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

10 Best Friends

iliana Nightstand December 2, 2010

I saw Litlove and Willa post about their 10 Fiction Best Friends and just knew I had to join in too.

Maisie Dobbs. Are you surprised? She’s smart and always figures out the mystery.
Ursula Marlow from Clare Langley-Hawthorne’s mystery series. Like Maisie, Ursula is an intelligent woman who is not going to be held back by the conventions of her time.
Vianne Rocher from Chocolat. Can you imagine having a best friend with a chocolate shop? I’d go work for her. Ha.
Valancy from The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I always find stories of characters who finally learn to live their life so fun and almost inspiring.
Inspector Rebus from the Ian Rankin series. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with all his drinking but he does like to read and has piles of books by his chair and all around his place. I like that.
Lala Reyes from Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros. We both share a childhood of countless road trips back and forth between the States and Mexico. I can only imagine how much we would have to talk about with regards to having roots in two countries.
Florence Green from The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. I admire her perseverance in trying to keep a bookshop where she clearly wasn’t wanted. Plus, who wouldn’t want to be friends with the owner of the bookshop?!
Precious Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith’s Ladies Detective Agency series. I’d go visit her in Botswana, she’d invite me to a cup of tea and I’d listen to her talk about solving mysteries.
Brooklyn Wainwright from Kate Carlisle’s bibliophile mystery series. The sleuth is a bookbinder! Of course I want to know her and learn from her about book restoration.
Anne Elliott from Jane Austen’s Persuasion. What can I say, I just loved her and think she’d be a wonderful friend.

So those are some of my fictional best friends? Who are yours?

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Goodness 31 days left in the year and I don’t know if I’ll meet my reading goals. Well, not really goals but in the past few years I pretty much reach a certain number of books read. This year I get the feeling my number will be lower but well I can still be hopeful right?

So I’m still reading The House at Riverton by Kate Morton and I’m greatly enjoying it. I have a book club meeting coming up on Sunday and I haven’t picked up the book for it but maybe I’ll still go to the book club. It’s a new group and I’d hate to already miss my second meeting.

I had plans to do some reviews today but I just wasn’t up for those. I spent way too much time on Etsy figuring out some new features they have added and I’m kind of worn out. I like Etsy but sometimes I feel like I spend a lot more time figuring out all the bells & whistles rather than crafting and/or selling!

One highlight of the day though was that I got two goodies in the mail. One is the Persephone Biannually. I want to add more of those lovely books to my shelves. And, I also got Bound & Lettered, which is a magazine focusing on artists’ books, bookbinding and calligraphy. Talk about eye candy and inspiration. I should have looked at it more and stopped playing on Etsy all day! ha,ha.

Anyway, that’s it for today guys. Happy December and hope you all read some wonderful books this month. I can’t wait to see what books I discover.

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Dear Santa,

iliana Nightstand November 30, 2010

I mentioned that I was at Borders on the weekend and was able to jot down some titles that I think I need to get soon. Or, hopefully Santa is reading this post. I don’t know how new the books are but I hadn’t seen them before so they are new to me. Although there is one new book that doesn’t come out until next year so let’s start with that one.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing the author talk at an event several years ago and really enjoyed hearing about her background in art and how she brings that into her stories. I’ve read a few of her books and have loved them so of course I can’t wait to read this one. This title comes out in January.
Heartbroke Bay by Lynn D’Urso. A novel about a woman in the Alaskan wilderness during the Gold Rush of 1898. I’m normally not into survival type stories and “Alaskan wilderness” sort of screams that to me but I don’t know, this sounds very different from my usual read.
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman. I barely saw what the book was about but just I like the author’s writing so I want to read this one. The story is about rare-book collecting so that’s another plus.
Chosen by Chandra Hoffman. A story of a case worker who becomes very emotionally involved in the lives of her clients. This already sounds like it has the potential to be a good book for discussion.
Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja. Late 19th Century Brussels, a puppeteer, a brothel, oh my this sounds like it will have a lot of juicy drama.
Family Album by Penelope Lively. I’ve read one of her books which I really like and I’ve been meaning to try another so this one about family dynamics and how everyone remembers things differently seems like it’d be a great read.
How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu. I found his first novel a very good account of the immigrant experience. I believe this one will probably explore more of the same themes and I can’t wait to read it.

Actually I didn’t make it past the M’s on the shelves so I’m sure I have more books for Santa but this is a good start don’t you think? Have you read any of these and do you have one to recommend?

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