Wow oh wow, it’s almost September guys! In less than two weeks my first born will be starting kindergarten and not long after that the leaves will change and fall and people will be talking about things like pumpkin carving and apple cider and homemade soups and Thanksgiving dinners. Craziness!

And it’s also time for another Nightstand post – my favorite bookish meme hosted by the awesome folks at 5 minutes for books! If you’ve never played along before, the rules are super simple: Talk about what you are reading, what you’ve been reading, and/or what you plan to read soon. Wanna take a picture of your actual nightstand or reading pile? That’s fun, too!

Anyway, here’s what I’ve read since we last talked about all things nightstand:

1. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall (July Book Club Pick) – Finished July 27 – While there was something about this story that inevitably kept me reading, I have to say, I really didn’t enjoy this one. It wasn’t because of the whole polygamy thing, I just couldn’t sympathize with most of the characters and by the end of the book, the few characters I did find myself rooting for all seemed to get gypped in one way or another. Sad beginning, sad middle, sad end. Not a big hit for me.
2. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne (Classics Challenge) – Finished July 30, 2011 – I’ve just finished reading this aloud to my five year old, a chapter at a time before nap times & bedtimes. While I’m not sure he understood the whole book as there are a lot of big words, he still really enjoyed it, especially since he knew all the characters for the tv show and movies. It was nice to share this with him and fun to watch the movies and see the adaptations of all the stories within the book.
3. The Princess Bride (kindle) by William Goldman (Classics Self Challenge) – Finished August 11, 2011 – I really enjoyed this book. It’s not often that I can read a book when I’ve already seen the movie based off of it, but this one had just enough tricks up it’s sleeve to keep me interested. I have to say, the whole story within a story within a story aspect of this story just barely works. It threw me off in the beginning and I know some people really didn’t enjoy this aspect or Goldman as the narrator continually butting in to talk about his opinions on the story – but it kind of worked for me. It made me think about how you view a story you are reading versus writing and what things I like in a story and what things I don’t like – and it made me laugh when Goldman would complain about a literary technique of “Morgenstern’s” while using the same technique. It was clever.

Right now I’m reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and about 1/3 through which is truthfully not fast enough as my book club is discussing this title tomorrow night! Ack! I am hoping to go spend a good long time reading today when I’m finished writing this but we both know that’s going to depend on the kids.

And what’s slated to be read next?

I’ve got two review books clambering for my attention:

• The Hour that Matters Most by Les & Leslie Parrott which will be released early next month. It’s all about the importance of eating together as a family.
• Finding Aster by Dina McQueen is an Ethiopian adoption story that looks really good.

I’m looking forward to diving into both books next month along with our next book club pick, Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario which is this years pick for Wisconsin’s Go Big Read common reading program. Here’s a description of the book:

For the sake of her five-year-old son, Enrique, Honduran single mom Lourdes emigrated alone to the United States to find work. She promised to return, but years passed without only some letters and an occasional phone call. Finally, 11 years later, the boy impetuously set off for America without money or even a passport, his hopes for reunion with his mother hanging on a slip of paper with her North Carolina telephone number.  

And given my current reading speeds, I’m guessing I won’t finish any more than that until my next nightstand post! How about you?

What are you reading right now?