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There is something about the summer that allows me to get a lot of books read. How can I possibly have more time in the summer than I do in the winter? Well, I do save time watering the house plants as they are all outside being watered by the sprinkler system, but I am trying to figure out what else lends itself to more reading time. I seem to have no problem reading beside the pool, or in the pool. I feel like there are fewer distractions. I can even tune out the birds, the squirrels and the chipmunks! There is just a calm that moves over the summer that lets me unwind.

I have been doing some reminiscing recently as I muse (well, if that is not an affected word, I am not sure what is) about the 25-year history of Reading Group Guides. A big change that has happened is access to authors. When we first started The Book Report Network in 1996, unless you saw an author on tour, all you knew about them was what you read on the book's back jacket. Something like, “She resides in San Francisco with her husband and her dog.” Sometimes the husband and dog were named. Some authors appeared on morning television nationally or wherever they were locally. Yes, remember those local morning shows that were in most big markets?