Nightstand (April 2010)

It’s time again to report the contents of our Nightstands, a la 5 Minutes 4 Books. I was hoping to be able to link up before I left for my interview–but I s’pose 6 am is a little early to expect a post to be up by. So enjoy browsing my books and check out 5M4B to see more Nightstand posts.

Last month’s nightstand:

What I actually read this month was:
(Links lead to my reviews of the book, never to a site selling you something.)

Fiction

• The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen
• Divine and Human (and other stories) by Leo Tolstoy
  I haven’t read many short stories since my anthology days in middle school–but this collection of short stories by Tolstoy definitely piqued my interest. Like I noted when I reviewed Resurrection, Tolstoy’s characters are fantastic and the interactions between them often complex–but Tolstoy tends to moralize and certain of the stories can be heavy-handed in their conviction that socialism is the appropriate application of Christ’s words. Now that I’ve read a collection of Tolstoy’s works from after his conversion to Christ and embrace of pacifism and socialism, maybe I’ll have to read some of his earlier, better known works. Anybody got suggestions for my next Tolstoy read?
• Mozart’s Sister by Nancy Moser
• Once upon a Summer by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

• Bible Babel by Kristin Swenson
• Biology: High School Review by Princeton Review
• The Blue Zone by Daniel Buettner
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• Home by Julie Andrews.
• Male/Female Roles: Opposing Viewpoints
• The Power of Half by Kevin and Hannah Salwen
• The Ten Big Lies About America by Michael Medved
• Unveiling Islam by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner
  I also wrote extensive notes on this title as I read it.
• Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
  I made several recipes from this book and was quite pleased with the results. I modified a recipe for honey glazed parsnips and liked it so much that I posted my modified version. I’ll probably be checking this one out of the library again–it has TONS of vegetable recipes, most of which can be easily modified as needed. This is a book worth having.
• Words to Live By by Charles Panati
• The World’s Last Night and other essays by C.S. Lewis
• A Year of Blind Dates by Megan Carson

Juvenile

• Catch-up Children’s Picture Books ALBOROUGH-ALIKI (11 titles) including:
  • Always Room for One More by Sorche Nic Leodhas
• Children’s Picture books author ALLARD-ANDERSEN (68 titles) including:
  • Brothers of the Knight by Debbie Allen
  • We are All Born Free by Amnesty International
  • For sure! For sure! by Hans Christian Andersen
• The Haunted Cabin Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
• Inkdeath by Cordelia Funke
  It took me several chapters to get hooked into Inkheart. I slipped easily back into that world with Inkspell. And Inkdeath absolutely captivated me. This is a rare trilogy that improves with every tale.
• The Melted Coins by Franklin Dixon

This month’s nightstand

Fiction

• Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern
  Added to my TBR list after reading a review by Framed and Booked
• Lost in Rooville by Ray Blackston
• Washington’s Lady by Nancy Moser
• Where Love is, There God is also by Leo Tolstoy
  I’m dancing around reading the big two: Anna Karenina and War and Peace. I think my library has one more collection of short stories that I can procrastinate with before I start in on the two that still manage to majorly intimidate me (despite the fact that I enjoyed Resurrection–which is almost as long as Anna Karenina–a great deal.)
• The Winds of Autumn by Janette Oke

Nonfiction

• The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
  Added to my TBR list based on somebody’s review–but unfortunately this was before I started saving the locations of all the reviews that got added to my TBR list.
• Dave Barry Does Japan by Dave Barry
• Five Aspects of Woman by Barbara Mouser
  Didn’t end up starting this one last month–I had so many other books to read, not to mention going to school and teaching. I plan on starting on this as soon as I’m done with Forgotten God
• **Forgotten God by Francis Chan
  So far, I’m loving this book about the Holy Spirit. Check out my notes on the first few chapters here.
• The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket
  I’ve picked up this blogger’s book before and enjoyed perusing it–but didn’t have time to finish it before I sent it back to the library. Maybe this time I’ll get all the way through it.
• **Get Married: what women can do to help it happen by Candace Watters
  I read about this when Carrie reviewed it last fall–and then essentially forgot about it. Something or another reminded me of it while I was blog-hopping a week or two back and I figured I’d ILL it. It’s a slightly different perspective than the “If God wants you to marry, He’ll land someone in your lap” perspective so common in the Christian world today. So far, it’s quite interesting.
• Human Rights: Opposing Viewpoints
  After reading on that human rights treatise disguised as a children’s book, I figured I might look a little deeper at how folk define “human rights”.
• Life’s Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness
  A quote book. I probably like them just a little too much.
• Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
  Another title I’ve barely had a chance to look at this month. Since I’ll likely be just working on thesis this summer (not working or going to school else-wise), I might have a bit of extra time to peruse this cookbook with its extensive nutritional/ideological sidebars.
• **The Occasional Vegetarian by Karen Lee
  Vegetarian recipes for people who aren’t necessarily anti-meat, but who just want to go meatless more often. I’ve made one recipe already–it was pretty good but a little too fussy for everyday use. I hope to make a few more recipes before I have to take this title back to the library.
• **On Grief and Grieving by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler
  I read the first few chapters of this book after my mom recommended looking into the stages of grief. I found the discussion of stages of grieving very helpful. However, since I’m not dealing with grief from a death, which the book is primarily geared towards, I’m not sure if I plan to finish the rest. For now, it may have served its purpose.
• The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
  Another one on the TBR list that I can’t pinpoint the source of.
• Superhuman by Robert Winston and Lori Oliwenstein
  It seems to be a book about how our bodies fight disease–and about modern medical technology. It seems especially interesting to me since my brother is in biological systems engineering and works quite a bit with biomedical appliances and the like (currently, he’s doing some research with adult stem cells.)

Juvenile

• Children’s Picture Books author ANDERSON-?
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
• The Deserted Library Mystery created by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• The Shortwave Mystery by Franklin Dixon
• Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

**The asterisks marks books I’m currently in the middle of.

Drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading.