What's on your nightstand?

People deal with stress in numerous ways. Some eat, some drink, some exercise, some shop. I read. I mean, I always read a lot, but you can tell when something's on my mind because books start stacking up around the house - especially on my nightstand. And instead of my usual one-at-a-time, start-to-finish reading, I find I have a few books going at one time. Often I read to research or seek guidance for a concern or struggle, with the hope that acquiring knowledge will help ease my mind. Sometimes I read to escape concerns or struggles - some good page-turning fluff to occupy my crowded thoughts. Books are absolutely irresistible to me. Absolutely irresistible. In fact several years ago I gave up my Sam's Club membership when I realized that as long as the book section was right up front I would always come out of there having spent at least $30 more than I should have. I definitely was not saving money there. (One time I went for groceries and came home with a coffee table - and probably some booksto go on it!)

Once I have a book in my hand it's difficult for me to put it down. I can't leave a bookstore empty handed, I just can't. I've tried. I'm a little more successful at restraining myself online. A little. I do try to borrow from the library whenever possible. In fact I find that particularly satisfying. I can reserve books online, and it's almost like ordering from amazon or Christian Book Distributors, without the convenience of delivery, of course. But when they call me to go pick it up, I can browse the shelves for even more books, select an armload, take them all home, and pile them up on my nightstand, all without spending a dime. I usually renew them a few times, and if I don't get around to actually reading them, back they go. I mean, I do intend to read all the books I buy or borrow, but that really would be humanly impossible. I have caches of them all over the house. Sometimes it's enough to just page through them and hold them for a little while. Then I can put them aside or part with them, knowing that some day I'll get around to reading them cover to cover if I really need to or want to.

So what does my nightstand say about me right now? Well, let's look what's on it. A couple weeks ago I heard an add on XM Radio's Familytalk station for Rebecca Hagelin's "30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family." I read her book "Home Invasion" a few years ago, and I consider protecting my kids from cultural assault to be one of my primary responsibilities, so I was interested in the offer to get this new release free with a subscription to Town Hall Magazine. I ended up taking a pass on that offer (I already subscribe to Citizen Magazine) but found "30 Days..." on amazon for a mere $16.47 - for a hardback yet. Click! And since one of my favorite pastimes is to avoid paying shipping on amazon, I decided that now was the time to buy "The Way They Learn" by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. This book has been a great help to me in figuring out how best to reconcile Eddie and school (the two don't really get along so well), and I've borrowed it from the library so much in the last six months or so I decided it was worth owning my own copy. Click!

Now of course amazon wouldn't let me go without suggesting all these other books that I "need" to read, and a couple of them did pique my interest and are available at the library, so off I went to retrieve "Talkers, Watchers, & Doers" (I'm a "watcher" raising a "doer") and "Raising Motivated Kids" (surely there's more to motivation than a ranting mother), both by Cheri Fuller. While there "The Homework Solution" and "Helping Boys Succeed in School" caught my eye. Can you tell I've had a challenging year as a parent of a third grader? Now I don't know if I really want to tackle these just as summer vacation is kicking off, but somehow it's soothing just to have them at hand.

Top priority on my nightstand right now is Ken Follett's "World Without End." I read "Pillars of the Earth" about 20 years ago (long before Oprah gave it any attention) and still count it among my all time favorite books. (Although after 20 years I'm going to have to read it again to recall why! lol) I don't think WWE will achieve the same status in my library, but the first 650 pages have breezed right by!

So there you have it. If you scroll down the left margin, you can actually see my Shelfari nightstand. I'll keep it up to date with what I'm reading in real life, and I expect it will change frequently, especially now that it's summer time and there's more room in my schedule for beach reading. ;-) I'll keep you posted as I come across good stuff, and I hope you'll pass along suggestions for me, too. Happy reading!