In recent days I have become quite unreasonably intolerant of any sort of serious reading. I have several books on Arctic exploration sitting downstairs along with a some titles on the environment and world conflicts and I can't bring myself to open a single one of them. For a little while I fooled myself, saying I would get to them when I was done with my current reads, or would start them in a week, or once I was caught up with writing reviews but really, that is just not going to happen.

I think I'm taking a summer vacation.

The thing is, I enjoy reading books on serious or socially significant topics. But they are hard - hard to think about, hard not to dwell on, hard to stop thinking about - they hurt sometimes, if that makes sense. And writing about these books can often be so much more difficult as you are not commenting only on the writing but on the message. For example, when I wrote about David Griffith's essay collection on violence in America (and specifically as it relates to the Iraq War) a couple of months ago, it was tough, really really tough. I did not want to screw up writing about the war - I wanted my review to be worthy of the books I was reviewing and the subject. It took a long time to get it right and while I am very pleased with the end result (and think Griffith's book is amazing), I just don't want that weight in my life right now.

I want a wee bit of a break from the serious.

I often review books on the environment for Booklist and there are the exploration books which are not as intense as war titles, but still are weighty historical subjects. I feel a certain responsibiity to read these kinds of books - I feel like I should review the polar titles in particular because few people have my knowledge on that subject and they too often get lost in the shuffle of glitzier subjects. But I also really feel like we all should be reading about the environment these days and everybody needs to read books on the war - on the history of war, the history of the Middle East and Central Asia, the history on how world leaders have made the same mistakes again and again.

Sorry - I'm dangerously close to getting on my WWI soapbox right now!

But the reality is that while I'm working on the AK flying memoir and trying to keep the YA urban fantasy afloat (neglected thing that it is), I don't have any desire to read the tough subjects right now. Sharyn November just sent me some great titles to consider - including the trade reissue of Tam Lin which has gotten me thinking all over again about fantasy titles and college settings - and I'm suddenly finding myself in the midst of putting together a fun column on mystery and adventure. (First title mentioned will be Minx's third release, Clubbing - a blast of a mystery set in the English countryside with a very funny/sarcastic/smart goth heroine and a crazy ending) I'm getting sucked into Nina Kirki Hoffman's A Stir of Bones (love it so far), and I have Delia Sherman's Changeling on deck - along with Temping Fate and Iris, Messenger and more. I'm really looking forward to Jasper Fforde's new Thursday Next and Kelley Eskridge's short story collection and I've slowed down on Nicola Griffith's Always so I can savor every moment. It's not a mystery - not really, but kind of. It's just a great story to sink into and I hope the LBC picks it. That one I'll be reviewing for the July Bookslut for sure. (And I think I'm just going to jump in and buy that limited edition autobio because Gwenda loves it so much and really, I just want to.)

And there are also several antholgies that I was planning to put together in a piece for Bookslut but I think I will just read and review one at a time. Short stories are good right now, and I don't want to wait to read them. Right now I think my reading theme is escapism and I'm not all that proud of it, but that's where my head is.

Sometimes after hard, you just want easy and fun and cool for awhile. There are other things to work hard on; reading just won't be one of them around here for the forseeable future.