Turn off the TV and pick up a book this Summer

The State Library of Victoria's Summer Read is on again and this year. it’s time to turn off the TV and pick up a great Victorian book over the summer months.

The annual Summer Read program celebrates the diversity of Victorian writing and encourages Victorians to enjoy and discuss books over summer. The Summer Read books are either written by a Victorian or set in Victoria, and all are free to borrow from participating public libraries throughout the state.

Summer Read coordinator at the State Library, Susan McLaine, says the program gives Victorians some great stories to enjoy over summer - a time when television programming is often at its worst.

'Summer is a terrible time for television but we don’t have to put up with reruns and B-grade movies. There's endless number of amazing stories to be read and summer really is a great time to read them.

The 10 books in the Summer Read contain brilliant stories for a broad range of tastes - be it crime, literary fiction, short stories or memoir. They provide a compelling reason to turn off those wall-size, power zapping plasmas and dive into some quality storytelling.'

The 2010/11 Summer Read books are

Animal Kingdom: A Crime Story by Stephen Sewell. Victory Books. (Crime)

Below the Styx by Michael Meehan. Allen & Unwin. (Literary fiction)

Book of Lost Threads by Tess Evans. Allen & Unwin. (Fiction)

The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin. Viking. (Crime fiction)

Flying with Paper Wings by Sandy Jeffs. Vulgar Press. (Memoir)

Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests by Anna Krien, Black Inc. (Non-fiction)

Piano Lessons by Anna Goldsworthy, Black Inc. (Memoir)

Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer, Scribe. (Literary fiction)

The Sleepers Almanac No. 6, Anthology, Sleepers. (Literary short fiction)

Stealing Picasso by Anson Cameron. Random House. (Fiction)