Summer of Light

I was on Melissa's blog a few weeks ago and she was talking about summer reading and asked for suggestions.  Someone suggested 3 books - 2 I had read and loved (The Help and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society) - and 1 I had not, Summer of Light by W. Dale Cramer.  So I decided I had better read it.  And I'm glad I did, I really enjoyed it.  It made me laugh, it made me cry.  All around a great story of raising kids told from a different perspective - the dad's!  It's the story of Mick Brannigan, an iron-worker, who loses his job after a bizarre accident and ends up being a stay-at-home-dad for three kids.  In the middle of raising the kids and running the house he discovers he has an eye for photography, and with the encouragement of a neighbor he begins taking photos to enter into a local contest.

There was something so sweet and fun about Mick and his child-rearing.  He was always doing unexpected things, things that most stay-at-home mom's would never do (mainly because they could be extremely dangerous), but he does it in a way that works.  I still laugh thinking about that zip-line and the quotes from that video game that the kids shout all the time...   And once Mick starts taking photos everywhere they go, the story got even more interesting for me - because of where the photography leads him.  It reminds me a little bit of urban exploration at points, which is fascinating to me - but I'm a little too chicken to get out there and do it, so I am happy to enjoy others' photography of it.  Like Avius Quovis - amazing, so cool and I know him!  Which reminds me of the new book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, he incorporates eerie vintage photos into the story and I really want to read it.  Also there is a really cool making of the book trailer for that book, where he goes with an urban explorer and it is beautiful and haunting - you should definitely go watch it here.  OK back to Summer of Light, the point is I really enjoyed it, I found it entertaining and uplifting.  The characters are very interesting and real - and I think I have a bit of a crush of Mick Brannigan actually.