Pretty much every summer for the past several years, I have selected a summer reading theme to provide some organization to my summer reading. Even in retirement, summer reading feels somehow different than reading during the rest of the year – more festive, maybe.
Last year, my reading theme was “The Summer of Noir,” and I spent the summer mostly in 1950’s L.A. reading Raymond Chandler. In 2024, I undertook the “Great American Road Trip,” reading through 10 of the 50 states before running out of metaphorical gas (gas prices were lower then, luckily). I’ve also had the Summer of Spies – I enjoyed this one so much, I did it twice.
This year, I had several ideas, all of which I discarded yesterday, in favor of what I came up with:
I’ve already started thinking about books. For the time travel side of the theme, I’m definitely going to read some Connie Willis – I’m vacillating between her WWII duology in the Oxford Time Travel series: Blackout and All Clear, or The Road to Roswell, which sounds like a lot of fun (and fits more in the “space travel” side of the theme). I also just bought the first book in Jodi Taylor’s Time Police series, Doing Time. I’ve only read the first of her Chronicles of St. Mary’s, and I could definitely see myself picking up the second one in that series, A Symphony of Echoes. I’m also considering Frozen People by Elly Griffiths – time travelling detectives!
On the space travel side, I have space opera, space opera and more space opera. I’ve almost finished Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War series of five books (I just have book 5 left to go), and I’ll probably read the two books in the Vatta’s Peace duology to complete that series. I’ve also got Valor’s Choice, the first book in Tanya Huff’s long-running Confederation of Valor series in my sights, something in the Liaden Universe, possibly Agent of Change or Local Custom, but I haven’t settled on a specific book yet, and Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold, which is the first in her Vorkosigan Saga. I’ve also been holding off on the new Murderbot, Platform Decay, but I’ll be reading that soon. And, I’m also thinking some John Scalzi, either Old Man’s War or his Collapsing Empire series. Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse by Jim Hines looks fun. And, I still have 4 books in the Finder Chronicles by Suzanne Palmer.
This Sunday is Memorial Day, so summer reading is just around the corner!
There are also all the C.J. Cherryh space sagas.
I own one of her books, but it’s from the fantasy side of her work: The Curse of Chalion. Have you read any of her sci fi?
The Curse of Chalion is by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’ve only read her Pendric and Desdemona novellas. Also more fantasy than anything else. They were fun. Curse of Chalion is supposed to be pretty good.
C.J. Cherry has a whole lot of science fiction and fantasy that is very popular. I’ve mostly read her fantasy. Sometimes her fantasy and SF mix. What I’ve read of her novels that would fit your theme include:
~The Faded Sun Trilogy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57042.The_Faded_Sun_Trilogy
~The Chronicles of Morgain – portal SF/F – the whole is better than the parts – 3 short novels + Exiles Gate https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57040.The_Morgaine_Saga https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/834538.Exile_s_Gate
~Rider at the Gate (works as a standalone) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57099.Rider_at_the_Gate
Oh, that’s right! The Cherryh that I own is called Fortress in the Eye of Time. I bought it in 2011, and have never read it.
Sounds like you are going mostly SF, although you could stretch this theme to historical novels.
It’s likely that I will spend most of my time on speculative fiction, but I agree that historical fiction could work as a method of time travel!
I can tell you like speculative fiction.
I do like it, although I go through phases where I binge on it, and then phases where I don’t read much of it at all. My primary genre is always going to be mystery, though. I return to it again and again.
I like mysteries a lot more. I used to read a lot of speculative fiction in my teens and twenties, but I seldom read any now.
Shadows in the Moonlight by Santa Montefiore – historical fiction/romance with a time travel element. I think book 3 gets published in a few months. It’s a trilogy as far as I’m aware. Book 1 works ok by itself.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214392503-shadows-in-the-moonlight
That one looks interesting.
I also just remember that I read the first book in Kelley Armstrong’s A Rip Through Time series and really liked it. Maybe I’ll read the second one over the summer!