Post-Christmas Nightstand

So, now that everything has been unwrapped and a giant, garden-sized trash bag full of once-beautiful wrapping paper carried out to the can on the curb, what has this Christmas added to my nightstand reading?  I'm willing to bet that pretty much ALL of us book bloggers have more books on our nightstands every December 26th than we had on December 24th.  I got enough new books that some of them are still scattered throughout the house, and another, though on the nightstand, is so cool that it's going to get a post of its own.  Here is a quick peek at the new arrivals important enough to immediately land themselves beside my bed.

Library Borrowings:

Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs--I've finished this one, and it is just hovering, waiting to be reviewed when I've completely recovered from a nasty cold.
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

Audiobook:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone--Imported all the way from merry old England, and performed by Stephen Fry. I still haven't made up my mind if I prefer it or the American version, though, which is performed very impressively by Jim Dale.

And my favorite, a Christmas gift I bought for myself:

I just adore Demi's gorgeous books, and have been absolutely obsessed with Egyptology since I was in elementary school, so there's nothing not to love about THIS beauty!

December's Nightstand

First things first: Welcome, Thailand and Finland!  The newest countries on my blog world map.

Now then, on to the latest news bulletin from my ever-messy nightstand.  Looking back over last month's post, I can report some success.  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes eventually submitted to my determined efforts, as you can see in my review by clicking on the title.  Likewise, I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix--again!--and have plunged straight ahead into the next, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  I haven't much time to work on it at present, though, because I'm neck-deep in other things for reading challenges.  Chief among those being Red Land, Black Land, which I'm reading feverishly because I'm supposed to have it done by December 1st for my own "Read Your OWN Library!" Challenge.  I'm over half-way through it now, though, and utterly captivated, so no worries about not finishing it this time, like my former failed attempt.  At present, however, it is STILL prominently displayed on my nightstand.

The newest addition is my copy of three of Charles Dickens' famous Christmas Books, i.e. A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth.  Obviously, these are my chosen holiday reads for December, which I'm reading for The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge.  I have already completed the first of these (click above for review), and as soon as I finish with the Egyptological tome mentioned above, they will be my constant study until I finish this challenge--with some Sherlock Holmes thrown in for variety.

Nightstands Gone Wild

Oh, goodness, my night table is just all kinds of crazy right now.  I've got a wild hodge-podge going on, because the books from my last "In My Inbox" post are currently still residing on my night table, plus a whole bunch of other books and detritus that always seems to make its way to this spot, despite any efforts I make to the contrary.  We might as well dig in, I suppose.

First, there's my "currently reading" pile.  At the moment, this contains The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (which I'm reading for not one but TWO challenges simultaneously), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (which, if you know this blog, you know is a multiple re-read), and Red Land, Black Land by Barbara Mertz (aka Elizabeth Peters, author of my beloved Amelia Peabody series, and quite an accomplished Egyptologist in her own right).  This last is a book that once defeated me, so when I finish it, you will find it planted in my Victory Garden.  It also qualifies for my Read Your OWN Library! Challenge, so lots of challenge fun going on pretty much at all times on my nightstand.

My Kindle is also laying in this pile of rubble, which means that a number of books from my perpetual TBR pile are also here, chief among them at the moment being The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.  I have finally gotten the memo from my fellow bloggers that I am officially the last person in North America to read this book, so I figured I'd better get on it--eventually.

Last but CERTAINLY not least--is everbody familiar with the magazine Bookmarks?  A wonderful friend from college got me a subscription to this periodical for Christmas last year, and has now spoiled me for life, because I don't think I can bear to ever be without it again.  It's not that I make all book-choosing decisions based on it or anything, but its reviews have given me some really great ideas to add to my TBR pile, and I just find it fun.  Also, it's a great way for me to keep up with what's coming out, since I've never really been into the whole knowing every new book that every author in the country has coming up thing.  Besides all of which, the magazine is pretty!  I do love glossy pages.  :)  Especially when those glossy pages contain the CHRISTMAS issue (yay!), which is the one currently on my bedside table. 

*humming Christmas carols faintly as she goes*

Night Table Reading

A rare post composed during "the daylight experience" (one of Robin Williams' finest turns of a phrase) to join in with a new blog hop, "What's on Your Nightstand?"  Actually, the hop is certainly not new, but rather, I am new to it.  The idea here is to check in once a month on how many books are stacked up on the ever-growing pile beside my bed, how long they've been there, and how many of them I plowed through in the past month.  So, we begin.

At the moment, my stack is small, and my ambitions are very modest, since I'm about to start my own reading challenge here on The Beauty of Eclecticism in October.  (More on that in an upcoming post, or just click here.)  Currently, my lull-me-to-sleep choices are the Harry Potter series yet again (I believe this is my sixth time reading them all the way through, and I'm just about to finish Goblet of Fire--again), and The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs.  I know I'm quite likely the last person in the English-speaking world who is finally getting around to reading this book, but what can I say?  I was busy reading Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically first.  (AWESOME read, by-the-way.  Extremely funny.)  So, those are my meager goals for the coming month--to keep pegging away at Harry Potter, finish The Know-It-All, and choose and read at least one book that fits the parameters of my own reading challenge/blog hop.  That choice is yet to be determined, but that makes three books that are or will be on my night table.  I think I can handle that in a month.