Summer's Heat

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

British author Henry James would enjoy today since it should be in the 80's. I was thinking how the weather can almost be a character in a novel. Remember the heat in the courtroom in To Kill a Mockingbird? Those emotional scenes of the trial wouldn't have been the same if snow had been falling. Last weekend, we had a thunder, lighting and hail storm. We stayed outside in our shorts in the warm air amazed at the drama of nature. The storm made our pine and juniper forest feel tropical -- think The Year of Living Dangerously when you can smell a summer rain. What summer reads are truly about the heat of summer?