What’s on Your Nightstand? – August 2009

Well, what can I say. I wasn’t as productive as I had hoped. I checked off four books from my list, plus two library books. I’m going to end up getting through a lot of the books before the end of the month (hopefully). I started a new job after 7 months of unemployment so my reading time has been cut down considerably.

Either way, I feel more productive, the nightstand pile is shrinking, and most of what is left are James Patterson books, which take maybe 2 days each to read. My odds are high, but my time is limited.

To Read in September:

• Big Bad Wolf (999 Challenge)
• London Bridges (999 Challenge)
• Mary Mary (999 Challenge/Countdown Challenge)
• Cross (999 Challenge)
• Double Cross (999 Challenge)
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Decades Challenge)
• Roxana (Daniel Defoe Challenge)
• The English Patient (Summer Reading Challenge)
• Spook (Summer Reading Challenge)
• High Five (Summer Reading Challenge)
• The Shack (Summer Reading Challenge)
• D is for Deadbeat (Summer Reading Challenge)
• Secrets of the Morning (Summer Reading Challenge)

Gone With the Wind is still currently in progress, but has been bumped off the emergency read list because I swapped in an alternative so I could count that challenge as finished – but I will continue to read it for the 1% Reading Challenge and others.

Long list still …. Good thing is after this batch of September challenges, my reading should calm down some, I’ll be reading more classics and longer books, and hopefully having less stress in completing them.

It’s Monday. What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being reading, and the books to be finish this week.

Read Last Week (reviews to come):

• Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris (short story)
• The Noticer by Andy Andrews
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• Sin City: Hell and Back (Vol. 7) by Frank Miller

Reading This Week:

• Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson

Challenge Roundup (Aug 17)

This was found over at book-a-rama, and while I’m a couple weeks late it’s been awhile since I did a roundup, and it will be fun to look at what my challenge is at now and how it will look at the end of August.

• 2009 Pub Challenge – 8/9
• Daniel Defoe Challenge – 1/2
• Scott Westerfeld Challenge – 1/2
• Decades Challenge – 7/9
• Chunkster Challenge – 3/5 (ends Nov 15)
• A-Z Challenge – 17/26 and 19/26
• 999 Challenge – 73/81 (ends Sept. 9)
• 100+ Challenge – 103/100
• Countdown Challenge – 43/45 (ends Sept. 9)
• New Authors Challenge – 45/50
• Read Your Own Books Challenge – 45/50
• Romance Reading Challenge – 1/5
• YA Challenge – 6/12
• Series Challenge Season 3 – 9/15 (ends Nov. 30)
• What’s in a Name Challenge – 5/6
• 2009 TBR Challenge – 8/12
• Book vs. Movie Challenge – 15/20
• Classics Challenge – 1/5 (ends Oct. 31)
• 1% Well Read Challenge – 3/10
• A Visit to Oz Challenge – 2/5
• Project Fill in the Gaps – 6/100
• Summer Vacation Reading Challenge – 5/6 (ends Sept. 7)
• 999×2 Challenge – 25/81
• Book Awards III – 0/5
• Sookie Stackhouse Challenge – 2/12
• Everything Austen – 1/6
• Summer Reading Challenge – 2/10 (ends Sept 21)
• Christmas in July – 16/TBD (ends Aug 31)
• What an Animal II Challenge – 2/6
• Operation Actually Read the Bible – 0/12
• August Reading Challenge – 5/TBD (ends Aug 31)
• Stephanie Plum Challenge – 0/15
• Random Reading Challenge – 0/12
• James Patterson Challenge – 0/10
• Women’s Murder Club Challenge – 0/9

Looking forward to checking this out in a few weeks and see where I am.

A Tour of My TBR

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of posts from people talking about their TBRs, showing pictures, talking about how they can’t stop buying books. I’m joining the club.

It started awhile back with J. Kaye and Kyusi Reader, followed by Book Lists Life with a contest involving pictures of the TBR pile. Either way, I finally managed to get around to taking current pictures of my TBR piles and shelves all over my house.

There’s no way to take just one picture of my whole TBR, because there are spread out, but here’s a quick look at the currently unorganized shelves.

The current TBR. All books I have started.

My next immediate reads (on my nightstand) to complete challenges by the end of Aug-beginning of Sept.

Sue Grafton and J.D. Robb to-reads

A small portion of the old books from my mom’s house

Miscellaneous overflow pile I finally found space for

More overflow

Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, and others

More miscellaneous unorganized

More to organize

Another shelf, Gregory Maguire, Dean Koontz, loans

Michael Connelly, Janet Evanovich

A small portion of the Patterson TBR

Of course, some were left out because it was just too many pictures, hopefully I can get them all organized and then maybe the pictures will be better. I do have another section just dedicated to Stephen King as well. I figure the least I can do is move non-fiction together, fiction together, same authors. I also have been keeping the books I’ve read separate and sorted by author, and then in series within that area. As soon as I get some more read, the read shelves will start looking pretty cool as well.

It’s Monday. What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being reading, and the books to be finish this week.

Read Last Week:

• Gift Wrapped by Charlaine Harris (short story)
• Strengths Finder by Tom Rath

Reading This Week:

• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• The Noticer by Andy Andrews
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson
• Smash Cut by Sandra Brown

On a side note, I’m starting a new job today which means all my free reading time is going out the window and I’m going to have start finding new times and places to read. Hopefully I can still get everything read I want/need to by September 9th.