“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me” (C.S. Lewis)

My kids are counting down the days.   Truthfully, maybe it’s me counting them down with excitement.   Summer break….eight days away.

Sure that means nights mostly free of activities, homework, projects, and studying.  It means unrushed mornings (most days) and no packing lunches in the evenings.

And it means summer reading!

Last year, I hoped that my kids would bring home a summer reading list.  They didn’t.  I wanted the book suggestions, the new discoveries and great recommendations.  Instead, they toted home a reading log with a promise of a popcorn party if they read the required amount this summer.  We had to pop over to the school in July for extra reading log sheets.  Maybe they didn’t need recommendations after all?

Perhaps summer reading for you means enjoying books by the pool or in a lawn chair along the sandy beach, basking in the sun. Maybe it means “beach books,” light and funny.  Or perhaps it means tackling the heavy reading you don’t have the time and energy for the rest of the year.

I know what my summer calendar looks like.  Most of my summer reading will probably happen in the car, waiting for my kids to finish this camp and that class—theater camp, art camp, sewing classes, library programs, dance lessons.  The books just come along with me.

Whatever your summer reading location-of-choice and whether you’re choosing nonfiction, fiction, classics or light reading, theology or devotionals, I’d love to hear what’s on your summer reading list!

Here are some books that I recommend and some that are loaded onto my Kindle waiting to be read:

• The Resolution for Womenby Priscilla Shirer
• Confessions of a Raging Perfectionist: Learning to Be Free by Amanda Jenkins  (You can read my full book review here).
• Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life by Lois Tverberg
• The 4 Seasons of Marriage: Secrets to a Lasting Marriage by Gary Chapman
• Am I Messing Up My Kids? by Lysa TerKeurst
• Reflections on the Psalms by C S. Lewis
• Let. It. Go.: How to Stop Running the Show and Start Walking in Faith by Karen Ehman
• Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae
• Confessions of a Prayer Slacker (Second Edition) by Diane Moody
• The Girl’s Still Got It: Take a Walk with Ruth and the God Who Rocked Her World by Liz Curtis Higgs
• The Sensational Scent of Prayer by Rachel Wojnarowski

I’ll also be participating over at Women’s Bible Cafe in the Beth Moore summer Bible study. This summer, we’ll be joining with thousands of women worldwide to study Priscilla Shirer’s new Bible study: Gideon.  I get goosebumps just thinking of that unity in pursuing the deep study of God’s Word!

Please take a moment and leave a comment with some book recommendations or let us know what is on your reading list this summer!

Heather King is a wife, mom, Bible Study teacher, writer and worship leader.  Most importantly, she is a Christ follower with a desire to help others apply the Bible to everyday life with all its mess, noise, and busyness.  Her upcoming book, Ask Me Anything, Lord: Opening Our Hearts to God’s Questions, will be released in November 2013!  To read more devotionals by Heather King, click here.

Copyright © 2013 Heather King