Summer reading

This summer, I am taking some ME time. Some necessary R&R. This past semester I somehow managed 27 hours and by the grace of God I graduated on time!!! Another story for another day. Anyway...I am taking this summer OFF. No summer school. No steady job. I am taking some time for me! I plan to spend loads of time with family and friends and my boyfriend, working at church camp, going on a mission trip, going to weddings, etc.

One of my FAVORITE down-time activities is reading! Usually during school I don't have a lot of time to read. I prefer to read when I have more free time, because I tend to read books only in a few short days. With that being said, I have already made it through my first summer read - South of Broad by Pat Conroy.

My mom bought this book for me for Christmas, and I got to read it a couple of weekends ago. I went with my boyfriend and his family to see one of his sisters graduate from college, so there was a lot of road time and a lot of down time, and I was able to read the entire book in a weekend. I have heard good things about Pat Conroy and his writing style, and of course, being a southerner, the fact that his stories are set in the South greatly appeals to me! This book is set in Charleston, South Carolina, perhaps my favorite place on earth (other than Costa Rica, of course)!!! So I knew that I had to read this!

The book begins in the late 1960s and spans nearly 20 years into the late 1980s. Without giving many plot details away, I will attempt to convey a couple of my favorite things about this book:

• As previously mentioned, the setting is what drew me first to this book. Charleston, South Carolina and all its southern charm and sophistication are a wonderful backdrop for any story. If you are familiar with Charleston at all, I think that you will be even more intrigued by the story and its landmarks, places, streets, and even Hurricane Hugo in Charleston and the entire Charleston area.
• The reality of the story in terms of its exploration of both joy and sadness, good and evil make for an interesting read. Many novels have everything going right for the characters, or may even throw in something more realistic like a loss or death without really going into detail. But this novel explores some of those other realities of life - loss, death, homosexuality, fear - in detail. It really gives you a full picture of what is going on in the story and how it affects the characters and their minds.

It is difficult to summarize without giving away book information, but take my word, this is a wonderful book. If you don't mind some 'colorful' language, then take a chance and give this one a read!