What are you reading?

It’s not a surprise that I love to read.  I go through phases, though, where I don’t read much.  I’m not sure why.  Last summer I read mostly magazines and Mary Oliver poems.  For the last month or so I’ve read very little, probably because I’ve been so consumed with work.  I’m slowly starting to reengage, though, and am turning my attention back to my stack, which has continued growing.  I’d love to hear what you are reading and what’s on your bedside table.  This is what’s on mine:

This Life is In Your Hands – Melissa Coleman
Halfway to Each Other – Susan Pohlman
Cost – Roxana Robinson
One Thousand Gifts – Ann Voskamp
The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart – Deborah Digges
And I Shall Have Some Peace There – Margaret Roach
Schoolgirls – Peggy Orenstein
Enoughwater – Maya Stein

What are you reading?

“We are made whole
by books, as by great spaces and the stars.”
– Mary Carolyn Davies

27 thoughts on “What are you reading?”

  1. Stargirl by Jerry Spinnelli
    Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
    Fear of Fifty by Erica Jong (a special reason behind this one)

    And about five different running books.

  2. That picture is EVERYTHING.

    Let’s just see I see the folks at the Cambridge Public Library waaaay too often (for my fun fiction books- I think you would like The Weird Sisters, I just finished the new Jennifer Weiner and am now reading the latest Linda Fairstein); ditto the UPS man with my Amazon deliveries for work (next up: Crazy U).

  3. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
    The Immortal Life of Henriette Lacks by Rebecca Skoot
    Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
    Reading Jackie: Her Life in Books by William Kuhn

    Can’tw ait to hear what others are reading. I usually read a book (or two) a week and I have been in a bit of a slump lately!!

  4. Me too! I am reading it now for the third time. Also LOVED Little Bee by Chris Cleave and Room by Emma Donohue (this book was REALLY disturbing).

  5. Sorry to clog up the blog with my comments but I couldn’t resist noting how much I love that you are reading paper books. While I adore teh kindle my *strong* preference is for books where I can turn the page!! Also love that Grace shares your love for reading.

  6. I have been terrified by poetry all my life. Now, suddenly, as I take a class taught by a very FINE teacher, I find I’m brave. Mary Oliver is popping up every time I turn round. Please tell me your favorite of her poems.

    And, just sayin’, you and your daughter and 2 peas in a pod.

  7. This was supposed to be the year of fiction classics, so I’m slowly plowing through Anna Karenina at the moment. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, I haven’t read much yet this year, but I’m hoping that changes soon.

  8. I love that pic.
    I am always reading many books at one time. Here is my list:

    Strength in What Remains – Tracy Kidder
    The Girl Who Fell From The Sky – Durrow
    Cutting From Stone – Abraham Verghese
    You Know When the Men Are Gone -Siobhan Fallon
    History of A Suicide – Jill Bialosky

  9. Oooh, thanks, Lindsey. I was just thinking today that I really have to start reading fiction again.

    From memory…

    Three Martha Beck books (for class that starts soon!)
    One Thousand Gifts
    Poser
    Two Mary Oliver books
    The Beauty of Different by Karen Walrond
    I Thought It was Just Me by Brene Brown
    The Art of Intuition by Sophy Burnham

    Have Loving Frank on my iPad – will start reading asap…

    Great idea – thanks! Love the photo…

  10. I just got “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” from the library and am frantically – excitedly – reading it before next Wednesday’s due date.

    Then a couple of old Ken Follett books I found at the used book store. Love the combination of history and fiction.

  11. First, I must comment on the photo, which is absolutely adorable – your exuberance makes you look almost like Grace’s really cool older sister instead of her totally kick-ass mom.

    On to the nightstand:
    “The Georgetown Ladies Social Club,” by C. David Heymann
    “Casanova’s Autobiography,” the never-ending yet engaging tome by Casanova
    “Secret Stairs,” a walking guide of L.A. street staircases with bits of history thrown in
    “Crazy Sexy Diet”
    A biography of Colette

    I’m SLOWLY working my way through all of them at the same time. I used to read one book at a time, and read almost every day. A couple of years ago, something changed. I’d like to get back to my former approach. Perhaps when these are done…

  12. I go the same phases, and similarly with the genre that I read. I have never been a big fan of magazines, so usually when I turn away from books I focus on crafting. For now my stack continues to grow and shrink. Right now I’m reading – Still Alice, The Happiest Mom, Plan B, and Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood.

    My to read list on Goodreads is reaching 100 though, and these are just the ones I consider most pressing. Sigh…never enough time.

    P.S. I ADORE that photo.

  13. Mary Oliver is my absolute favorite. I have both The Journey and Wild Geese printed and taped up at work and home and read them often to my yoga class.

    I’m in one of those non-reading phases too. They used to really bother me, now I just try and accept the phase. Try. 🙂

    But I have Never Let Me Go in the stack and I was reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by johnathan safron-four and lost it somehow a couple weeks ago. It is gorgeous. Amazing. His writing is incredible. He just so happens to be married to Nicole Krauss, author of my most favorite book, The History of Love. If you haven’t read, you must. It is the reason I named my daughter Alma.

  14. The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk
    The Social Animal by David Brooks
    College Knowledge by David T. Conley
    The Life and Death of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch
    Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov
    Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    Just finished Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and loved it and the most recent issue of O magazine!

    Please read and write about the Melissa Coleman book asap. (Read about it first in that aforementioned O magazine.) Many, many years ago, I worked for her father, Eliot Coleman, on an organic farm in Vermont. I remember that she was in high school at the time. I want to read it, too, but for now I will be quite happy to read your thoughts about it!

  15. I am currently reading Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was difficult to get into at first by I am really enjoying the history if it now and the immersion of cultures.

  16. What a great picture! Just finished and really liked The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan.
    Next in line:
    -The Sandalwood Tree, (shameless plug) a gorgeous novel by my dear friend, Elle Newmark, that I’m so looking forward to reading in finished, real-live book form.
    -Room by Emma Donoghue
    -Mothers & Daughters by Rae Meadows
    -Bent Road by Lori Roy
    -A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
    -Delights & Shadows poems by Ted Kooser.

    I agree with Laura. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss is one of my all-time favorite books.

  17. Pic of you two girls is so so perfect. Mini-me and Mommy-me.

    Like lots of other people, I’m horrified at how much less I read now (notice me online at 11:38 p.m.) — dying to read Henrietta Lacks, dying to read Townie.

    Right now loving but making sporadic progress through Bruce Marchand’s novel Wake of Forgiveness. By insane coincidence, he happens to live, part of the year, around the corner from me.

  18. Bruce Marchart is the writer’s real name. Apologies for the misspelling. Never post anything after 11 than needs a proofread…

  19. LOVE this photo!! And I see you have your “fancy pants” on.

    My nightstand:

    Devotion – Dani Shapiro
    Meditations from the Mat – Rolf Gates & Katrina Kenison
    Mittenstrings for God – Katrina Kenison (my parenting touchstone)
    Red Hook Road – Ayelet Waldman
    How Yoga Works – Geshe Michael Roach
    Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children
    A zillion mags: Yoga Journal, Shape (guilty pleasure), Organic Gardening, US Weekly

  20. I read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson several months ago and was completely moved by it. I then read Home by the same author last month – the story is related to Gilead and I recommend reading them in the above order and relatively close to one another. Did not want them to end.

  21. Trust Agents – Chris Brogan & Julien Smith
    The Rise of the Creative Class – Richard Flordia
    UnMarketing – Scott Stratten
    Kushiel’s Justice – Jacqueline Carey

    I also indulge in reading comic books scattered around my house, as well as the odd book on my impending mamahood.

    I recently (as in, yesterday) finished Gretchen Rubin’s “The Happiness Project” and Eve Ensler’s “I Am An Emotional Creature”, both of which I devoured.

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