WHAT’S SO FUNNY: A book and a movie

There wasn’t much to do during my Midwestern boyhood summers. Basically, you had baseball and mowing the lawn. That’s why my entire generation knows the theme song to “Gilligan’s Island” — there just weren’t many entertainment options.

I do remember reading “Huckleberry Finn” and going to the Quincy, Ill., cinema to see “The Great Escape.” Those were undeniable highlights. But most days were uneventful.

Saturday marks the official beginning of summer in Laguna, and there’s no denying we’re better off now than I was then. We have attractions no other town has.

The Sawdust Festival starts next week — a unique community of artists and craftspeople that has become an institution without becoming stuffy. Inside is a sanctuary from the world of the mass-produced, where all is made by hand and the individual artisan still thrives.

And of course there’s the Pageant of the Masters, where classic art comes to life and two dimensions become three in order to become two again. It’s spectacular and perennially sold out.

But to me the real summer happiness this year will come from the two old-fashioned, traditional, surefire, down-home simple joys I remember from my childhood:

1. The riveting read. There is no more perfect companion for your day at the beach than a good book, a colorful blanket and an ocean at your feet. I recommend a novel rather than a nonfiction paperback, because there’s no escape like experiencing one world while surrounded by another.

2. The good movie. Granted, Hollywood is rolling out mostly comic-book heroes and feature versions of TV series, but there’s still plenty of stimulation in small pictures. This Independence Day, you should think independent film.

Think of the pleasures to be derived from a deft character comedy as played by a Matthew Broderick, say, or an Alan Alda.

A film with both would be ideal — the peak of any summer day. If you find such a film you should climb all over it.

Yes. There’s your best summer entertainment package: a novel followed by a movie.

Who knows, maybe the film version of the very book you just read.

If there’s such a book and such a film coming out this summer — maybe one that also stars Virginia Madsen, Dylan Baker, Bobby Cannavale and Louis C.K. — we’ll all be in luck.

And if you find them, tell your friends.

Editor’s Note: We feel we must add that the final five paragraphs above are transparent self-promotion. Sherwood Kiraly’s novel “Diminished Capacity” has been rereleased and the film of the novel, with the cast mentioned above, opens in theaters and On Demand in July. In his zeal to spread the word he seems to have lost all shame.

SHERWOOD KIRALY is a Laguna Beach resident. He has written four novels, three of which were critically acclaimed.