It is the fourth Tuesday of the month which means it is once again time for “What’s on Your Nightstand?” at 5 Minutes for Books. Yesterday also marked the first day of Fall and, therefore, the beginning of the 2008 Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted by Katrina at Callapidder Days. Being the lazy blogger that I am, I decided to kill two birds with one post.
<br>I planned to have a picture for my “What’s on Your Nightstand?” post this month because, really, the number of books that reside on my nightstand is amazing and somewhat frightening. Fortunately, they are not all in my “to-read” pile, the nightstand is more a gathering place for books that currently have no other home. But my “to-read” stack is plenty big in its own right.</br>
Remaining in the stack from last month are The Center of Everything, The River Why, and Velvet Elvis; and I’ve just begun reading My Beautiful Idol. New to the stack are:
A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle – I first read A Wrinkle in Time in the fifth grade and wasn’t impressed; I didn’t really get into the fantasy genre as a child. About a year ago I decided to give it a second reading and picked up a copy at the bookstore. This time around I really enjoyed the book and decided to read the entire Time Quintet. I’m just now getting to the second book.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman – After reading Neverwhere last month (see below), I’m really looking forward to this one. Matt says it is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. Apparently I’ve embraced the fantasy genre as an adult.
The Pact and Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult – I’m excited to pick up more of her work since I liked My Sister’s Keeper so much.
Since the August edition of “What’s on Your Nightstand?” I’ve completed three books, all of which I enjoyed.
The Birth House was an interesting read; the storyline follows a midwife in small town Nova Scotia fighting to keep her place in the birth room as modern medicine moves in and the new doc in town seeks to drive her out of practice. The underlying story lines revolve around superstition and it’s effect on people, the women’s rights movement, and small town life during World War I. Overall, I liked the book even though it didn’t flesh out the midwifery vs. modern medicine story in quite the way I had hoped.
Neverwhere was, by far, the favorite of the books I read this month. This book reminded me of both The Matrix and the Harry Potter series although there is nothing specific I can nail down and say “this is what makes me think of it.” it is a curious and somewhat disturbing tale of a world existing beneath the streets of London and the people who reside there. If you enjoy fantasy, I would definitely recommend that you check this one out.
And finally, Chocolate Beach. There wasn’t anything great about this book, and the constant pop-culture references really annoyed me, but I stuck with it to the end. The characters are endearing, but it is standard Christian chick-lit which I generally find unappealing. This is the kind of book that is perfectly suited for a vacation read.
That covers my nightstand and most of my Fall Into Reading list as well. In addition, I hope to read the following books during the challange.
Non-Fiction
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Fiction
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Just Jane by Nancy Moser
Mozart’s Sister by Nancy Moser
So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
That should be enough to keep me busy for a while.
If you made it to the end of this post, you are quite the trooper. Happy Reading!