Saturday, January 22, 2011

What's on my nightstand

I had an idea -- in addition to the "what I'm reading" posts, why don't I also have "what's on my nightstand" posts? I got this idea from someone who posted a photo on Facebook of the books on their nightstand.

Books tend to hang out a while even after I'm through with them, so just because they're on this list doesn't mean that I'm reading them right now. :)

The Burning Island
by Pamela Frierson
non-fiction

I got this for Christmas. It's a very nice book that talks about the volcanoes of Hawai'i, discussing both the natural history and the mythology.

The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. le Guin
science fiction

I was going to read this during winter break, but got side tracked by other books. It's a very good book about...well, there's no easy way to sum it up briefly. So I'll just say it's a good book. :)

The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth
by Ruth S. Noel
non-fiction

I grabbed this one during winter break because I was looking through old diaries of mine in which I used some elf words. I had to use this book to figure out what the heck I'd written. lol

Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkan
by Jonathan Stroud
AUDIO BOOK!!!
fantasy

What happens when an eleven year old boy summons a five thousand year old djinn? A good story. By the way, my previous weekly book quote (which stayed up for maybe a month..oops) was from this trilogy. In case you don't remember what it was:


"Believe me, I know all about bottle acoustics. I spent much of the sixth century in an old sesame oil jar, corked with wax, bobbing about in the Red Sea. No one heard my hollers. In the end an old fisherman set me free, by which time I was desperate enough to grant him several wishes. I erupted in the form of a smoking giant, did a few lightning bolts, and bent to ask him his desire. Poor old boy had dropped dead of a heart attack. There should be a moral there, but for the life of me I can't see one."

Sabriel
by Garth Nix
AUDIO BOOK!!!
fantasy

Fun fun fun book. I listened to it...several months ago, I guess. It's been hanging out on my nightstand since then.

What's on your nightstand? :)

4 comments:

Magaly Guerrero said...

I love the idea! On my nightstand (or next-to-bed desk ;) I have The Way of the Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock, Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Brite, and the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Very eclectic as you can see.

I love the quote. Diandra wrote a very nice super-short story about a genie. I wrote one, not as magical or short, but I thought about it after I read Diandra's. Here are the links to both, in case you are interested:

Jeanny - http://shortstoriesandmadrants.blogspot.com/2010/12/jeanny.html

Unintelligent Wish - http://magalyguerrero.blogspot.com/2011/01/unintelligent-wish.html

Dancing With Fey said...

That is definitely an eclectic selection of books!

I read your short story, though I didn't comment on it. I read it again just now to refresh my memory. It is really neat. :)

Thanks for sharing the other short story. That poor jeanny! lol Seems to know a thing or two about bottle acoustics, just like Bartimaeus.

Diandra said...

My night stand is basically a box, covered with a blanket, hidden under tons of stuffed toys (a "puss in boots" (from "Shrek"), several sheep, an amoeba, pox, some sperm (all from "Giant microbes), some hair clips, a box of tissues and three books - one really bad thriller I read last fall and haven't gotten around to giving away yet (forgot the title, that's how bad it was), "The Satanic Verses" and "Sacred Body" (about women's self-perception and how witches fit into it). I guess somewhere in that heap there are more hair clips, scissors, a nail file, a unicorn...

Dancing With Fey said...

And I thought that I had some seemingly random stuff on my night stand! I've got several things of chap stick, I think my favorite lip stick (not that I use it much), my CD player, a bunch of CDs, a flash light, a reading light, some pens, my hair sticks, my diary, my iPhone charger (usually)...um, and some other stuff. lol Then again, maybe the stuff on my night stand is also sort of random. :)

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