Summer Reading

I picked up a non-fiction book to research Midwestern storms for a novel I'm drafting. Storm Kings by Lee Sandlin is unexpectedly entertaining. I'm learning fascinating details of American history, as well as the development of American meteorology.

I hope to never encounter a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. One appeared in 1871, formed a fiery tornado, and lay waste to a Wisconsin town. The survivors thought they were witnessing the finger of God, and the end of the world.

I watched a Colorado storm last year that nearly dropped me to my knees in fear and trembling. The thunder and lightning were relentless. There is true terror in being in the grips of a tremendous storm. Having spent eight years in Oklahoma, I experienced tornado season - the sky turning green, the thunder-boomer storm followed by an eerie silence. Thankfully, the tornadoes passed me by. 

My interest in crazy weather is being fueled by Sandlin's book. Expect to see a storm of Biblical proportions in one of my future stories.

On the fiction side, I've been reading short stories from various sources. We listened to a middle grade novel on our drive to Texas - The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer, which kept us entertained for many miles. We started Tail Gait by Rita Mae Brown, but didn't finish it on our trip. I'm listening to it as I commute to work. I finished A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd. I started reading Agatha Christie's The Murder at the Vicarage. We attended the Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing.

I don't usually get in this much literature in summer, especially one this busy. Audio books are a great way to add more "reading" to a busy schedule.

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