What’s On My Nightstand
Posted on: August 26, 2008
Click on over to Five Minutes for Books for their Tuesday carnival, “What’s On Your Nightstand.”
So here I am participating in my very first bloggy carnival! (Does anyone really like the word “bloggy” and the strange images it conjures?? Not me.)
On my nightstand? Besides the ubiquitous Chapstick, I once again have some books on my reading list! My baby was not a good sleeper (and still isn’t on some nights), so my reading went by the wayside for quite some time. Too long of a time. Now that Little Miss is sleeping through the night when she feels like it, I don’t feel the need to immediately rush to bed as soon as she does. And once I started reading again, I realized I missed it. A lot.
I’ve started reading Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. I know it’s a bit cliche — when a book is so popular and the author is featured on Oprah, everyone and her brother pick up the latest tome and proclaim their love for reading. And yes, I jumped on the bandwagon too. So let’s get over that, shall we?
Anyway, I’ve read the Eat and the Pray part, and will start the Love section tonight. I’m getting quite a kick out of Liz Gilbert’s writing! She writes like she speaks, which makes for an entertaining read. And I have to admit, I actually laughed out loud a few times at the beginning as she sets up her story. Oh, and I SO wanted to travel to Italy (or at the very least have a great Italian meal) when reading about her time in that beautiful country!
I like the author’s idea of “finding herself” and the spirituality of the book. It’s not religious in an organized-religion sort of way by any means, but she is on a spiritual and self-discovery journey, and picks and chooses from various world religions what works best for her. I’m secretly jealous of her get-up-and-go, her sense of wanderlust, and her ability to pack up and live somewhere else for four months (and do it three times in one year!). I don’t think it would work so well in my life. So instead I’ll use the book as my little escape from reality and just pretend that I’m the one travelling the world!
Once I’m finished with Eat, Pray, Love, I have a few others I need to delve into:
- For some good chick-lit reading, I won a Book of the Week giveaway from Domestic Spaz and received a copy of Jemima J by Jane Green. Fun!
- A Thousand Splendid Suns, the follow-up novel by Khaled Hosseini, who had such success with the very poignant, haunting The Kite Runner that I read last summer
- Little Leap Forward, the debut young-adult fiction title from Barefoot Books, about a young boy growing up in China during the cultural revolution in the sixties.
Maybe I’ll have some more high-brow titles to cover in future “What’s On Your Nightstand” topics, but for now I’m just happy to be reading anything other than Curious George and the Dump Truck!
So leave a comment and let me know . . . what’s on your nightstand?
8 Responses to "What’s On My Nightstand"
August 26, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Right now, there is: my watch, some massage oil, some french letters, and a few books. Galactic North by Alaistair Reynolds is a book of shorts stories and novellas set in his Revalation Space universe. Great sci-fi. I enjoy pretty much every book I’ve read by this Welsh author. The other cool thing about him is that he is a real astrophysicist so he knows what he’s talking about. I am also reading “The Consumer’s guide to effective environmental choices” by Michael brower & Warren Leon. They explain why some decisions are weightier than others. Pretty good so far. And, I know, three at a time. I’m also reading “The Four Hour Work Week.” by Timothy Ferriss. How to escape the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the New Rich. I don’t know about that but it does have some good tips on improving your efficiency at work and how to come up with, and bring a product to market.
August 26, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I am going to be reading Eat, Pray Love soon.. I have heard really great things about it. I hope you enjoy the others on your nightstand 🙂
August 26, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I’ve been meaning to pick up Eat, Pray, Love. I’ve heard really great things about it. I’ve been on the waiting list for A Thousand Splendid Suns through Paperback Swap for a while now. I think I was #1300 when I began, and now I’m #756. Not to worry. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy until my number comes up: The Autobiography of Henry VIII, Lost Horizon, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
I wasn’t aware that BB offered a young adult collection. I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts on Little Leap Forward when you finish it. 🙂
August 26, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Well, The Other Boleyn Girl is still on my nightstand but I just recently finished it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Next on the list is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.
I would like to read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Boleyn Inheritance, and Keeping Faith.
I, too, have recently rediscovered reading after many months of running off to bed as soon as the little guy fell asleep. Things are looking up now though and the pages are turning now!
August 27, 2008 at 10:57 am
For some strange reason, I have a lot of classics on my shelf.
August 29, 2008 at 7:10 am
Oh I love the word “bloggy.”
I also loved Eat Pray Love and actually listened to the audiobook, which the author recorded, so it really was like listening to her talk!
August 31, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I’m going to have to give Eat Pray Love a look. It’s the second recommendation in a very short time I’ve read. My own “journey to self-discovery,” so to speak (I always feel compelled to put that in quotes!) has led me to The Pink Forest by Dana Dorfman. It’s very interactive fiction, giving readers the chance to interactive with her experiences and receive power from them. Very insightful — she visits the moments of her life and gains wisdom from them,and so do we.
Barefoot in High Heels 
August 26, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Saw you over on the What’s on My Nightstand site. I need to read Eat, Pray, Love–especially the eating portion LOL! I get so behind and end up reading books that are all the rage way after they become classics. I need to be a little more with it. Instead, I get sucked in and like it says on my comment, end up buying and reading all of one author’s books.