Bookgirl's Nightstand | When I'm not reading books, I'm making them.

The Green Stacks

iliana Nightstand January 23, 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was quite fun and aside from all the stuff I had planned, I also got a chance to catch up a bit on my reading. I finished two books so I’ll have to tell you about those soon.

Now though it’s time to prepare for Virago Reading Week so here is my stack of Viragos. Sorry for the fuzzy picture.

I know it’s hard to read the titles but I have books by Molly Keane, Beatrix Lehmann, F. Tennyson Jesse, Ada Cambridge, Eudora Welty, Mollie Panter-Downs, Radclyffe Hall, Elizabeth Taylor, Pamela Frankau, Elizabeth Von Arnim, Charlotte M. Yonge and E. Arnot Robertson.

I don’t know which one to pick. Part of me wants to go with the Elizabeth von Arnim as I’m familiar with one of her books (it’s one of my all time favorites) but then I also would like to read another Elizabeth Taylor. I’ve not tried any of the other authors though so that’s exciting in itself. Which one to choose? If you have a recommendation please let me know.

How about you, are you participating in Virago Reading Week and which book are you going to choose? I’ll let you know as the week goes by which one I decided to read.

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Winner & Etc.

iliana Nightstand January 20, 2011

Ah the weekend is so close and how wonderful is that? It’s been a long week. Still not used to working longer hours and the horrible commute I have at the end of the day but hopefully I’ll settle into the routine soon. Before I go on about weekend plans though I want to thank everyone who commented on my review and author Q&A. This time I wrote up the names, put them in a little box and drew a winner.

Congrats Vivienne! Send me your mailing address.

So what is everyone up to this weekend? One of my goals is to get caught up on blog reading. I feel like I’ve missed so much. Aside from yoga, date night at the bookstore and dinner with friends you know what else I want to prepare for? Virago Reading Week. I’ll probably do a whole other post for that as I may need help choosing a book.

On top of that I just realized that I have a week to read the latest Slaves of Golconda book, The Summer Book. I am looking forward to it a lot.

Alright, I think that’s it. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and more bookish stuff soon.

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Book Club Night

iliana Nightstand January 18, 2011

I went to my book club meeting today and we discussed The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall. I had already read it a few months ago (my review) and overall it was a crowd pleaser. I actually have the second book in the series waiting for me so one day.

Next up we’ll be reading Fieldwork, which I know some of you have really enjoyed, and Cop Hater, which I’m excited to find out it’s actually the first book in the long running series. We picked up few others but I am not sure which order they are in so I’ll post about those later.

As far as my own personal mystery reading goes, I started The Lies That Bind by Kate Carlisle. I’ve mentioned before that my real interest in this series is due to the fact that the sleuth is a bookbinder. I mean, how can I not like this girl right? So I love all the talk about tools, paper, techniques but the mystery itself is much more on the cozy side.

I used to read a lot more cozy mysteries and I still enjoy one here and there but I really think over the past years my taste in mysteries leans more towards a bit more gritty. I don’t mean that I particular like to read about the violence but I like the serious tone. Cozies can get on my nerves really quickly when people find the dead bodies and next paragraph they’ve quickly moved on to something light and funny. I just find that jarring.

What about you, do you like cozies? Am I missing some good ones that manage to bridge the gap between cozy and gritty? For example, I do think Louise Penny’s books offer a nice mix of a light and serious tone.

Finally, I’m sorry I fallen behind on responding to comments, answering emails and visiting blogs but my job has gone full time and let me tell you, it’s been quite an adjustment. Don’t even get me started on the state of my studio and house in general. So I’m trying to settle into a new routine and I promise to get back on track soon.

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