Happy Birthday, Dear America
"Saturday in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July. People talking, really smiling, a man playing guitar, singing for us all. I've been waiting such a long time for today. Every day's the Fourth of July...a real celebration for us all." Robert Lamm's Saturday in the Park performed by Chicago, July 1972
Americans have many reasons - 240, actually - to celebrate this Fourth of July, according to Time magazine. For many Americans, that number could be pushed to 241 if you count that the latest issue is "99% politics free." The list is wide-ranging and fun. It's filled with ideas of where to travel and what to cheer. Midnight sun baseball in Fairbanks, Alaska? Yes! Artisanal bread in all 50 states? Sure. The national park system turning 100 years old? Great! Iowa's funky bicycle ride (RAGBRAI) from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River that also features pies at each stop? Sweet and delicious!
Our reading habits and books also made the list. It's good news for all Americans that bookstores, especially independent stores, are not disappearing. Time calls their death "greatly exaggerated" (# 64) while touting the success of Tattered Cover in Denver, Colorado and R.J. Julia in Madison, Connecticut. Americans are still reading up a storm, buying both e-books and hard copy books. We love our traditional novels (# 164) such as Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellows, and Birds of America by Lorrie Moore. Children's classics (# 177-185) remain close to our hearts, Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
And we pack up our lawn chairs and picnic baskets whenever we get the chance to enjoy any staging of Shakespeare under the stars (# 212).
There are new books to keep you reading all summer. Watch for: J. K. Rowling, Daniel Silva, Liane Moriarty, Danielle Steel, James Patterson, G. B. Trudeau, Peter Lovesey, Hannah Pittard, Delia Ephron, Marcia Muller, Linda Castillo, Alexander McCall Smith, Susan Mallery, Ace Atkins, Iris Johansen, Lenny Dykstra, Lauren Weisberger, Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella, Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris.
Three upcoming books that have gotten a lot of pre-publication buzz: Mary Mann Hamilton's The Trials of the Earth; Nicolaia Rips' Trying to Float; and Kate Summerscale's The Wicked Boy.
In honor of our Independence Day, I'll be reading Gail Collins' America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines.
J*u*l*y is Cell Phone Courtesy Month, National Blueberries Month, National Ice Cream Month and Dog Days (of summer) Month.
** J U L Y D A Y S **
3 - Superman Day
7 - Chocolate Day
10 - Clerihew Day (Not sure what a clerihew is? Check out The Lost Clerihews of Paul Ingram.
11 - Bowdler's Day (Thomas Bowdler - famous for removing offending passages from books)
13 - French Fries Day
14 - National Mac & Cheese Day
20 - Moon Day (In honor of July 20, 1969 and Neil Armstrong's "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind..."
22 - Spooners' Day (William Archibald Spooner - often got his words mixed up such as "Can I sew you to another sheet instead of can I show you to another seat?"
- Hammock Day
23 - National Day of the Cowboy (Read Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey or Max Brand)
24 - Amelia Earhart Day (East to the Dawn by Susan Butler)
26 - National Talk in an Elevator Day (Ask what book he/she is reading)
27 -Bagpipe Appreciation Day
30 - Friendship Day
- Paperback Book Day (Great for packing along on August vacations)
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