What's on your nightstand?

So after taking photos for the "Kelly's Mission" on Tuesday I got thinking about what the items- particularly the books- on a nightstand say about a person... or not even "what they say," but just what types of books people keep by their beds. I decided to search "what's on your nightstand?" using Google and it came back with a bunch of hits (of course it did, it's Google... and if you do this, please disregard the hits about "one night stands" verses "nightstands"). The hits included a blog called www.booksonthenightstand.com, which had a "show us your nightstand and win" giveaway. I wasn't at all surprised that this a topic that's come up on other blogs and websites and it was really cool to see what different people's nightstands look like. Another site, www.5minutesforbooks.com, took a more MEME approach to the "what's on your nightstand" question and this is the format they used, but with my own adjustments to focus on just the nightstand:

1. Take a picture and/or simply give a list of the stack of books that is on your nightstand- whether you are currently reading them or planning on reading them.

2. Give short descriptions/reviews of the book you are currently reading and of the books that remain on your nightstand regularly.

3. Tell about what you are reading and why. Is it a book someone gave you? Did you just find it in the bookstore and decide it looked good enough to take home? Is it an author you read regularly?

4. Describe your reading habits. Do you only read before bed and that's why the books are by your nightstand, or do you have other books stashes elsewhere? Or are you lucky enough to not have to roll out of bed and instantly get ready for work and therefore do your reading in the morning? Is it a nightly ritual that calms you before bed or is nighttime (or morning) the only time you have to read?

And of course, because it's pretty much a MEME, here is my nightstand photo and below are my answers to the questions. Please do the same and put a link in the comment section!

1. The books currently on my nightstand are: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield; Domestic Bliss: Simple Ways to Add Style to Your Life by Rita Konig; Nesting, It's a Chick Thing by Ame Beanland & Emily Terry; Home Comforts: the Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson; The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn; Succulent Wild Woman by Sark; Visual Chronicles by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino; and two "Good Things" organizing books from the editors of Martha Stewart Living. I also have two lined paper notebooks, one graph paper notebook, and one sketch journal style notebook.

2. The Thirteenth Tale is the book that I am currently reading. As in the book I read a bit of every night before I go to bed in order to read it from front to back. The other books remain on my nightstand because I like to browse through them occasionally to get inspiration or to keep me motivated about my nesting or my creativity. The blank notebooks, lined and graph, are because my mind wanders like crazy before I go to sleep and sometimes I need to write things down so I can finally doze off. The sketch style notebook is my current journal.

3. I am reading The Thirteenth Tale, for the second time, because it is what I gave my Grama for Christmas last year. We both love to read and so for her Christmas gifts, beginning last year, I- or both of us together- will be deciding on book to read together and then discuss with each other. This idea stemmed from a few years ago when she decided to read Anna Karenina and asked me to undertake that endeavor (it's a bazillion pages long... okay, only 864, but still) with her and I of course said yes. It was a long book, but it was an enjoyable read and the pages flipped right by. The best part was the lunch we had after finishing to discuss the book and just enjoy each other's company. The reason I am reading The Thirteenth Tale for the second time is because I read it once already soon after Christmas last year, but with the wedding planning and all that business this summer, we never got to meet and discuss. So we are both reading it again in order to be able to meet and discuss before this upcoming Christmas. The other books came mostly from my Mom, except for the Home Comforts, which Grama bought me when I first moved into my own place, and Succulent Wild Woman, which my Mom owns and I had browsed and wanted my own copy of.

4. I pretty much only read before bed. When Hubby gets home he plops in front of the TV and sits there until he's ready for bed. I don't like to spend that much time in front of the TV (and I usually don't want to watch what he watches) so I like to go into bed and cuddle up with a book. Sometimes my mind is racing and the time consists of writing lists and emptying my brain so I can relax and sleep, sometimes I journal (write/doodle/draw/express), and most of the time I read as much as I can of whatever book I'm currently reading (remember definition of this above) before my eyelids are too heavy to hold open anymore.

I think it's very interesting to look at the books on your nightstand and analyze what it means about you as a person. Maybe I'm digging too deeply, but I think the books I have next to my bed represent me pretty well: I love to nest and take care of my home, I love to write/journal and be creative, my thoughts are always rushing around in a million directions and I like to be able to organize them on paper, and even though I have just one "currently reading" book on my nightstand right now, I love to read a bunch of different kinds of books, which to me shows that I like to delve into all sorts life things/genres.

So that wasn't about cleaning or love, and maybe it bored you to tears, but I find the topic thought provoking. I am a dork. Definite proof of that found in this remark: I am ending this post now because Hubby is home and it's time to watch The Office. Okay, so I would have been ending this post anyways because I'm done blah-de-blahing about nightstands, but whatever, it's time for Jim.