What’s on My Nightstand

We’re six days into the New Year and I haven’t posted a review yet. Part of it has to do with having a fuzzy memory on the books I read during the end of the 2011. The other part of it is that I’m in a reading slump. I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that the semester starts on Monday or that I’m in the middle of so many books right now.  There’s so much I want to read before everything school starts but I doubt that it’s going to happen. Here’s what’s currently on my nightstand:

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman. I received an advance reading copy of this for the Chunkster Challenge. It’s our featured chunkster for January. The book is about the lives of two men in New York and how those lives intersect. So far, so good.

I decided to join the Essay-A-Day Project for 2012 hosted by Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness) and Ash (English Major’s Narrative) because I love essays but I don’t read them often enough. I think the best stories and essays make you want to re-read them, to figure out how they work. The Best American Essays: College Edition edited by Robert Atwan is my essay read for this month.  I’ve already read “In the Kitchen” by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Now I’m reading “Hair” by Maria Aldrich. I can recommend both essays.

I recently picked up The Grimm Reader: The Classic Tales of the Brothers Grimm by Maria Tatar, after reading Polly Shulman’s middle grade fantasy, The Grimm Legacy. I started reading the story, “The Twelve Brothers” and felt like a kid again.

Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners is another book I’ve been reading in bits. The collection’s first story, “The Faery Handbag” is weird and lovely at the same time. The second story, “The Hortlak” is a little too strange for me so I’ll probably read the last story “Lull” and put the rest of the book down.

Peter Hedges’ What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? is a book I’ve re-read almost every year. It’s just like the movie but better.

I’m also reading Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin for this month’s Game of Thrones read-along. It’s a dual reading in audio and print. I might just ditch the audio version though I love listening to George Guidall’s voice.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson is a story that I failed to read last year though I hosted a read-along for it! It’s another chunkster but reads like a novel.

So that’s what I’m reading. What are you reading this week?

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25 thoughts on “What’s on My Nightstand

  1. Hi, there…
    I’m in a bit of a slump too. I think I’ve freaked myself out with the amount of things I need/want to read. ;-)

    Good luck with everything. I’ve always liked reading essays; that sounds like a fun Project.

  2. Ah, Game of Thrones. Such a good book. You’ve reminded me that I should pick up one of my books of essays; I started A Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee (really a book of essays) and should get back to it. Right now I’m reading A Morbid Taste for Bones (Brother Cadfael mystery) and working on Clarissa.

  3. You’ve got a lot of bookish goodness going on! I’m making it a personal goal to read the first in George R.R. Martin’s series this year. My blogging buddies have been ALL OVER ME for like 10 years to read the series.

  4. I’m reading Bright and Distant Shores by Dominic Smith. It’s good but I’m thinking it is going to take me a while. I have four books sitting here waiting for reviews but I’m just not quite in the mood to post either. Oh well! And when I read Kelly Link’s Pretty Monsters, I thought there was a wide range of genres and quality. I bet you would find a couple more gems in the volume you’re reading but probably also some stories you don’t like.

  5. Hmm…I’m going to think about reading some essays. I’ve been thinking about that already, but I should think about it some more! Coincidentally, I just started WIlkerson’s book the other night…it’s one of my 14 library loans for this month (with another 16 on their way…see…I’ve already made your limit!)…and was so thrilled with its style: very intriguing and un-put-down-able.

  6. The slump will pass eventually. What got me out of mine were some “comfort” reads, mysteries mostly. Thanks for the tip about “Gilbert Grape”, I must read the novel!

  7. Let’s see… right now I’m re-reading The Scarlet Letter for #TuesBookTalk, I’m reading Longitude (Dava Sobel) for #1book140, I’m reading The Tiger’s Wife (Téa Obreht) for #hpbookclub, and I’m reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo) just because I want to. I haven’t posted any reviews yet, either, but I’m going to write a few up this weekend.

    • And also, I screwed up the HTML in my comment a little, so there’s lots of italics where there shouldn’t be. That’s what I get for commenting from my phone. Oops. Haha!

  8. Wow, you sure do have your nose in a lot of books these days! I have to admit that a lot of them sound rather interesting, and I can’t wait to see your final thoughts on them when you get done. I am reading Middlemarch with Aarti for a set of joint reviews over the next couple of months, and I am also just in the beginning stages of reading Cutting for Stone. On audio, I am listening to The Leftovers by Perotta and Mary Roach’s Bonk for a joint listen with my husband. I guess I am in the middle of a lot of things too!

  9. That’s really high praise for a book! I might have to get a copy and read What’s Eating Gilbert Grape as soon as this TBR Dare is over :)

    I’m really excited to read The Street Sweeper when it’s over, too. I loved Seven Types of Ambiguity. I read it in high school and I still remember certain scenes so clearly.

  10. I don’t think I’m so much in a slump but for a while now I’ve felt like I’m in slow mode. It’s not that there aren’t books I don’t want to read but I feel like I need to learn to manage my time better – or somehow figure out how to get 48 hours in a day :)

    Hope your reading slump goes away very soon!

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