Beach reading season 2017 officially begins (for me…)

It’s that wonderful ‘event’ that rolls around each year – the official start of beach reading season!

For me, it often happens around the Easter holidays, when the weather in Rome starts turning almost summer-like. I often take my kids to one of our favorite beach spots near Rome – the wonderful town of Sperlonga.

When we were there, it was a gorgeous day, but a little too cold to swim – although there were plenty of northern European tourists doing just that. But it was great for splashing around in the water, games of soccer, and long walks along the beach. My younger son considered it ideal track practice and ran about a half-marathon length of jogs up and down the beach.

I was far lazier – thrilled to plop myself on the golden sand and to crack open the pages of my book, because this means the official start of beach reading season – a little seasonal rite I enjoy each year.

Even if work commitments and children’s sports events mean I don’t get to the beach as often as I’d like, the time I do spend in the spring and summer and even early autumn  is always idyllic. I love to spend an entire, lazy weekend day swimming, listening to the sound of the waves, and reading to my heart’s content.

Anything better than that?

So my little preview of what is to come on my first beach foray of the season was really perfect. Let the 2017 beach reading season officially begin!