What's on Your Nightstand? July 2008

Today's order: Grande Non-Fat Tazo Chai Latte, Extra Hot

I absolutely love books. I love reading books, but I also love the way they feel in my hands, the crisp turn of the page, the way they smell. I love the covers of books. I have been guilty of buying many a book just because the cover captivates me. I am, apparently, a marketing department's dream.

Today I discovered a new website called 5 Minutes for Books. That may sound familiar to you because it's an offshoot of the 5 Minutes for Mom site. I haven't had much time to really peruse the site, but when I saw their topic for today I had to participate in their new monthly carnival: What's on Your Nightstand?




The idea is that each month you take a photo of the books you are currently reading or are about to start reading, maybe give a little blurb on why you chose a book or who gave it to you, maybe give a little review of what you're reading right now, that sort of thing. Then you share it with everyone by using the little Mr. Linky on the 5 Minutes for Books site.

I always have a monster stack of books around that are waiting to be read. The fact that we recently moved into our new house means that there is a box in my basement waiting to be unpacked that has a whole bunch of books I've been meaning to read. (The road to hell, as they say...) But that box remains to be unpacked. So the stack of books by my bed is actually rather small right now. In fact, it's about the same size as the stack of books I've recently read that haven't made it to a bookshelf yet. But, enough about my lazy ways...

I present, for your viewing pleasure, the books on my nightstand as of this moment:

The one at the top is the one I'm currently reading, Emily Giffin's Love the One You're With. On the recommendation of a friend, I've read all of Giffin's books in the last two weeks: Something Borrowed; Something Blue; and Baby Proof. They're all light, easy summer reads, but not classic "chick lit". They have a little more substance, they're a little more believable, the characters are a little more engaging. This is not great literature, by any stretch, but it is certainly enjoyable reading. I'd recommend them highly. I'm currently on chapter 14 of Love the One You're With, and probably will finish it before the week is out.

Next on the stack is Catherine O'Flynn's What Was Lost, a first novel from an author out of the UK. This novel has been nominated for a number of significant awards, and I was drawn to it on the shelf of the bookstore because I love to "find" a new author at the beginning of their career. It is the story of the disappearance of a little girl told over 2 decades, but is also apparently a clever commentary on the consumerism of our society. I'm intrigued and anxious to start reading.

The third work is a Canadian novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz entitled Turtle Valley. It is the story of a woman who finds herself put face-to-face with unresolved feelings about a past love when she returns to her childhood home to help her parents evacuate in the face of a devastating forest fire. Anderson-Dargatz has been heavily praised in the media in Canada, but this is my first opportunity to read any of her work. I'm looking forward to cracking the spine on this one.

Lastly there is the well-known book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, recently made into a film. I can't tell you how many people have told me I really need to read this book. Apparently I really need to read this book. It's here in my stack, but I keep moving it to the bottom. I hate when someone builds up a novel or a movie for me - I always fear it can do nothing but let me down. I really hope I'm wrong. I really hope this novel doesn't end up appearing in my stack again next month when this carnival rolls around again. *sigh*

Ok, so that's it. Time for me to go to bed now. But not before I read another couple of chapters...

What's on your nightstand?