults simply because when children see us read, they will most likely want to read themselves. We encourage every year for adults to pick up at least one or two books and read. I know adults are busy with busy schedules, and we have to get things done; but in that moment, or even if you're just in the kitchen cooking, if you could pick up a book and read, your life will become more enriched.”
You know, reading opens your mind. Once that mind is open like a parachute, the possibilities are endless. We encourage adults to read whether you work in a profession, or if you stay at home. Also, when you read, it improves your writing. It helps you put those sentences together, and it also helps your speech. However you write is how you speak.”
Readers of fiction have increased creativity, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Losing yourself in fictional characters’ experiences can make us more open-minded and allow us to spend time in someone else’s shoes.
Reading boosts brain power, creating cognitive engagement which can help with things like memory and brain function as we get older.
Reading supports self-improvement. We often tell children “readers are leaders,” and there’s definite truth to that! Johnson County Public Library (JCPL) is all about supporting life-long learning, and one of the best ways to do that is to pick up a book and learn something new.
How can an adult gain an interest in reading if he or she has never really considered themselves as a reader?
"A great way to start is on social media. Most adults are on social media and people posts articles all the time. You can read articles on those platforms. That's reading. Anything you read is going to open your mind. Try starting with a small book or a children's book. One chapter at a time."
_____ WHAT TO READ THIS SUMMER ______
'City Of Orange' (David Yoon)
Yoon’s haunting new novel opens with a man lying supine in a desert, clueless as to what happened to him and where he is. The world has ended. The apocalypse has happened. As pieces of his memory slowly return, it becomes evident that he had a wife and daughter who are now lost forever. As the man figures out how to survive in this new barren land, he transitions from isolation to fear to, finally, acceptance
'Cult Classic' (Sloane Crosley)
Magical realism meets romance in downtown New York in Sloane Crosley’s witty second novel, Cult Classic. Protagonist Lola is forced to confront her romantic past after she runs into a string of ex-boyfriends, all within the same five-mile radius in Manhattan’s Chinatown. But these occurrences are hardly coincidental, leading Lola on a mysterious and mystical chase to uncover what exactly is happening to her.
‘Horse’ (Geraldine Brooks)
Magical realism meets romance in downtown New York in Sloane Crosley’s witty second novel, Cult Classic. Protagonist Lola is forced to confront her romantic past after she runs into a string of ex-boyfriends, all within the same five-mile radius in Manhattan’s Chinatown. But these occurrences are hardly coincidental, leading Lola on a mysterious and mystical chase to uncover what exactly is happening to her.
'Flying Solo’ (Linda Holmes)
When Laurie returns home to Maine to clear out her beloved great aunt’s estate, she’s only recently removed from calling off her wedding—and is coming to terms with the idea that a conventional relationship might not be in the cards. When she finds a mysterious wooden duck buried in her aunt’s belongings, she embarks on a wild goose chase to figure out its origins, getting reacquainted with her first love along the way. The novel—which follows Holmes’ 2019 summer hit Evvie Drake Starts Over—is a refreshing reminder that “happily ever after” doesn’t have to look one specific way.
'The Man Who Could Move Clouds’
(Ingrid Rojas Contreras)
— July 12th —
Magic is not just a multi-generational occurrence in Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ family—it’s their legacy, something she details with both wonder and care in her memoir The Man Who Could Move Clouds. Growing up in Colombia, Rojas Contreras witnessed her mother telling fortunes and her grandfather, a renowned curandero (or healer), predicting the future, healing the sick, and moving clouds. Rojas Contreras was unsure of her place in this world until a head injury caused her to have amnesia—an experience that her family believes may be key to her accessing her own magic.
'Mika in Real Life’ (Emiko Jean)
— Aug. 2nd —
In Emiko Jean’s Mika in Real Life, Mika Suzuki sees a chance to not only reinvent herself, but also reimagine what her life could look like outside of her dreary reality. At 35, Mika’s situation is bleak: her love life is in ruins, her family is perpetually disappointed in her, and her living arrangement is less than ideal. But after she gets a phone call from the daughter she gave up for adoption, a tiny white lie turns into an opportunity for a second act—as long as her secret doesn’t come to light.
'The Women Could Fly’ (Megan Giddings)
— Aug. 9th —
In Megan Giddings’ dystopian novel, The Women Could Fly, the mystical collides with the familiar when it comes to women’s autonomy. Josephine Thomas lives in a world where women are mandated to be married by 30 or forced to enroll in a registry that monitors them; with her 30th birthday around the corner, Jo finds hope for her freedom in the extraordinary last request of her long-lost mother, rumored to be a witch, who mysteriously disappeared when Jo was a child.