Books

What Will You Be Reading This Summer?

I don’t want to make you jealous or anything, but summer came early this year on the West Coast. We’re already enjoying summertime fun and planning lots more activities – the water slides, beach outings, a camping trip, regular visits to our local splash pad, and a special parents-only anniversary trip to Las Vegas.

Right behind quality family time, my next favourite thing is to relax and catch up on my reading whether at the beach, by the pool, roughing it in the woods, or in the tub after a long day keeping up with the kids.

Where will you be reading this summer?

I used to carry my current read with me in my purse, wrapped up in a plastic bag to keep it safe. Travelling anywhere meant the same thing on a larger scale: stacks of books tucked into my suitcase and carry on luggage. This was before I discovered e-books and e-readers though.

When I realized I could carry dozens, or more like hundreds and thousands, of books on one little handheld device, it was a complete game changer. I still love the feel and smell of paper books, and I still collect pop-up books (those are pretty hard to reproduce digitally!), but I don’t know if I could go back to paper only. Not now that I can take my entire library with me anywhere, anytime.

paperbacks

While I would like to think of myself as graceful, I know I’m really not, and that’s my one reservation with taking my e-reader with me to the pool, the beach, or in the tub. If I have a klutzy moment, that mass market paperback is easily replaceable. An e-reader on the other hand, is not. What if it gets splashed or worse yet, I drop it in the water?

Luckily, Kobo has thought of that, and that’s why they came out with the Kobo Aura H2O. It’s IP67 certified, which is a fancy way of saying it’s dustproof and waterproof for up to 30 minutes in 1 metre of water with the port cover closed. (Get all the tech and specs here.) That’s perfect for me!AuraH2O ereader
It has a 6.8″ Carta E-ink and anti-glare display to make it easy to read on even the sunniest day, and the front light lets me read at night without disturbing anyone else. All four of us sleep in the same tent when we go camping, so that’s exactly what I need. Speaking of which, where we camp there are no electrical sockets. No charger? No problem! My Aura H2O boasts an ultra long battery life – up to 2 months!

What’s On Your Summer Reading List?

I’m a big fan of Kobo’s selection of over 5 million titles and the robust Kobo reading app. In fact I’ve been using the Kobo app for the last couple of years on a Kobo Arc, iPad, and two Android phones, and it’s always worked smoothly and bug-free for me.

Currently I’m rereading The Family Tree, a post-apocalyptic fable by Sheri S. Tepper, one of my all time favourite eco-feminist science fiction authors. I wholeheartedly recommend her earlier novels too. Favourites include Gibbon’s Decline and Fall and Grass.

Police officer Dora Henry is investigating the bizarre murders of three geneticists. Meanwhile, strange things are happening everywhere she turns. Weeds are becoming trees; trees are becoming forests. Overnight, a city is being transformed into a wild and verdant place.

And, strangest of all, Dora can somehow communicate with the rampaging flora.

A potential civilization-ending catastrophe is in the making. The closer Dora gets to a murderer–and to the truth–the more seemingly disparate events begin to entwine. And the answers she seeks today to the salvation of humankind may lie in afar distant future. . .one which is suddenly much closer than anyone imagines.

The Family Tree

And I’ve got Uprooted, Naomi Novak’s newest book and winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, queued up next.

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

Uprooted - Naomi Novik

I love binge reading an entire series from start to finish too, and since several people have recommended the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon to me, that’s next on my list. Kobo has a bundle of the first seven books and a novella all in one download. Perfect to take on vacation or on a road trip!

The year is 1946. Claire Randall is a British ex-combat nurse on a postwar second honeymoon with her husband in the Scottish Highlands. Walking alone one afternoon, she passes through a circle of standing stones and is hurled back in time to a Scotland simmering with war in the year of our Lord 1743. Catapulted into an intrigue of rival clans and rising armies that threatens her life, she’s obliged to wed James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, as the only way to survive. Thus begins a series of unrivaled storytelling that has become a modern classic.

This bundle includes:

  • Outlander
  • Dragonfly in Amber
  • Voyager
  • Drums of Autumn
  • The Fiery Cross
  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes
  • An Echo in the Bone
  • The Custom of the Army (E-novella)

Outlander Series

Browsing for some summer reading of your own? Visit the Kobo Bookstore to find your next great read! Kobo lets you download book previews before purchasing, and I’ve found some great reads in the Free E-Books section too. Connect on Facebook and Twitter.

What’s on your summer reading list?

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Win a Kobo Aura H2O E-Reader!

Win your own Kobo Aura H2O and some fun swag for summer! Enter in the giveaway widget below. This giveaway is open to residents of Canada, 18+, excluding Quebec.

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Kobo Aura H2O Influencer Campaign Giveaway

Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Kobo and I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

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