What's On Your Nightstand?

I love this feature on 5 Minutes For Books, but I've never participated myself. Here is my first go at what is what is on my nightstand right now.

Bella Tuscany- by Frances Mayes (I have about 25 pages to go and other books have "interrupted" me! I love living Italy vicariously through her warm and comforting writing)

Boys Should Be Boys- by Meg Meeker MD (I am going to start buying this book for every mom of a boy I know! Recommended by a fellow mom of 3 boys, this one I can really highlight and rings so true! Maybe I'll figure out "the boy" yet.)

Strange Angels- an ARC from Penguin that I really want to get to!

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (why do "teacher books" always get short shifted and moved to the bottom of the list when a good novel comes along? This is the book I carry with me when I have to wait in the dr's office or the oil change place-I do love it but I 100% agree with her)

The Virgin of Small Plains-by Nancy Pickard (I've become known as 'the book lady' at school and teachers are now coming to me in record numbers to check out books. Last week I traded The 13th Tale for this and I'm loving the mystery of it!)

Katniss Everdeen Rules as the Mockingjay!

I won't repost the cover since it's on the previous entry, but I just closed the cover of the ARC for Catching Fire (Book #2 in The Hunger Games series) Hmm...perhaps I should wait to let the book sink in a bit but I also don't want to have any spoilers in this particular post.

Actually, I took out any plot parts due to the fact that Scholastic would like to have no spoilers so everyone can enjoy the book when it comes out in Sept.

I thought I loved Gregor the Overlander (Collins' last series), but this one has me mesmerized. I have found myself sneaking up to my reading chair in my room to lose myself in Katniss, Peeta, Gale, their decisions and the outcomes. Collins has wowed me once again (this is the 7th time now) with her ability to create not just a riveting plot, but characters who follow me through my days (and nights-they're in my dreams!). Also, I love the fact that Katniss is a feisty, strong willed young woman who is challenging the authority of her whole world. And, yet, she still has the emotion to be torn between two men she loves. What a great way to spend my Memorial Day weekend!

Yipee!

So many reasons to be excited: it's Memorial Day weekend and I get an extra day to sleep in, tomorrow is my 11th wedding anniversary, only 3 more weeks of school, most of the 8th graders will be in Washington DC all of next week, and.....on Wednesday I got an ARC of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins from Scholastic! I thought my 8th graders were going to attack me when I showed it to them and they were very bummed when I told them I wasn't loaning it out until (1) I finished it and (2) they were back from DC. Are you kidding? I wasn't going to send my coveted ARC to the Nation's capital where it could be forever lost! I cannot wait to spend my days this weekend reading, gardening, going out to dinner, and relaxing! Have a great long weekend--

I Won the Cheese!

Yeah! I won the cheese book (see last post!)from Jama Rattigan's blog. I am excited to try new cheese recipes.

I've decided on this bleary day where I have a sick child and missed some school PD, that I really despise the month of May. Even though it includes Mother's Day and my wedding anniversary, the stress of the end of the school year kind of negates all of it. It seems like all I want to do is sleep! And read. My brain is already focused on summer vacation reading! Off to get the kiddies who aren't sick...