That was the subject line for an email I sent my newsletter subscribers, followed by the line With apologies to Ella Fitzgerald and Sam Cooke. For me, theres something special about sitting on the screened porch with a book. My preferred spot is on my glider with the cat sprawled on the bamboo rug and the birds chirping. The occasional buzz of hummingbird wings is a bonus.

Check out my latest reading selections. Perhaps youll choose to escape to England or Greece via books as I recently did. So, as we say in the South, Come sit a spell.

Thats Not English, by Erin Moore

As an American who writes cozy mysteries set in England, I picked up this book in the hopes I would find some new Britishisms to use in my books. I found that and so much more. I laughed aloud at many of the explanations of what words mean in England vs. here in the USA.

It was perfect timing that I discovered Brits call personal trainers fitness coaches, as I was using that term in the book I was writing. The oddest thing I learned was that gingers or red-heads, as Americans call them are bullied and taunted in England. A journalist once asked, "Should ginger-bashing be considered a hate crime?"

Fun facts:

In England, homely describes something thats cozy and comfortable.

In America, scrappy is a compliment "that carries the connotation of the underdog." In England, it means "untidy or poorly organized."

This book may become as vital to me as my thesaurus!!

Mykonos after Midnight, by Jeffrey Siger

I've long been a Jeffrey Siger fan, and I picked up the first in this series years ago before a visit to the Greek islands. The descriptions of the scenery are very true to life and set beside the descriptions of the politics and machinations of the government, sometimes jarring. Such is Greece.

Because I've sailed the islands twice, I always enjoy seeing scenes set on the ones I visited. Siger's descriptions of Delos, Syros and Mykonos, for example, are well done. And, he always sprinkles in bits of history which I appreciate. Siger lives on Mykonos, so he knows his stuff.

I have noticed that as the series has evolved, there are more sex scenes. I suppose that helps the books sell to a certain audience, though I read them more for the mystery and action and the familiar characters. And of course the chance to see Greece again, if only in my mind. (So, if a bit of graphic sex is a bridge too far for you, these books will not appeal.) All of that said, I will continue to read this series, especially as I've booked a Greek cruise for this year.

There are eleven books in the series, and the first one, also set on Mykonos, is Murder in Mykonos.

Now, Im leaving Greece to return to upstate New York in A Fountain Filled with Blood, book two in the eight-book Julia Spencer-Fleming mystery series.

Award-winning author Kathy Manos Penn is a Sandy Springs resident. Find her cozy mysteries locally at The Enchanted Forest and on Amazon. Contact her at inkpenn119@gmail.com, and follow her on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/KathyManosPennAuthor/.

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Opinion: Summertime, and the readin' is easy - Appen Media