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Books on my nightstand -- a semi-regular feature
NB: Clicking on any of the book jacket images will take you to a Barnes & Noble page where you can buy the book, should you so desire.
Of all the occupational hazards in the world, having so many books stacked up next to your bed that you can’t find space for even one more must rank as the least troublesome. Many authors, editors and writers I know complain of the same problem; I’m not unique. However, I hope that by listing and talking about my current teetering pile of hardcovers, paperbacks, galleys and advance readers’ copies, I may pique your interest in at least one of them – or encourage you to start your own leaning tower of literature.
I divide my nightstand books into categories. Next to my lamp, on top, are those that I can’t stop reading; I usually have two or three at a time (hence my “What I’m Reading Now” list in my email signature block). Right now the three books next to my lamp are ‘The Winter Queen’ by Boris Akunin (detective story set in Imperial Russia), ‘Enchantments’ by Linda Ferri (a slight but delectable tale of girlhood), and ‘Stalking the Divine’ by Kristin Ohlson (watch this space for a soon-to-come Q&A with Ohlson about her experiences with the Poor Clares of Cincinnati, one of a tiny number of still-cloistered nuns in the US).
Next comes my “frontlist,” consisting of books I’ve received from publishers that I cannot wait to flip through and/or read; sometimes this means I’ve just received them and/or they’re new releases, but this month I’ve got a bunch of last year’s great galleys in the pile (e.g., ‘The Middle Mind’ by Curtis White – I really want to finish this fascinating treatise on culturally sanctioned mediocrity). I’m trying to get back to Paul Mandelbaum’s quirky and refreshing story collection‘Garrett in Wedlock,’ and (among others) look forward to a novel called ‘The Bowl is Already Broken’ by former Smithsonian curator Mary Ann Zuravleff.
Behind the “frontlist” is what amounts to a collection – books that got pushed aside for one reason or another but that I sincerely intend to finish. I can’t even name these, for fear of reprisals. Someday… and finally, on the nightstand’s open shelf, is where I keep the books that I haven’t received because of work, the books that have either been recommended to me by friends, or that I’ve found serendipitously, or that I’ve wanted to read all of my life and finally found: currently those include ‘Alias Grace’ by Margaret Atwood, ‘Independent People’ by Icelandic Nobel great Halldor Laxness, and ‘The Golden Bowl’ by Henry James.
What’s on your nightstand? Drop me a line or three: bookmaven2005 at aol dot com (note I’ve spelled the email address out to discourage spam etc.).
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I actually have 2 piles on my nightstand and a basket of books on the floor next to the bed which grew out of the TBR pile becoming too high on the night stand. Here is some of what I have promised to read this year from those piles-
Curious incident of the Dog in the Night time
Shadow Baby
Life of Pi
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Odd Thomas
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Shop on Blossom Street
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Their Eyes were Watching God
Chang and Eng
The Birth of Venus
Running with Scissors
Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire
Middle Sex
The Last Girls
The Secrets of Jin Shei
Waltzing in the Attic
Entering Normal
Currently I am reading POMPEII (Richard Harris) and really enjoying it but cant wait to move onto something else from the above piles next. -
come on over and see what some of the others in the AOL book community have in their piles. i started doing this last year, and have just done my entry for the current one. more piles in the comments.
journals.aol.com/marigolds2/TheBiblioPhiles/entries/780 -
I just discovered Penny Vincenza--could not put down NO ANGEL and have ordered two more
Love your column--I have had spinal surgery and the best gift I can get is the name of an author I might enjoy
I will order a few of your list and pray
2/17/05 6:03 PM