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It's been weeks since I last asked my longest-running blog question: What's on your nightstand? For those of you who have no idea who I am or why I'm here, I've been asking this question since 2004 when I first began blogging as The Book Maven (at AOL). Here's the thing: I never, ever get tired of hearing what everyone is reading, hoarding, skimming, ignoring. Never! In another life, in another time, I would have made an excellent indie bookseller. Since that was not my fate, here I am to pester you via blog entries.
Here's what I've got in rotation:
-- I just finished SACRED HEARTS by Sarah Dunant, but I still want to take a look at her bibliography/further reading section, so I've left the Advance Reading Copy (ARC) on my stack.
-- A galley of Jennifer Weiner's BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, which I'm reading and marking up for next week's Center Stage discussion here on BN.com.
-- An ARC of Melanie Gideon's THE SLIPPERY YEAR. wonderful essays/memoir.
-- THREE CUPS OF TEA in a trade paperback lent to me by a friend. I Really Will Read It. Soon!
-- THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins; I want to finish before I start CATCHING FIRE, but I have to read this book on sunny days with upbeat music playing or I get really depressed...
There's more, but you might get really depressed if I don't stop soon. Can't wait to hear about your stack!
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The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks in mass market paperback which I am reading now.
I also have two books that have been started but not yet finished stacked together. They are A Great Imporvisation by Stacy Schiff, it's a account of Benjamin Frankin's trip to France before the American Revolution to try and elist them to our side. The other book is Anathem by Neal Stephenson, a very wieght SciFi tome that I need to restart from the begining.
Two of the remaing books are recent bargain table purchases that I have yet to get started on. The Coyote Road Trickster Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and The Mysterious Flame of Queen of Loana by Umberto Eco.
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Some of this has been on my nightstand for a while.
-TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH the selected travels of Paul Theroux. I'm to page 50
-MOZART"S BRAIN AND THE FIGHTER PILOT - Unleashing your Brain's Potential by Richard Restak, M.D. I've opened it a few times but never read more than a few pages. It is supposed to keep my brain up and running. ??? One a.m. is not a good time to make me think.
-THE READER by Bernhard Schlink. I bought it because somebody suggested it before seeing the movie. I have neither seen nor read yet.
-FRAGRANT PALM LEAVES by Thich Nhat Hanh (journals 1962-1966) ....one of these days.
-EDUCATING ALICE Adventures of a cruious woman by Alice Steinbach. I'm curious too but too busy. I've read something by her before; can't remember what it was.
-THE GARDENER'S BEDSIDE READER edited by Kari Cornell. A fairly new hardback. It sits on top of the stack. and I have almost finished it. The Delights of Weeding by Suzy Bales is delightful and worth the cost of the book.
-44 SCOTLAND STREET by Alexander McCall Smith. A friend gave it to me because I liked the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I have no idea what the book is about; haven't even opened it yet.
Mixed in are a couple of Sudoku puzzles, one crossword puzzle. The stack is surrounded by paper, pen, pencil, maginifying glass, nitroglycerin tablets, radio, alarm clock, lamp and DUST! Hm...DUST? Never paid attention to that before.
The reason I don't often pay attention to the books on the nightstand is because I take to bed what I read during the day. Right now that is - HATESHIP, FRIENDSHIP, COURTSHIP, LOVESHIP, MARRIAGE by Alice Munro.
Interesting, this is the first time I've given an account of the top of my nightstand. I take pictures of my livingroom table and refrigerator door on a regular basis for my journals. This way I remember what was important when......
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I have my Kindle, on which I'm currently reading Return to Sullivans Island; The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I'm about 1/4 of the way through; House of Sand and Fog, yet to be started; & something like River Crossed Through It. I can't remember now.
Cathy
So Many Books...
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The unread books - all from bookstore or garage sales:
Death at Gallows Green, by Robin Paige (I may have read this a long time ago, and accidentally bought it again.
Winter Study by Nevada Barr - read all her others, haven't had time to start this one
Shoots to Kill by Kate Collins
Mistress Pat by LM Montgomery - think I may have read this one too....hmmmm
2 sudoku books, l crossword, 2 travel magazines, one cooking magazine, one gardening magazine
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Don't have a nightstand stack - I have a bin on the floor.
it's too depressing to think about since it is full and all are partially read.
I'm currently reading The haunting of Hill House, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and Harry Potter's Bookshelf.
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Hi all, thanks for these wonderful "stack" descriptions (for pedsphleb, a "bin"). Keep them coming and encourage your friends to post, too. I'm laughing at Par4Course talking about books "I may have read;" I'm not the only one, then, who a) re-reads favorites and b) sometimes forgets which books I've already read!
I have a huge box of really interesting new romances to read courtsey of RWA 2009, now. I'm not a big romance reader the way my fellow blogger Michelle Buonfiglio is (kudos on her new BN.com "Heart to Heart" blog that kicks off today!), but some of these are so intriguing in concept that I can't resist.
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What an interesting question - I never really pay attention to the stacks on my nightstand spilling onto the floor. Here they are:
Kindle with 300 or so books, currently reading Infinite Jest, DFWallace and Two Men of Verona, Shakespeare
Books: Busman's Honeymoon, DL Sayers; Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book; Point and Line to Plane, Kandinsky; Mediterranean Summer, David Shalleck; Gourmet Cookbook; War and Peace, Tolstoy (I live in hope that I'll suddenly get the urge to read this or will absorb it through proximity osmosis); My Wicked, Wicked Ways, Sandra Cisneros.
Too many unread magazines, pens, post-its, notepads, lists and lists.
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