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

My Current Reads

iliana Nightstand May 30, 2007

I had been trying to keep the number of books I had going at just two but that little phase didn’t last too long. Currently I have some great reads going on.

I’m still holding steady at page 43 of Don Quixote. Sad, I know. I haven’t picked this one up in more than a week but I’m really going make an effort to read some more of it this weekend.

The Hummingbird’s Daughter is all kinds of wonderful but I didn’t want to take it on my trip either as it’s kind of a chunkster so I am still at about the half way point in this book.

Monday I have my Murder on Mondays book group so I had to start The Murder of Roger Ackroyd a Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie. Actually if anyone has a good web site on Agatha Christie let me know. Our group will be having a trivia contest and there will be prizes – free books! I need to get up to speed on some Agatha facts.

The book I did take with me to Monterrey is my third choice for the Once Upon a Time Challenge, To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. I was excited to start this book as I’ve always heard great things about it but I will admit that it took me a while to get into it. It could have been though that I kept getting distracted. Anyway once I finally caught on I started enjoying it and I’m past the half way point.

Know what else is interesting? In the Hummingbird’s Daughter one character is reading Don Quixote and in To Say Nothing of the Dog one of the characters mentions following clues like Hercule Poirot. I love those kind of connections.

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Bargains Found

iliana Nightstand May 29, 2007

I did make it over to Half Price Books over the weekend thanks to Stefanie who left me a comment reminding me of their 20% Off sale. Gotta love a book bargain. Unfortunately my time at the book store was limited but I still came away with these goodies:

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant
A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (Yay, can’t wait to read another of her books)
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris

Today I also received a BookMooch book, Eve Green by Susan Fletcher. Now where to fit in all of these books. I’m seriously running out of space.

I’m so tired today. Isn’t it always a pain to go back to work after vacation? So I’ll save my talk of current reads for another day. Now I just want to crawl in bed and read.

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I’m Back

iliana Nightstand May 28, 2007

I had a great time in Monterrey even though it was such a short visit. I got back in town late on Thursday and I’ve been out and about most of the time as I had a birthday celebration to take care of (mine), spend time with a friend who was visiting from Germany, check out the Half Price Books Memorial Day sale, and of course take care of all the random things that pile up.

I will have pictures from Monterrey later in the week. My camera was with me at all times; like when I visited the Marco, the contemporary art museum, and when I did a bit of shopping at a outdoor market, where I couldn’t resist the jewelry and bought some bracelets and earrings. Aside from spending time with my abuelita, the highlight of my visit included an afternoon spent at the Ghandi bookstore.

I found many books I wanted to bring back but I only bought an anthology of feminist poems and a book by Carlos Ruis Zafon, Las Luces de Septiembre, which sounds wonderfully creepy. I also had to buy a very cool handmade bookmark with an embossed image of Don Quixote. Speaking of Don Quixote, you should have seen the many editions and other books on Don Quixote that were available.

My birthday was a nice one and my husband did great on the present front. He got me a video iPod which I totally didn’t expect. I have an iPod but it’s the 30gb that’s not even available anymore so it’s nice to upgrade. I also received The 1000 Journals Project book and 1000 Artist Trading Cards book. Talk about a visual fest!

I can’t wait to get around to visiting your blogs. What have I missed? I know I was tagged on some memes so I’ll try to get to those soon and of course I still have to tell you what I’ve been reading and what books I bought at the book sale. In the meantime, here is a picture from a street in Monterrey’s Barrio Antiguo. This historic district is now home to lots of bars, restaurants, antique stores and museums.

Barrio

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