The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way – by Bill Bryson
Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves – edited by Cammile Peri and Kate Moses
Small Business Kit for Dummies – by Richard D. Harroch
The Prophet – by Kahlil Gibran
Your Child’s Health – by Barton D. Schmitt
The following half-read old issues of The New Yorker: January 9, 2006. December 12, 2005. December 26, 2005 & January 2, 2006. September 26, 2005. November 28, 2005.
The Winter 2005/2006 issue of Produced By, The Official Magazine of the Producers Guild of America.
Okay, so this giant pile was partially on, partially scattered around, my nightstand. Anyone else want to share?



English and how it got that way?! I HAVE TO READ THAT. NOW. I’ve never even heard of it. But I have now. And now I will go buy it.
On my nightstand:
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Some other book by some girl
Alarm clock
Two ponytail holders
Desk lamp
oh, I like this idea for a friday post (& by the way, I love that you’re posting so frequently now!)
I try to get through one novel at a time…but I’ve got 10 million piled up to tackle next…
okay my nightstand – The Last Girls by Lee Smith (the current read)
More back issues of Vogue, Real Simple, The New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar, & Skirt! magazine than I can count.
The Vanity Fair with naked Scarlett Johansen & Keira Knightley
Books to tackle next:
Wicked – Gregory MacQuire
Joy in the Morning – Betty Smith
The Mermaid Chair – Sue Monk Kidd
The Kite Runner – Khalid Hosseini
Wow. A Bill Bryson book my husband DOESN’T have.
Here’s what’s on mine:
The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis
L.L.Bean Women Spring 2006
Shepherding a Child’s Heart, by Tedd Tripp
2 unused journals
The No-Cry Sleep Solutiong, by Elizabeth Pantley
the Women of Faith Devotional Bible
I’m reading a book of collected works of Willa Cather. Right now I’m reading My Antonia.
The Prophet is one of my all time favorite books. That and “A Prayer For Owen Meany”. But right now, on my nightstand sits a copy of the mother’s magazine “Brain, Child” (if you don’t subscribe, go do it RIGHT NOW), and a copy of “The Professor And The Madman”, by Simon Winchester. It’s the true story about about how the OED began, so if you like language (and hey, if you’re reading Bryson’s book, which I loved, you probably do), then you’ll like this book. But if nothing else? Brain, Child! It’s my new favorite thing.
I listened to the Professor and the Madman as an audiobook during my formerly hellish commute. The narrator was English, naturally. I always remember the way he read the title. Loved that book!