An Update from My Nightstand

A few years ago, I would faithfully blog about what I was reading. I did it so often on this blog that I actually started a blog called What's On My Nightstand that was dedicated to nothing but book reviews. After a few months I even invited some fellow bookworms to join me as the WOMNS book blogging team; we lasted about a year, and then called it a day when life got too busy.

For a couple of years after that, I joined up with Jessica Fisher and Anne Bogel to discuss books and share book reviews on Life as MOM. It was fun while it lasted, and I got some great book recommendations out of the experience (and hope I added a few of my own). 

No matter how busy life is, however, I do try to make time to read for personal pleasure and growth. I'm a sucker for Goodreads (let's connect!), and keep a running tab of the books I read each year. It's just OCD enough to make me happy, and let's face it, the little Reading Challenge they do each year is great incentive for competitive people (not that I would know, of course!) to read just a little bit more than their goal.

I gravitate towards books and authors that make me think (Tozer, Lewis, Chan), and the ones that talk about food and France (Flinn, Mah, Le Billon). I throw the occasional Children's book in the mix (classic re-reads from my childhood, like The Westing Game or The Search for Delicious), and am still a sucker for Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. 

I have a stack of books on my nightstand that are either in process or will soon be so. Our home library is stuffed and overflowing (I'm a firm believer in owning real books), but to part with them is like trying to decide which body part to cut off. I just can't do it. At one point, while staring at our library shelves, the Hubs knew defeat was at hand but gave a parting shot of, "You have a problem." I'm not in denial - I know I'm addicted to books, but I also think it could be worse. It could be shoes (which I refuse to buy used) instead of books (which I will willingly buy used), so really - I'm saving us money, right? 

In addition to buying used, I also routinely add my name to the hat for Goodreads book giveaways (and have won a few, including Culture Wars in British Literature and The Carnivore's Manifesto that are still waiting their turn in the stack above). I ask for books (or gift cards to bookstores) for Christmas and my birthday, and use Amazon credit for all else. Books are definitely my Achilles heel, but we limp around together and I make the best of it.

So what am I currently reading? I'm so glad you asked!

Right now I'm reading several books, including Why Jesus? by one of my favorite authors and speakers, Ravi Zacharias, and re-reading (for the third time), James A. Michener's, The Source just because I enjoyed it so much the first two times through the 1,078 page novel.

I'm also using the 2013 devotional of A.W. Tozer's sermons, My Daily Pursuit (with a foreword by Dr. Zacharias) during my morning Bible study time. And on a less serious scale, I've just added book #4 in The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, The Interrupted Tale, to my reading list.

Now it's your turn... What's On YOUR Nightstand?