A good book can take us farther than an airplane, keep us otherwise occupied longer than a week away from home and cost far less than any vacation. True, I’d rather be reading my book on a sandy beach with an ocean breeze. But even on my own back deck, lolling my cushy birthday chaise, a good book, a summer’s day and a cool drink make a vacation.     In that spirit, the Bay Weekly family of readers offers its annual summer reading special.

Ashley Brotherton of Calvert County and now Baltimore is moving on after a year as Bay Weekly calendar editor and staff writer     Looking at my nightstand, you wouldn’t know it, but there are piles and piles of books. The piles are condensed into my Nook, the Barnes and Nobel eReader.

What’s that you’re reading?         Another person’s nose in a book makes your nose itch to get in for its own sniff. The casual pass, the sidelong look, the binocular stare: They’re techniques we’ve all tried to pick up a title.        The sight of another reader’s wordy intimacy with a story is an irresistible provocation.

It’s official: On June 21 — three weeks into the month proclaimed by Gov. Martin O’Malley as Great Outdoors Month — the solstice turned spring into summer. To seize the summer season, Bay Weekly peers into books about the great outdoors.