It’s time for another Nightstand post, a blogging carnival hosted monthly at 5 Minutes For Books – the premise is pretty simple: write about what you’re reading, read recently and / or plan to read in the future.

Here’s what I’ve read in the past month:

1. Shadow of the Wind (kindle) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (March Book Club Pick) – Finished March 24, 2011 – This was one of the better written books that I’ve read in awhile – beautiful descriptions without feeling tedious, a fascinating story that gets more complex with each chapter, but brilliantly. I really enjoyed this book which seemed to offer a little bit of everything. – full review –
2. Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz & David Hayward – Finished April 2, 2011 – I am a huge fan of Lisa Lutz so I was beyond eager to read this book which she wrote with her ex, David Hayward. This book was hysterical and a really cool peek into the writing process – I’d recommend it to any writers or mystery buffs. – full review –
3. Much Ado About Anne (Mother Daughter Book Club, Book Two) by Heather Vogel Frederick – finished April 10, 2011 – I think these books send a really positive message to teens and tweens while still being fun and an enjoyable read. I loved reading about reading about Anne of Green Gables, one of my favorite classic books / series. Definitely looking forward to reading future books in this series.
4. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (April Book Club Pick) – finished April 24, 2011 – I found this book interesting but not necessarily enjoyable. It reads like a series of short stories about various employees of a small European newspaper. As you read, the stories begin to feel somewhat interconnected, but at the same time not really. I felt the format made it difficult to get attached to any of the “characters” and the depressing nature of the book didn’t help matters. I think this was exactly what the author was going for though.

Right now I’m reading Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery which I have to admit I am not really enjoying, though that seems to be the general consensus. I also basically know the entire plot since it was spoiled somewhat by the last Anne film that I watched which combined several books (poorly).

When I finish or bail on Windy Poplars I will likely read:

• The Help by Katheryn Stockett (because I’m surprised I haven’t read it already)
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells (our May book club pick)
• If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster (which I may be getting to review) or Such a Pretty Fat

Or you know, any of the other books tempting me from my overflowing bookshelf. When we started unpacking the books in our bedroom a week ago, I said to my husband, “I think I’ll just put the books I haven’t read yet in the bookshelf upstairs and bring the rest to the office or basement just so we’re not overwhelmed with books up there. So I grabbed two small bookshelves – one for each of our To Be Read piles and put one on either side of our nightstands…

my “to be read” pile

Yeah…. I think that my book obsession is slowly taking over our home. I bet there are more boxes somewhere that I don’t even know about. Not to mention the embarrassingly large pile of books that I have read and love so much I feel compelled to keep them. Needless to say, I ended up grabbing a bigger bookshelf for my “to be read” pile because the little two-shelfer just wasn’t going to cut it.

So what are you reading right now?