Hello, friends! Last week our daughter started her senior year of high school, and last weekend we traveled across the state to drop off our son at Whitworth University for his freshman year. A new era has begun.

Before we move too far into the new season, I want to reflect for a moment on the season just past. Over the summer break, we traveled with our kids to Colorado and Texas. Why Colorado and Texas? We get asked that a lot.

Colorado because we wanted to look there as we did last summer at North Carolina — with an eye toward relocating there in a year or two when our youngest leaves the nest. While Washington has blessed us in many ways, after spending our entire adult lives here, my husband and I are sensing it is time to move on and see what God has for us in other parts of the country. So — specifically we wanted to check out the Colorado Springs area, which we liked very much. Whether it’s where we end up, time will tell. (North Carolina is still a strong contender.)

As for Texas, it was mainly curiosity. I’d passed through the state many times throughout my childhood on my family’s various cross-country moves. I’d remembered it as the state that goes on and on and on, but I’d never had the chance to really get to know it beyond the steak dinners it provided as we passed through. Texas claims such unique history and character, and we wanted to see some of that for ourselves. Plus, we wanted to visit the Alamo.

Aside from being treated to many memorable experiences with my family in both these states, I learned something while I was on vacation. What I learned was nothing new, I’ve expressed it here many times in many ways:

Life is too short to spend on books we don’t enjoy.

The reason this struck me afresh was because for the span of that two-week vacation, I happened to be reading books I really enjoyed. I’m sorry to say, it doesn’t always happen that way. Of course, I always take books with me on vacation, this goes without saying, often ones I’ve been saving for the occasion. But for one reason or another and too often for my liking, they don’t always live up to expectation.

Have you vacationed with books that turned out to be duds? Kinda a bummer when that happens, right? Especially since, not being home, you don’t have the option of swapping out a so-so book for a better one.

But on this vacation, the books I had with me nailed it. They drew me in and kept me engrossed from first page to last. They were stories I was eager to get back to — even while I was having fun doing other things. The experience added a sparkly layer of joy to vacation time.

Unfortunately, once we returned home, the rest of my summer reading did not treat me quite as well. I picked up far too many meh reads, only to put them down and move on to the next. It was a reading dry spell that left a part of me unsettled, craving a great story. It underscored again what I’m saying here:

I don’t want to be stuck reading a book I don’t enjoy.

Which makes me a big abandoner of books, something I discuss with Laura Christianson in this Professional Writer podcast episode all about audiobooks.

The freedom to abandon books is one of the great prerogatives of being a grownup. (Sorry, students — for your own good, there are some books you really must read. Hang in there, your day will come.)

I do want to note that there are many reasons for abandoning a book that are not necessarily because it is a poorly written one (although that happens too). It may be simply a matter of wrong mood or wrong time to read the book. In which case, setting it aside for later is called for more than abandonment.

Generally, these indicators tell me it’s time to give up on a book:

• My feeling toward a it becomes more “I ought to” than “I want to.”
• I don’t care for the characters or what happens to them. 
• I find myself preferring to watch something on TV than read the book. 
• The content offends me . 

But okay, now you’re wanting to know, what books did I read on vacation? Well, I’ll tell you, but with disclaimers because I cannot recommend these particular books to all readers of this blog. Content warnings apply. So please do your research to determine whether these reads are right for you.

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

The latter I found especially riveting — quite possibly Joshilyn’s best novel yet.

I am happy to report that I am nearly done with a different kind of novel that I am thoroughly enjoying, and this one I can recommend to readers of this blog. Be on the lookout for more about it in the weeks to come.

So what about you, friends? What books captured your fancy this summer? And when do you know when it’s time to abandon a book?

---