Four cozy, beautiful, or thoughtful links to get your weekend started

Happy summer! My kids are home and we are so very ready for a long, leisurely summer of doing nothing. Well, not nothing, but a whole lot of non-school related, unstructured activities. We don’t watch a lot of television during the school year, but we do love catching up on the classics during too-hot summer afternoons and evenings. We’ll be starting with Oklahoma! since my youngest doesn’t remember it, then working our way through a few on this list. I would certainly add a few and take off a couple from the list, how about you?

I’m planning on reading all summer long and have been compiling lists of books for myself as well as my children. I decided to check out Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Guide for the first time, and it’s very thorough if you are looking for variety. I’ll be starting the Chronicles of Narnia with my kids soon.

Speaking of stocking up on reading material, I found this article on the supposed demise of bookstores very interesting. My mother-in-law visited recently and I was shocked to hear her mid-sized capital city has no large bookstore; our smaller town has a Barnes and Nobel that seems to be thriving. In the age of digital books, everyone predicted hard copies would go the way of the dinosaur. Studies have shown, however that this just isn’t true.

This other article explains that, while independent books stores may be doing fine, college libraries are finding less and less print-book usage. I’m not normally big on protests, but I found myself siding with the college sit-in: the college in question was going to remove books to create more study space, but the students resented the change. I can’t possibly imagine studying for college classes not surrounded by books. I have the fondest memories of studying in the stacks, sneaking away from the buzzing of the Quad and sinking into my studies. There’s just something about being surrounded by books that makes reading, writing, and learning come more easily. In my mind, it feels right and good to be in the presence of books.

Enjoy your weekend!