As autumn approaches and you unearth those lost Christmas bookstore gift certificates in your cleaning, check out even more great books you may not yet have had time to read this summer. Reading’s a year-round activity that doesn’t take any special equipment – just a light and time to get lost in the text!

Health-related

If it looks like you’re going to be a caretaker this summer, then you may want to use your gift certificate to find Happier Endings: A Meditation on Life and Death by Erica Brown. It’s a book about the end, how to lessen fears of it and how to make life before it grander.

Health care is another issue on the minds of a lot of people – and if you’re one of them, then find The American Health Care Paradox by Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor. It’s a book about why the cost of health care is going up but the outcome is, the authors profess, declining.

Of course, you want to take care of yourself, so why not know what’s inside first? Leonardo’s Foot by Carol Ann Rinzler takes a look at those things at the end of your legs that help you perambulate. That’s walking, you know. Then, grab Year of No Sugar by Eve O. Schaub, a memoir about where sugar is, what it does and one woman’s quest to see if she could live without it.

If you received some bad news this year, you know how important it is to have the support of your loved ones. Don’t Write the Obituary Yet by Susan Evans (with Thomas C. Krivak, M.D.) is about a woman’s fight against cancer and the support she received from two men – one of them, her husband.

Memoirs

I remember watching The Great Santini and then reading the book – or was it the other way around? Anyhow, I was excited to see the true story that inspired it, The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy.

It’s the true story of Conroy’s father, his mother and the family dynamics that inspired Conroy’s novels (and the movies).

For a lighter biography, look for Romance is My Day Job by Patience Bloom, a book about editing books about romance, and finding the real thing.

Popular belief says farms are bucolic and peaceful, but that’s not always the case, as you’ll see in One Hundred and Four Horses by Mandy Retzlaff. This is the story of a ranch, horses and the war that separated them all from the land they loved. Horse-lovers won’t be able to put this one down.

And speaking of farms, I loved Chickens in the Road by Suzanne McMinn, which is the story of a city girl’s new life on a farm – complete with animals and the chores that come with them.

Big kids’ books

The Legend of the Jersey Devil by Trinka Hakes Noble, illustrated by Gerald Kelley, is surely in picture book form (like those you’d see for little kids), but I thought this tale of monsters and rumors would be better for older kids. I loved the illustrations, but I’m afraid they could be awfully scary for small children.

Older kids who loved Waldo years ago might get a kick out of Where’s the Zombie? by Jen Wainwright, illustrated by Paul Moran. The Zombie Apocalypse is nigh and the undead are hiding among the people in one large town.

Teens who’ve ever thought of packing up and living someone else’s life will enjoy The Ultimate Book of Impostors by Ian Graham. This book is filled with stories of frauds, criminals and folks who faked their lives – usually for nefarious purposes. It’s fun, funny and entertaining.

Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick is a novelized story of a boy who lived through Hurricane Katrina, and is meant for kids ages 10-14.