On The Nightstand (Adult):
Seriously, the stack is this high. Maybe yours is higher.
- Swimming Lessons, Claire Fuller
- Becoming, Michelle Obama
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman
- The Library Book, Susan Orlean
- Kingdom Of The Blind, Louise Penny
- Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver
- Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- The Broken Earth Trilogy, NK Jemisin
- Hidden Figures, Margot Lee Shetterly
- The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson (any nightstand’s ultimate staple)
- Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (will never leave the nightstand)
- Building Your Child’s Self-Esteem, Dorothy Corkille Briggs (stays on nightstand!)
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (can never get enough of JANE JANE JANE JANE)
- The Ocean World, Jacques Cousteau (will be reading in perpetuity)
On The Nightstand (Children’s/YA–see also “read/children’s/YA” below)
- The Girl Who Drank The Moon, by Kelly Barnhill
- The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
- The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert
- The Jamie Drake Equation, Christopher Edge
- Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
- The Language Of Spells, Garret Weyr
- The Midnight War Of Mateo Martinez, Robin Yardi
- Treasure Hunters, James Patterson.
- A Diamond in the Desert, Kathryn Fitzmaurice (MUST-READ. Gorgeous, poetic, riveting–will stay on nightstand for inspiration)
- Destiny, Rewritten, Kathryn Fitzmaurice (exquisite–will also keep on nightstand for inspiration)
Read And Filed To The Livingroom Bookshelves–Or Not… (Adult):
- We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- All the Single Ladies, Rebecca Traister (how can you NOT read this book?)
- The Snow Child and To The Bright Edge Of The World, Eowyn Ivey
- How To Party With An Infant, Kaui Hart Hemmings AND House Of Thieves
- All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr (his best so far and he is an author of bests)
- Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel (riveting)
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple (can’t wait for the movie)
- The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton (genius)
- The Rehearsal, Eleanor Catton (fascinating)
- All of Louise Penny’s novels.
- The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson (I survived)
- State Of Wonder, Ann Patchett
- The Goldfinch, Donna Tart (gah! but will keep)
- The Signature Of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert (gah! but will keep)
- Between The World And Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The Descendants, Kaui Hart Hemmings (so much more rewarding than the film–and I loved the film)
- The Tiger’s Wife, Tea Obrecht (beautiful)
- Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
- The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (will always totally suck me in)
- A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson (bildungsroman on speeeeeeed!)
- Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin (lived in Oxford when I was a child—perception of Lewis Carroll now changed forever…gah…great read!)
- All Ngaio Marsh. How did I miss her, especially being an Agatha Christie-maniac?
Read And Filed Or Already Living On The Living Room Bookshelves–Or Not… (Children’s/YA):
- Dust, by He Who Should Always Be Named
- The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes, Peter Brown
- The One And Only Ivan, K.A. Applegate
- All of Rebecca Stead’s books (can’t wait for more from this author)
- All of Jeanne Birdsall’s books
- Doll Bones, Holly Black (those crazy boat-stealing kids!)
- Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech (QUEEN Sharon Creech)
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly (instant classic, instant personal favorite)
- The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart (for the thinking child)
- All the Miss Peregrine books, Ransom Riggs
- Goblin Secrets, William Alexander (2012 NBA Winner)
- The Year the Swallows Came Early, Kathryn Fitzmaurice (5 gold stars)
- Veronica Rossi’s trilogy
- The Fires Beneath the Sea, Lydia Millet (another YA author writing middle grade–or is it the other way around?)
- Liesl & Po, Lauren Oliver
- The Book Of Three, Lloyd Alexander (all the books are must-reads)
- The Changeling, Zilpha Keatley Snyder (no, not every chapter ends with a page turner—why? Because the author is extremely busy TELLING A STORY, the way authors used to before being told that if a first page doesn’t grab the reader, the manuscript goes in the trash. ZKS is one to learn from. There’s a reason she’s still popular, won so many awards and written a book a year for the past 42 or so years—a book a year).
- The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder (not only does she get right down to business, but she is uber-sensitive to her own storytelling–details, mindful explanations, descriptions both simple and complex. Look: She gets down to business in a manner that doesn’t gyp her readers.
- The City Of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau
- Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a character passing out so many times in one novel)
- The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan )
- The Cuckoo Tree, Joan Aiken
- The Tail Of Emily Windsnap, Liz Kessler
- A Wind In The Door, Madeleine L’Engle (have you read it again, too?)
Poetry:
- Blud, Rachel McKibbens
- The Traps, Louise Mathias
- The Glimmering Room, Cynthia Cruz
- Small Porcelain Head, Alison Benis White
- Stag’s Leap, Sharon Olds
- Randall Jarrell, The Woman At The Washington Zoo
- Above All Else, The Trembling Resembles A Forest, Louise Mathias (look–if you love poetry, you must read Louise’s chapbook–case closed)
- Twin Cities, Carol Muske-Dukes
- Black Hope, Marsha de la O
- Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open, Dianne Seuss (title poem a mindblower)
- The Sleep Hotel, Amy Newlove Schroeder (a luminous debut)
- Dearest Creature, Amy Gerstler (I hope I meet her some day)
- Glass Town, Lisa Russ Spaar (I always return to it)
- Always returning to Sarah Hannah’s books. They haunt me.
Music
- Tame Impala
- Bent
- Adele
- Florence And The Machine
- Bjork
- Cheryl Crow
- Courtyard Hounds (so beautiful I cry—but then, I cry at Curious George…)
- Elbow
- Lord Huron
- Fleet Foxes
- Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
- Jesca Hoop
- Cold War Kids
Feel free to recommend a read in the comments section of this page. Thank you!
I love this page! It’s great to learn what others have read/are reading.
Personally, I find my home is incomplete without an easily accessible shelf of Jane Austen.
Chris–Jane Austen lives here, too. Both in book and DVD format…
Nice! 🙂