June 28, 2011

What's on My Nightstand - June

Cucumber and squash plants heavy with their fruit clamor for my attention. The tomatoes will soon follow. The cool clear water of the pool beckons. The friendly fellowship of church softball games, too inviting to ignore.

Books lie nearly forlorn on my nightstand.

Since last month

I've completed:

~Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (audio). A long, but fascinating read. I admit, I probably never would have finished it if it hadn't been for the audio book. I'm glad I did.

~Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (audio) Oh, how I loved the tender story of Henry & Keiko!

~The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery. Flavia de Luce is a delight!


I've tried:

~The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay. I didn't get past the first few pages. I had looked forward to this one, but I could not get past the repetitious foul language.

~Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. This one didn't grab me, either. I may try again later.

~Mansfield Park (audio). I love the story of Fannie Price, but I'd rather read it than listen to it. I prefer to listen to narrative stories, rather than one person tackling many character's voices in dialogue.

I've picked up:

~March (audio). The story of Mr. March, the absent father in Little Women.  It's a story full of beautiful prose, heartache and humor.

~The Rural Life. Rich essays celebrating life away from the noise of the city.

I'm still reading:

~A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering (Kindle). Michael Horton has caused me to think much about my view of suffering. I'm taking this one slow, because it's been very timely for me.

And soon I'll start:

~Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board.  CJ asked me to read this one with her.

~The Organized Heart: A Woman's Guide to Conquering Chaos (Kindle).

What's On Your Nightstand


Visit 5 Minutes for Books to see what others are reading this summer.

11 comments:

Brooke from The Bluestocking Guide said...

I loved Mansfield Park. A lot of people don't like Fanny Price. I could never understand that.


Here is mine

Amy said...

Looks like some good reads!

Enjoy your July reading!
Amy

Lisa notes... said...

Completing Bonhoeffer should count for a whole season of reading. I want to read it, but am still too intimidated by its size. So I’m taking the lazy way out and just reading what others say about it. :-)

Glad you’re sticking with A Place for Weakness. It’s worth it. I’d like to read Soul Surfer now that I saw the movie. Quite inspirational. And I’d love to read The Organized Heart too. Keep hearing good things about that one.

Always love seeing your list, Melissa!

Unknown said...

Poor neglected books!!

I really want to get to the Flavia books at some point.

morninglight mama said...

I've been reading so much less than usual so far this summer, too. Sigh.

I've heard wonderful things about both your "Sweet" books, so I hope to read them at some point.

Happy summer!
-Dawn, 5M4B

Carrie said...

Well, if CJ asked you to read something with her, I guess ya better, huh!?

Just keep mentioning Place for Weakness until I get it, ok?

And I smiled at all of your top "hurrah - glad I read it!" picks. Yes, Jennifer, you ought to pick up Flavia. She IS a delight!

Diana Lovegrove said...

You've been reading plenty! I don't think I've read more than Horton's A Place for Weakness in the last month. I'm glad I had the book discussion to focus on with that book, otherwise I do find I read books way too quickly and then I forget them too easily. Glad you're taking it slow.

I also need to finish reading The Organized Heart. I started this a few months back. I think with all the planning I need to do for my summer holiday having an organized heart will be essential!

God bless you!

Mrs. David Hankins said...

Wow! What a list! I can realistically only tackle a book or so a month. I've skimmed The Organized Heart. It looks great! (It's still on my list of books to formally read, but I only got it as an ebook, and I have a harder time reading that format.)

Thanks for stopping by my blog to read my review of The Next Story, and for your encouraging comment!

Happy Reading!

Warmly,
Elizabeth

Lisa Spence said...

Mansfield Park is my least favorite Austen novel, but maybe that's just me. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts!

And you know how I love Flavia. I just read the second and third in the series and enjoyed them.

The Organized Heart is great! And I've got March on my wishlist...

Happy Reading!

Jill {Sweet Diva} said...

I'm passing along the Versatile Blogger Award to you....because you have one very ♥sweet♥ blog! =)
http://www.sweetdivamj.com/2011/06/passing-on-versatile-blogger-award.html

Trish @ In So Many Words said...

Poetic opening - at first I thought I was reading the wrong post! Sounds like you are still making good progress though.