Newtown readers head for the bestsellers list in summertime, said Ms Weber. “Water For Elephants, a novel by Sarah Gruen, has been very popular this summer, as has On Chisel Beach, an Ian McEwan novel. It’s surprising the range of people who are requesting On Chisel Beach. We also find that our paperback display sees a lot more activity this time of year. People are looking for more portable, smaller books to take on vacation or tuck into their bags.”

Summer readers are standing in line to borrow the new Janet Evanovich book, too, she said. “Mysteries are big with readers in the summertime. James Patterson’s newest, The Quickie, is one that people really want.”

Historical fiction is huge for book lovers in the summer, said Ms Weber. “We have especially seen those books by Philippa McGregory, who wrote Virgin Lover and a lot of books about Henry the Eighth, being borrowed.”

Another novel that has been popular during the warmer months is Debra Dean’s The Madonnas of Leningrad, Ms Weber said.

Of course, chick lit is popular year around, but summer seems to make it especially loved. “Anything in a pink cover gets borrowed,” Ms Weber has noticed.

Supporting Ms Weber’s assertion that historical and political reading takes off in summer, Newtown resident Peter Van Buskirk said that his most recent read was The Plot Against America by Philip Roth and that he is presently reading Are We Rome: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy. Wally Wood said that he has just finished Eat The Document by Dana Spiotta, a book that he called “a rich and interesting book about radicals in the 70s and the 90s.” Pete Stern is tuned into historical reading this summer via an audio book, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Times, about the Roosevelts.

For Samantha Kent, a high school sophomore, historical fiction has taken up a good portion of her summer reading. “I’m reading Philippa McGregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl and I’ve read other books by her,” said Sam. “My biology teacher last year recommended this author.” Of course, Sam also plans to read the new Harry Potter book when it comes out this month.

Patricia Barkman is also indulging in history this summer by means of the written word. Her choices focus on local history, however: Eleanor Mayer’s History of Cherry Grove Farm by Andrea Zimmermann and A Mosaic of Newtown History by Dan Cruson.

As a member of the environmental group, ROOTs, it is no surprise to find Earth Friendly Alternatives to Herbicides, Pesticides and Household Chemicals by Stonington Garden Club or Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroeger on Ms Barkman’s reading list this summer. Other books she plans to read before the chilly winds of autumn come to town are The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Philosophy in A New Key by Susanne K. Langer, and Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker.

There are other books that have captured the attention of Mr Wood and Mr Stern this summer, as well. “I’m also reading Thirteen Ways of Looking At the Novel by Jane Smiley. If you are interested in reading and understanding fiction, it’s a great book,” said Mr Wood.

Pete Stern recently finished reading In the Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez for one of the books clubs to which he belongs, and when his wife, Julie, finishes it, he has A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini on his list, recommended to them by both their son and daughter-in-law.

Julie Stern said that along with A Thousand Splendid Suns, she has two other books going this summer, as well. “My ‘treadmill’ book is Stalin’s Ghost, a detective story by Martin Cruz Smith, and I’m also reading The Post Birthday World by Lionel Shriver,” said Ms Stern.

“I just finished reading Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer,” said Marian Wood, who is as avid a reader as is her husband, Wally. “It was a book my mystery book club read.”

Joan Nash has also read Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence this summer, but the book that she recently read and loved, she said, was The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. “It’s the sort of book that you can read quickly, but it was just really good,” she said. Another book Ms Nash has read already this summer is The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeanette Walls. The popular A Thousand Splendid Suns is next on her list, she said.

The “pink covered books” are a hit with some of the young adult readers in town who are looking for a break from heavy college books and required reading at Newtown High School. College sophomore Emily Fields said that she has read two Emily Giffin books this summer, Something Borrowed and Baby Proof. She has also fit Jodi Picoult’s Keeping Faith into her reading, although she does not categorize it as “chick lit.”

“I’ve been reading some of those cutesy, girl books,” said Ellen Binio, a recent NHS graduate. “They’re good beach reads.” Two of the books she read on vacation are The Au Pairs by Melissa de la Cruz and Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girls.

It is Ellen’s mother, Glorianne Garvin, though, who wins the prize for most books read on vacation. “I read eight books last week while I was on vacation in Nantucket,” said Ms Garvin. Water For Elephants, A Pig In Provence, A Dirty Job, Dream When You’re Feeling Blue, Nature Girl, and Suite Francaise were her picks, as were two “island books,” Osprey Island and Vacation On Nantucket. “My mother brought a bag of books and I brought a bag of books. It was a great week for reading,” said Ms Garvin.

There are so many good books to cram into the short months of summer. Fact, fiction, fantasy, or just plain fun, summer is the time when Newtown reads. And if even lightweight novels get to be too much for those sultry days of summer, there is always The Bee.