And the reading is easy ... in summertime, a good book is king of leisure pursuits. (Summer Escapes)(Cover Story).

For some of us the pattern was set in childhood, when the school year was for reading whatever the teacher assigned to us. This was reading for education, not edification, though some of it was surprisingly edifying--like the moment our brains cut through all that Elizabethan English and got Romeo and Juliet.

But summertime was different. When the days stretched out and the school bell rang a final time setting us free, we could read whatever we wanted. We hurried down to the corner store for comic books, we went to the library for chilling mysteries and thrilling adventure yarns and girly, girly romance. At the library, we also went for books that would turn out to be important to us but weren't always found on our official school reading lists.

I was sixteen the summer I stumbled upon black protest literature and stayed up until dawn reading Soul on Ice, The Fire Next Time, The Autobiography of Malcolm X--which proves summertime reading need not all be of the lightweight variety. For some people, summer is the time to break into that stack of meaning-to-get-to books that had gathered dust by the bedside all winter long. It's also the time to swing by the bookstore on the way to the country on Friday afternoon and pick up that novel everyone's been talking about since fall.

Summer is a great time to slow down and catch up. It is the time when a book, often seen as the plain-Jane of entertainment, comes back into its own. Summer television shows are dopey. Summer movies are flashy, loud and overrun. Summer Internet surfing may be diverting, but who wants to lug his or her laptop all the way to the beach? Well, okay, Derrick Bell does. (See page 19.)

In summertime the book is king. Portable, browsable, lendable and still cheap enough that if it disappears from your towel while you're frolicking in the sand, you won't be crushed. For people who love reading, summer is feasting season. All they need is a good book, a cozy chair, and an icy drink by their side. What's better than that?

BIBR asked a number of well-known African Americans about their seasonal plans and the books they most wanted to dive into this summer.

Valerie Wilson Wesley, whose latest novel is Always True to You in My Fashion (William Morrow, November 2002, ISBN 0-060-18883-9) says, "I'm wrapping my mind around Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd. Zora has always been one of my favorite writers and I'm curious about her life."

Wilson Wesley is deep into writing a new Tamara Hayle mystery and looks forward to feeding her creative spirit by revisiting some Walter Mosley favorites and catching up with the latest Easy Rawlins. "I can't wait to get into Bad Boy Brawley Brown, the latest in the series," she says. And she adds, "Sexual Healing, Jill Nelson's first novel, is a best bet for adding some serious, sexy heat to a long, hot summer."

Ilyasah Shabazz, author of the intimate memoir Growing Up X (One World, April 2002, ISBN 0-345-44495-7) had plans to travel to Jordan this summer. But with war in the Middle East and pressing commitments at home, she's dreaming instead of renting a car and making a long, slow drive south to the gracious cities of Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.

"These are absolutely two of my favorite places in the States," says Shabazz. "These cities remind me of my childhood, because both are full of life, of gospel music, the sound of birds singing, children laughing and the wind blowing, along with the roar of the ocean and the aroma of homemade cooking." In her bag, Shabazz will pack Randall Robinson's The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks. She'll also be toting two thought-provoking books of psychology: Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman and The New Personality Self-Portrait: Why You Think, Work, Love, and Act the Way You Do by John M. Oldham and Lois B. Morris.

The entrepreneur and rap impresario Russell Simmons is an avid reader with eclectic tastes. Simmons, cofounder of Def Jam Records as well as the creative and motivating force behind HBO's Def Comedy Jam and Broadway's Def Poetry Jam, is checking out The Common Good by Noam Chomsky, Stupid White Men by Michael Moore and The Food Revolution by John Robbins and Dean Ornish, M.D.

"Michael Moore is passionate about the direction of this country, and you don't have to agree with him to respect his patriotism," Simmons says. Simmons also plans to dip into The Envy of the World by Ellis Cose and Dog Town: The Legend of the Z-Boys by Craig Stecyk.

The celebrated photographer Anthony Barboza likes to take his summer vacations near the water. During the beach season this year, he plans to carry along John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead. Barboza read Whitehead's debut novel, The Intuitionist, a few years back and loved it, and so he has high expectations of this one. "Colson Whitehead is great," he says. "He is the most phenomenal writer of the decade."

Barboza also plans to get into White Teeth by Zadie Smith, a book he liked so much the first time through he wants to resample it. "I love novels, I love literature," he points out. "When I go to the beach, I always take books along."

A Christian inspirational author, the Reverend Renita J. Weems says reading is vital to her sense of well-being. The Rev. Weems's latest book is Showing Mary: How Women Can Share Prayers, Wisdom, and the Blessings of God (Warner Books/Walk Worthy Press, May 2002, ISBN 0-446-53066-2). "Reading keeps me fed emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. When I get in a serious slump it's usually because I haven't read anything that galvanizes me."

Weems says the book she enjoyed the most this past year was Tananarive Due's My Soul to Keep, which examines what happens when supernatural forces shatter the domestic joys of a middle-class family. Weems normally does not read thrillers dealing with the supernatural, though she does enjoy a good cinematic scare. "Being in the hands of a great writer is like being in the hands of a great lover, and Due writes extremely well," Weems says. "She made me care."

Next up for Weems is Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities by Johnnetta B. Cole and Beverly Guy-Sheftall. She explains that her busy speaking and teaching schedule keeps her winging across the land even in summer. "If I don't have a book or a magazine when I'm on a plane I'm at an absolute loss," she says.

Percy Sutton, attorney and media mogul, calls himself a great consumer of books. As chairman emeritus of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, Sutton naturally keeps abreast of the current important business books. What may be more surprising is his secret passion for books on farming and horticulture. "I like to read about farming subjects because I grew up on a farm but never had a chance to farm myself," he says.

Sutton recently read Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by his fellow civil rights leader, Congressman John Lewis (D., Ga.). He is also working his way through Michael Manley: The Making of a Leader by Darrell Levi, a book about the late Jamaican prime minister. This summer he plans to read I Wish You Love by one of his favorite jazz singers Gloria Lynne. And Sutton is always interested in books about the famous Tuskeegee Airmen, because he is one himself. A favorite title he recommends is Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskeegee Airmen by Lynn Homan and Thomas Reilly.

Derrick Bell, a legal scholar, doesn't believe in taking much time off. He is author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (Basic Books, 1992) and Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth (Bloomsbury USA, October 2002, ISBN 1-582-34205-9).

Professor Bell says whenever he goes to the beach or on vacation he always takes along his laptop, a practice that sometimes opens him to ridicule by acquaintances and friends. "But my friends understand me by now," he says. "At 72, I am more aware than ever that life does not go on forever. Even so, I have no plans to retire. I am not happy that the world in general and the lives and well-being of black people in particular are more at risk now than they were when I started working in civil rights 46 years ago. The least I can do is continue to share my experiences about life in general and, when I can, try to urge our leaders today not to repeat the mistakes we made."

Come summer, an economist, author and commentator, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, makes a bit more room in her bookbag for fiction. "I probably read twenty books a month," says Malveaux, whose latest book is the highly praised anthology she coedited with Reginna A. Green, The Paradox of Loyalty: An African-American Response to the War on Terrorism (Third World Press, November 2002, ISBN 0-883-78243-X). "I'm always reading economic books and political books and I read a lot of history," she says. "But fiction is a way to keep balanced." Malveaux likes October Suite by Maxine Clair. "That's the kind of fiction that I'm really attracted to," she says. "And I wish more of us were writing historical fiction."

By contrast, one old-school rapper, Kool Moe Dee, describes himself a sporadic reader, and that his reading habits don't change in the summer because he strives to keep his life from segmenting. He leans toward astrology, numerology and self-help books. The next titles he wants to dig into are Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson and The Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta by Gerald Massey. "Right now," he says, "that's where my head is." And he's also looking forward to publishing his own first book, There's a God on the Mike: The Fifty Greatest MC's, this fall.

Don't Get in the Way of What She's Feelin'

Did you know that singer/songwriter Jill Scott is also a voracious reader and a creative writing talent? Before her first album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds, Vol. 1, climbed the recording charts in 2000, she was well-known in Philadelphia's Black boho spoken-word performance scene for her fierce poetry.

In May when BIBR reached out to Scott about her summer plans, she was in the recording studios working on new music. But she told us she was looking forward having time this summer to finish J. California Cooper's 1996 collection of short stories, Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime. She also revealed she would be putting in more writing time on her own book of original short stories and poems. Asked about her major literary influences, in addition to J. California Cooper, Scott ticked off Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez. We wouldn't be surprised if all these distinguished contemporary black women writers also find certain cuts on Scott's CDs to be excellent accompaniment to their work and leisure time, too.

Hot Topics

* Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd, Scribner, December 2002, $30, ISBN 0-684-84230-0.

* Bad Boy Brawley Brown by Walter Mosley, Little Brown & Co., July 2002, $24.95, ISBN 0-316-07301-6.

* Sexual Healing by Jill Nelson, Agate, June 2003, $23.95, ISBN 0-972-45620-1.

* The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks by Randall Robinson, E P Dutton, January 2000, ISBN 0-525-94524-5.

* Stupid White Men ... And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation by Michael Moore, ReganBooks, February 2002, $24.95, ISBN 0-060-39245-2.

* The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins and Dean Ornish, M.D., Conari Pr., July 2001, ISBN 1-573-24702-2.

* The Envy of the World: On Being a Black Man in America by Ellis Cose, Washington Square Press, February 2002, $22, ISBN 0-743-42715-7

* John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead, Doubleday, May 2001, $24.95, ISBN 0-385-49819-5.

* The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, Anchor Books, December 1998, ASIN 0-385-49299-5

* White Teeth by Zadie Smith; Random House, April 2000, $24.95, ISBN 0-375-50185-1.

* My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due, Harper-Collins, June 1997, ASIN 0-060-18742-5.

* Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities by Johnnetta B. Cole and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, One World, February 2003, $24.95, ISBN 0-345-45412-X.

* Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis, Bt Bound, March 2001, $25.35, ISBN 0-613-22580-5.

* Michael Manley: The Making of a Leader by Darrell E. Levi, University of Georgia Press, March 1990, $35.00, ISBN 0-820-31221-5.

* I Wish You Love by Gloria Lynne with Karen Chilton, Forge, February 2001, $14.95, ISBN 0312-87029-9.

* Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen by Lynn M. Homan and Thomas Reilly, Pelican Pub Co., February 2001, $23.00, ISBN 1-565-54828-0.

* October Suite by Maxine Clair, Random House, September 2001, ISBN 0-375-50630-6.

* Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson, New Falcon Publications, February 1993, $14.95, ISBN 1-561-84056-4.

* The Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Mysteries of Amenta (1907) by Gerald Massey, Kessinger Publishing Co., March 1997, $17, ISBN 1-564-59891-8.

* Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime by J. California Cooper, Anchor, 1996, $12.95, ISBN 0-365-48788-5

Kim McLarin is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Taming It Down and Meeting of the Waters. She is also the coauthor of Growing Up X, a memoir by Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X. McLarin, a former reporter for The New York Times and The St. Petersburg Times, discovers what some celebrities are planning to read this summer. She shares her finds on page 16.