Enough.

One question. Three words. Two of them just one syllable. 

When the Aldi Finds post comes up on Instagram, and the first thing that comes to mind is, "Oohhh...I need to stop by there!" follow that thought up by asking yourself, "Is it necessary?" 

When the sale flyer lands in your inbox and you see your favorite store is taking an additional 40% off the clearance price, instead of clicking on the link, ask yourself, "Is it necessary?" 

This simple question goes along very nicely with others, such as...

• Do I really need it?
• Will my life be better if I have this?
• Could I use something I already own?
• What could I use the money for instead?

And my personal favorite...

Why did I not need it before I knew it existed? 

Photo by Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash

I'm currently reading How To Break Up With Fast Fashion: A guilt-free guide to changing the way you shop – for good, a book written by Lauren Bravo and published in January 2020. While much has changed in the world since its publication, including COVID, lockdowns, supply-chain issues, recessions, and $5 cartons of eggs, the idea of mindless buying or overbuying, has not. In fact, if anything, the 2020 pandemic made the problem worse, when we were all stuck inside, but Amazon was still delivering. And now that the financial status of the U.S., among other countries, is on the verge of insanity, it often feels that our only option for clothing our kids and ourselves are the cheaply made t-shirts and one-season pants offered by "fast fashion" vendors like Old Navy and Walmart. 

I get it. I have five kids. Although the eldest is out on her own and hasn't wanted me to buy her clothes in a few years due to a difference in style taste {ahem}, the other four are all still in their growth spurts and it feels like a never-ending cycle of buying fast fashion, because it's what we can afford, only to have it fall apart, wear out, or simply give up months, and sometimes weeks, after purchase.  

In 2020, I read Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale by Adam Minter, which I found both fascinating and thought-provoking. After spending four years living and working in several developing nations (or, a little less P.C. - third-world countries), I wasn't entirely unaware of the situations described by Minter and Bravo in their respective books. When we lived in a small country in southern Africa, we commuted almost daily past a local garment factory where GAP and Levis jeans were made. In one Southeast Asian country, down a bumpy dirt road, I found beautiful pottery bowls in a store, stamped with the official emblem of Williams & Sonoma, and was told they were made in a factory not far away. And yet in each case, a new pair of GAP jeans or a set of mixing bowls would cost more to buy than the worker who made them would make in a month? Two months? Six months? It was, and is, sobering. 

And so, I ask again, is it necessary? Or do I, in fact, have enough? These are the questions I'm pondering and have been for quite some time. And of the things I have, how much do I donate (and thus contribute even more to the "global garage sale") and how much do I keep in the hopes that I can repurpose it? I'm not an environmentalist, and I don't think we can save the planet (I mean, Revelation is a bit of a spoiler alert on that idea), but I do believe that God has entrusted us with this creation of His, and we are to be good caretakers and stewards of the resources He gives us. And beyond that, and even more importantly, we are to love the people in this world, as He does. Am I loving them well by sending them my junk or supporting the working environments I've both observed and read about, by buying fast fashion? I don't think I am. 

This is not the end of the conversation, but it is the beginning. I'm still pondering, still reading, still learning. January 2023 was a month of changing habits and beginning a journey of becoming a better steward of many things, including my body (what I eat and how I treat it), my time (what I spend it on), my money and resources, and now, apparently, my closet. I don't know where this will end, but I suspect that ENOUGH just became my word of the year. 

The 30-Minute Difference

Towards the end of 2023, I wrote a post about making your own time. It was an idea I was still trying to formulate in my own head, but I finally put some of those thoughts into practice this month and have been pleasantly surprised by the results. 

Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

After becoming increasingly frustrated with our homeschool schedule, I started making plans for how things could be different in the new year. A new schedule meant organizing my time a little differently. As I looked at where our time had been going, I realized I just needed a little more space in the day to get it all done. 

Since I couldn't pull any more time from the afternoons/evenings, which is my freelance work time, I had to look to the morning. On a whim, I decided to try getting us all up and moving 30 minutes earlier. The results, so far, have been overwhelmingly positive. 

Instead of always running late, I'm now the first one in the schoolroom, and usually have a few minutes to myself to get things settled - things like lighting the candle on my desk and filing away papers that were handed in the previous day - before the kids come in. Not having a frazzled teacher does wonders for the learning environment, let me tell you!

In addition to adding 30 minutes to the morning routine, I also started aiming to remove 30 minutes from the nighttime routine. I knew it was possible because I knew that my working hours weren't always the most focused of the day. And while I naturally gravitate toward being a night owl, if this was going to work, I knew I still needed to try to get a good 7-8 hours of sleep. 

By just switching the schedule up by 30 minutes, I have found our school days to be far more productive. Giving myself dedicated evening working hours has allowed me to be more focused with my time and attention, and has even given me the margin to do things like write this blog post, or read a chapter or two in one of the books on my nightstand.

I'm still tweaking different aspects of this habit-in-the-making, but I like what I see so far. It might not seem like 30 minutes would make that much of a difference, but then again, you might be surprised. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out. 

In the meantime, if you'll excuse me, I need to get this post scheduled and knock out a couple more projects before logging off and snuggling down into bed with my latest read (in case you're curious, it's The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman - a Christmas gift from the Hubs) before the Sandman wins the battle for sleep.

Books in Queue

Ever since I learned to read in Kindergarten and discovered the magic of words on a page and the worlds that they opened to me, I have been hooked. I spent my formative years carrying around a book in my coat pocket (the 80's version of a Kindle app on a smartphone) and developed a habit of reading at the lunch table while munching on the bologna and mayonnaise sandwich that my mom always made me on school days (again, it was the 80s). In the summers I was often found in the upper branches of the maple tree in our front yard, along with the books and pillow I had somehow managed to wrangle up the tree with me. 

Yes, I have always loved books. And...I have always loved to collect books. 

Below is a photograph of my real-life nightstand. If I were being really honest, I would have thrown open the doors of the cabinet beneath and let you see the shelves of books, hidden behind closed doors, that have been purchased over the years and are waiting to see the light of day on the top of the cabinet...ever nearer to the hope of possibly being plucked out of line for reading. It's entirely possible that I am a book hoarder. And I'm not sure I'm really apologetic for that. At least...not yet. As you'll see below (if you continue to read), I'm also learning the importance of minimizing and downsizing, so this may change, but for now, books continue to be my friendly vice.

This image is the personal property of C.G. Koens and may not be used without permission

While there is an incredible backlog of physical books awaiting my attention, today I'm sharing just a few books—some I own, some I'd like to own, and some that have come to me in electronic form on my Kindle—that are making their way to the forefront of my interests as I look towards the new year. 

A little background: Ever since I helped my parents clean out this autumn and move the items they had collected over the 28 years they lived in their home, I have been in a purging and simplifying mindset. So many of the books you see on the list are focused on minimizing stuff and maximizing time usage. Life is too short to get bogged down in "woulda, shoulda, coulda" regrets. More on that in a moment. 

From Laura Vanderkam:

• Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done 
• Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters 
• 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

From Joshua Becker:

• Things That Matter: Overcoming Distraction to Pursue a More Meaningful Life
• The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own

From Peter Walsh:

• Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life - This one is actually already in process on my Kindle, and I'm about 50% of the way through it, but I doubt I'll finish it before the year ends, as it is the kind of book that you read a little bit, and then mull over what you've read and decide what to do with that step before moving on.

In addition to these, I still have the front stack on the nightstand to work through. These include:

• What She Ate by Laura Shapiro
• Code Girls by Liza Mundy
• Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee
• 7 Men by Eric Metaxas
• Don't Overthink It by Anne Bogel
• The Joy and Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith
• Classics Reimagined, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (a re-read, but in a new version)

As one of my "small victory" goals for 2023 is reading one book a month for fun (or learning/personal growth), this list actually gives me 13 to aim for and work through. 

Remember just a minute ago when I said that life was too short to get bogged down by regrets? That includes the regret of buying books with the best of intentions but never ending up reading them. Or worse still, starting them, slogging halfway through the book, and realizing that I really don't like it. Leaving an unread book on my shelves is one thing, but I confess to having a number of books on my Nightstand Stack that are technically "in process" but haven't been touched in years because I just couldn't get into them, but I can't bear to give up. That's a "woulda, shoulda, coulda" regret if I ever saw one, so perhaps learning how to let go of those "thanks, but no thanks" books should be another one of my "small victory" goals in 2023. Either that or just push through them and revel in the feeling of completing something I didn't want to do, and possibly learning something in the process...we'll have to see which one wins out. Which would you choose?

Favorite Books of 2022

In 2020, I read 70 books. In 2021, I read 72 books. This year I aimed for 75...and read (drumroll)...a whopping 22. That's right. Just 22 books (so far) in 2023, but as previously mentioned, life has been a little hectic, leaving very little time for anything on my "like to do" list, such as blogging, taking naps, and sipping Starbucks' skinny caramel macchiatos.

But of the books I did manage to read this year, a few stood out as favorites. You can find the complete list of everything I read on Goodreads (if we haven't connected there yet, I invite you to join me - it's my favorite social media site because it requires nothing more than reviewing books and getting recommendations from fellow bookworms...in other words, an introvert's paradise!).  

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman
I can't quite put my finger on why I enjoyed this as much as I did, except for the fact that it's history and it's part of the world that is dying off. Caution must be given on the language of the book (primarily quotes), but otherwise, this was an interesting history of two men who rose through the ranks in Hollywood, served their country well in WWII, and found a way to make a lasting friendship despite a difference of opinions on politics, religion, and other such heated topics. Maybe we should all take a page out of Jim and Hank's book...

Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: the Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co. by Jeremy Mercer

If you're interested in the world of Shakespeare and Company at Kilometer Zero in Paris, just across the river from Notre Dame...then you'd enjoy this book. An insider view of the world of George Whitman (son of Walt...not the poet) and his strange little communist/capitalist empire. In this book, the author details the life of a bookstore sojourner, poor and hungry, and the world of those who seek sanctuary at the famous Shakespeare and Company. While it's not a world that I would fit into (other than the desire to read a book every day) with the free sex and pro-Communist leanings, it was still interesting to get a small glance into the world behind the shelves and meet the transient authors and artists who temporarily (or sometimes not so temporarily) take up residence thanks to George and his open-door view.

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk W. Johnson

Think Oceans 11, The Italian Job, and Jason Bourne, only with a homeschooled American boy who wanted money to buy a nice flute so he could play classical music with a German orchestra. Truth truly is stranger than fiction. Without giving anything away, let me just say that although the long arm of the law did, eventually, catch up to him, justice was not served. In a plot twist that would fit well in Catch Me If You Can, Rist and his feathers are still free in the world, much to the chagrin of Johnson, who slowly became obsessed with this unusual heist, and the man who got away with it.

God's Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon

Historically, I enjoyed the Japanese perspective of WWII, which we rarely get in the U.S. unless we actively seek it out, and not at all in school, unless it's to tell us how Japan was evil and attacked us and tortured POWs. So from a historical standpoint, I learned a lot and enjoyed a different point of view. But from a writing standpoint, I've definitely read better. It felt a little academic and stiff, like we were given the facts but there were a lot of holes. Fuchida's years-long affair with Kimi was unsatisfactorily explained, and very little seems to be known about his faithful wife. Still an interesting story, definitely worth reading if you're interested in WWII, Japan, or this Navel pilot and contemporary of Louis Zamperini (from whom we get an entirely different view of the Japanese military).

If you've read any of these, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. Or if you had a stand-out book this year from your list, I'd love to hear about that as well. I mean, all good bookworms can use another book recommendation, right?

For 2023, the plan is to continue working through "The Stack" on my nightstand (which seems to be growing, rather than shrinking...the life of a bookworm with no time, eh?), and I've grabbed a few good deals on Kindle books this fall that I'd really like to read on my phone as I find (or make) the time. More on that whole idea of "making time" in a later post, so stay tuned! In the meantime, to my fellow bibliophiles...happy reading!  

"The Feather Thief" (A #WhatsOnMyNightstand Book Review)

I don't remember who recommended this book to me, but I feel like it was a childhood friend on Facebook, after I mentioned a book I had recently finished reading. Since I'm always up for "stranger than fiction" real-life tales, I added it to my "To Read" list on Goodreads and eventually ordered a copy (used of course) from Amazon, to add to my nightstand reading stack. It's probably been at least 2-3 years since that recommendation, but I finally got around to reading it this year, and since life happened and I didn't get my July post written, I'm hoping that an August 1st book review post will make up for the oversight. 

May I introduce to you, The Feather Thief, by Kirk Wallace Johnson. A story of the most unusual theft, by the most unlikely of characters, with a somewhat unsatisfactory outcome. But still one of my favorite books of 2022 so far. 

When Johnson first heard the story of Edwin Rist, he almost couldn't believe it to be true. It was too far out there. A twenty-something American flautist, studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London, obsessed with the rare art of salmon fly-tying and the even rarer (and more illegal) feathers to tie them, breaks into the Tring museum, a branch of the British Museum of Natural History, in the dead of night and waltzes out with a suitcase full of hundreds of bird skins. Using the local train system as his "getaway" vehicle, he made a clean escape, only to be found through his sales on eBay and a loose-lipped buyer. 

Think Oceans 11, The Italian Job, and Jason Bourne, only with a homeschooled American boy who wanted money to buy a nice flute so he could play classical music with a German orchestra. Truth truly is stranger than fiction. Without giving anything away, let me just say that although the long arm of the law did, eventually, catch up to him, justice was not served. In a plot twist that would fit well in Catch Me If You Can, Rist and his feathers are still free in the world, much to the chagrin of Johnson, who slowly became obsessed with this unusual heist, and the man who got away with it.

Available on Amazon, you can buy it new or used, or look it up at your local library. The world truly is a funny place. Happy Reading!

The Best Laid Plans...

Oh, what grand schemes were schemed at the end of 2021. Twelve blog posts, twelve big things to focus on, twelve ways to improve myself, our house, and our bank account in 2022. The only thing I can say at the quarter point of the year is that I have managed to write at least one blog post each month, and that's something, right? If you saw my post from March, then you know life threw some curveballs our way, and my pantry isn't cleaned out or organized. In fact, if anything, it has gotten worse and more overwhelming. And while we've had some good news in April, it has also been a month of stuggles, with one child in particular, and weekends spent cleaning at my parent's house while my mom continued to recover from her fall and resulting fracture. 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. {Psalm 46:1}

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash

Sometimes the view of the road ahead is clear, and other times you can't see around the next bend. At times you are steering in the dark, and then suddenly a ray of light will issue forth and provide some much-needed guidance for the journey. I think the image above pretty much sums up my life at this stage - can't see what's coming next, mostly dark, but with the occasional God rays to remind me that He's still the author of the journey. 

In my "best laid plans" I intended to read 12 books this month. With all that is going on, there are many nights I don't even get to read to the kids anymore, so reading 12 books, whether for myself or to others, seems like a dream at the moment. But since I still want to aim for something - because in the midst of the craziness, I still feel the need for some normalcy and goal setting - I'm revising the April goal to reading 12 minutes a day. 

Are you in a season of life when finding 12 minutes in a day to do something like read for pleasure feels like a luxuary? Let me tell you, you are not alone my friend. If the last three-and-a-half months have taught me anything, it has been the importance of making time to be still with the Lord - not running around trying to purge 12 things (even though that's a nice stress relief too) or read 12 books or spend 12 minutes cleaning out a pantry bin. I don't have time for any of those things, if I'm being honest. Between parenting five kids and working a few hours each week and juggling homeschooling and field trips and aging parents...the hours in my day are rapidly dwindling. 

At the end of the day, sandwiched between bedtime routines of the youngest and oldest, there is just a smidgen of time to "be still" and listen for the Lord to speak. But He does. He always does. And I'm always thankful for those stolen moments, and look forward to the day when they aren't quite so stolen. Maybe you are too.

“Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted over the earth.” {Psalm 46:10}

Hang in there, Mamas...or daughters, sisters, friends...this too, shall pass, but the Word of the Lord will remain forever. Whatever else you do this month, make sure you're making time for the most important of all.  

January (Book Talk and Whole House Purge Update)

Here we are - the first month of 2022! And...it's the first post of the 12 (minimum) I've committed to writing this year. If you're short on time or there is too much, here's the "let me sum up" version:

BOOKS: Last year my one goal was to clean off/read through "The Stack" on my nightstand, but, despite reading 72 books in 2021, only a sliver of them came from The Stack, while the rest were re-reads, read aloud to the kids, or Kindle ebooks. I give myself grace with that though, and it just means that I will continue to give updates from The Stack this year as I work towards my 2022 Goodreads goal of 75 books! So far I've read (or re-read) A New Song (5 Stars), Mary Poppins in the Park (4 Stars), The Four-Story Mistake (4 Stars), and A Common Life: The Wedding Story (4.5 stars)...none of which came from The Stack. 😉

PURGE: If you've been following the Facebook page, then you've seen or read about our first two weeks of donation hauls heading out. I'm definitely meeting (and exceeding) my goal of 12 items a day. So far the most surprising purge has been the day I wore some Supergas that I just loved (so cute) and had worn for four years or so, but with recent back and foot pain (hello 40!), the heels of my feet were killing me by the end of the day, and so I came in, took them off, and put them straight into the donation bag. I am past the point in my life where I will sacrifice for cute shoes - especially when they're tennis shoes that are supposed to be comfortable. 

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

And now, for the "too much" version! Hello to those of you who want the full scoop on the purge. Let's dive right in! 

First off, can I just say that I cannot believe we are already halfway through the first month of 2022?? That's incredible to me. It also means that I need to get my rear in gear to get everyone through the second half of this school year, which means more lesson planning, more book reports, and more moments of panic when I realize how much remains. That being said, while the year was off to a challenging start, literally from minute #1 (long story, don't ask), it's also been a productive two weeks when it comes to the whole house purge.

I stopped counting how many items I was donating shortly after going through a kitchen cabinet early on and coming up with 75 items in one swipe. Needless to say, our home is just (embarrassingly) overly stuffed, and I'm tired of being overwhelmed by it. The plan was to work room by room, with an occasional pass through a cabinet or drawer if I happen to be there anyway, so I've pretty much been stuck in our bedroom for most of the month. And yes, I know it might be shocking to think that I could spend so much time in one room, but with seven people (five of them under the age of 17) in a 2,000 sq. ft. house, our bedroom (along with the laundry room) tends to become the catch-all for all the things that have no home, like medication for a hamster and broken doorstops. 

Some of the tips, tricks, and questions I've been using this time through include:

• Touch it once. If I'm walking out of the room and I see something that has been sitting there for ages, do something with it - take it where it needs to go, throw it away, file it, or stick it in the donation bag. 
• Give honest answers. I'm routinely asking myself now: 
• Do I use/wear it?
• When was the last time I used/wore it?
• If I didn't have it, would I miss it?
• Do I need it or just like it?
• If I like it, would I miss it if it were gone?
• Go with your gut. If I look at something and think, "that should go," don't second guess myself. I'm probably being more honest than if I took a lot of time to decide.
• Using black bags. This is something I heard the Minimal Mom say, and it makes sense. If you use black trashbags, you can't see what's inside...once it's entered the portal, it's gone. This worked really well for the kids.
• Donate quickly. I used to keep piles of donations in the basement or by the backdoor, like purgatory, just waiting to be donated. Instead, they just languished there for months (or sometimes years), collecting dust. This time, as soon as a bag or box is full, I put it in the back of my car. When the back is full (or once a week, whichever comes first), I drive to Goodwill and drop it off, which leaves little time for second guessing a donation.

If you're wondering what kind of things I'm ridding myself of, it's everything from pajamas I haven't worn in years (and probably never will again) to socks that I was keeping because the color is hard to find now (but I never wear, because the pants they matched no longer fit!). It's cute plates for various holidays that I've held onto so we could use them with the kids, only to realize that my life is too busy for cute plates and we use paper plates for the holidays. And Easter decorations, when I realized I don't like celebrating Easter with eggs and bunnies, because it means far more to me than that. It's movies I no longer find appropriate (or find time to watch), books I'll never read again, and returns I never got around to making. In short, nothing is safe. 

I'm happy with the progress, and, in full disclosure, don't expect the cleanout to be done by January 31st, but that's okay. The 12 in 22 Project, specifically the 12 items a day during this month, was the kick in the pants I needed to be a little more honest with myself, a little harder on the kids to purge, and a little less attached to the stuff that has been slowing taking over our home. And it feels good.

2022 started with a bang, and it feels like life has continued to throw one thing after another at us in the first 14 days of this year. From teenage drama to late night visits to not one, but two urgent care centers with two different family members - I told you it was crazy - having this steadiness of cleaning out has been therapeutic in many ways. I can't control much in this life (really nothing at all), but I can put things in a bag and make them go away, and some days that's just enough. 

What are you learning in 2022?

The Twelve in 2022

It started when I saw a post from Jules at Pancakes & French Fries, about her goal of writing 12 blog posts this year. As soon as I read it I thought, "That's just one post a month. That's totally doable. I'm in." But what started as the number of posts I was willing to commit to writing in 2022, soon morphed into a monthly self-challenge plan, with various ideas coming in rapid succession. I don't know about you, but I need deadlines and bite-sized goals to motivate myself. 

Photo by Thor Alvis on Unsplash

WINTER 2022

January: Removing 12 items a day from our house in the Great Whole-House Purge of 2022. The twelve would not include trash, because I think that's cheating...I could throw away twelve items of junk mail in a day and call it good, but that wouldn't actually get me where I want to be! So we're talking actual removal of gently used/unused items (to a box, bag, or sack) for donation, with trips to our local Goodwill on the calendar once a week (look for updates throughout the month on the Facebook page). 

February: I will move $12 from our checking to our savings every day for a month. Two drinks at Starbucks is almost $12, depending on the size you get, so if I cut out Starbucks and various treats and unplanned stops in a month, that should be completely doable. 

March: I will dedicate 12 minutes each day to cleaning out and organizing our pantry and additional food storage area. Timer in hand, trash bags at the ready, I would love to think that I'll be done with this in a week, but I've seen my pantry. Photos and updates will be posted to the Facebook page, for accountability. 

SPRING/SUMMER 2022

April: The number of books I'll aim to read in one month. It seems like a lot, considering the hecticness of my life, between working freelance and homeschooling, plus running kids to their various activities, but since I set a higher reading goal for myself in 2021, and exceeded it, why not aim higher still? Follow me on Goodreads for regular updates on this.

May: 12 minutes a day, five days a week, spent on lesson planning for the 22/23 school year. I have struggled with staying on top of lesson planning this year, having tried something new (which didn't work), so I'd like to get a jump start on the next school year, even as this one winds up.

June/July/August: The number of pounds I'd like to shed, healthily, this summer. I'll give myself three months for this one. That means cutting back on my snacks and finding a way to get active again. The last two years have not been good to me, or my waistline, and the time has come (the time being me turning 40 and my pants no longer fitting). 

FALL 2022 - TBD

I've yet to decide what 12-themed things I might focus on for the remaining months of the year, but I'm okay with that because if the last two years have taught us anything, it's that we have no idea what the future holds. By this time in the year, we could all be rolling around in giant plastic bubbles, or building bunkers to survive WWIII, or fighting off the next superbug that's taking over the world. After all, as James 4:13-15 reminds us...

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

If it's the Lord's will, I'll be back with my first post of the year next month. I hope to see you here, and in the meantime, I'd love to hear what your goal is for the first month of 2022 and/or for the entire year. 

Would you consider doing something like the 12-themed goals? If you're interested, I'd love the company and accountability on the journey. Join the conversation over on the Busy Nothings Facebook page, or chime in here in the comments. Are you ready?

Let's make 2022 the year that we "spur one another on" - to love, good deeds, and personal growth, 12 things at a time! 

Summer Stack Update (A What's On My Nightstand #WOMNS Post)

Hello all! As I mentioned in my last post (back in early May), I made the conscious choice earlier this year to spend less time online, specifically on social media, and have no regrets so far with that decision. Not only is there less drama in my life, but I have more time to do other things, like hang out with my kids and read books while they play in the pool. So far it has been a win-win. And even though I still work online, blogging got thrown into the "social media" pot so I haven't been on here as much either, but today I wanted to jump on to highlight one of the books I just finished up from The Stack. I got sidetracked by several ebooks on my Kindle (currently reading Junkyard Planet by Adam Minter - which has been really interesting), so my progress on the Nightstand Stack has slowed a bit. However, I'm still plugging away, and hoping to make the most of the next 6 months. I'll keep you posted. 😊

Today's review is of The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction, by Meghan Cox Gurdon. Now, as I said in my review on Goodreads, I did not need a book to tell me that it's important to read aloud to your kids. That's something I've known since my mother read to me as a child (thus turning me into a bookworm), and was solidified by my own experience of reading to our kids (I'll get into that a little bit more in a second). However, Gurdon does a fantastic job of laying out the research and presenting her reasons for why this is not only important for turning children into readers, but also in their physical development, mental well-being, and even bridging the divide between parents and children as kids move into and through the minefield of teenage angst. 

Our Reading Story

In 2016, the Hubs and I sat in a small, dark office of a children's home (a.k.a. orphanage/care facility) in Latin America, just minutes away from meeting five kids who would eventually take on our last name and become an intricate part of our lives as we all slowly learned what it meant to be a family. In these last few minutes before life, as we knew it, changed forever, I found myself asking the in-house psychologist what each of these kids enjoyed doing. I was trying to discover hobbies, interests, anything that might become common ground in a situation where nothing was common - from language to life experience. When I asked if anyone ever read to the kids, the psychologist began laughing and said, "Read? To these children? Ha! None of them have the attention span to handle that! I tried once or twice, but it doesn't work. You'll never get these kids to sit and listen. All they want to do is watch TV." 

Challenge accepted. 

To put it mildly, the adoption was difficult from start to finish. The oldest was 12, spoke no English, hated the world, and us most of all. I can't say that I blame her - everything in her life had been taken away, changed, or forced upon her, including learning a new language. The first night we were home, I went into the bedroom and found her madly studying Dr. Seuss's ABCs, trying to read the English, and making marks in pencil above words she thought she knew, writing the Spanish equivalent above or below "elephant" or "horse" - words that she could tell from the pictures. I still remember, a few weeks later, when she finally approached me and asked, in her thick Spanish accent, "What does zizzer mean?" I asked her to repeat the question, and then again, and finally said, "That's not a word, where did you hear it?" At which point, in complete frustration, she stomped over to one of the bookshelves in our home library and pulled out the ABC book, flipped to the Z page, and then I got it. Dr. Seuss's nonsense words were lost in translation, but a memory was made. 

I read that ABC book so often, to so many kids, that I unintentionally memorized it. Over and over we would read it together, as they learned new sounds, words, and—for some—even the alphabet. These days we've advanced quite a bit from Dr. Seuss (even though the youngest four, now ranging in age from almost 9 to a newly minted teenager, still request them from time to time during our nightly reading sessions). From Seuss to Tolkien (The Hobbit was a hit), their worlds continue to expand. There are times when the Hubs and I glance at one another during our nightly reading rituals (often lasting an hour or two, depending on the number of books we have going at the moment, and my level of wakefulness), and share a knowing look, as we hear the kids sucking in their breath at a particularly intense part of the book, or chuckling when Grandma Georgina complains again about Mr. Wonka and his antics. My favorite moments are when one of them suddenly gets the subtle meaning or understands a play on words, because it shows a deeper grasp of the English language. If only the psychologist could see them now...  

I think the most surprising part of The Enchanted Hour, for me, was when Gurdon touched on the power of reading to older children, and the way it creates a bridge during adolescence (see quote above, starting with "we blow it sometimes"). I honestly hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about it, but when I read this section, I instantaneously knew she had hit the mark. The oldest's transition to a small private school was made as easy as possible for her, including allowing her to read the Spanish translations of the classroom literature assignments while listening to the English audio on YouTube. But after her first six months the instructors moved her to the same books as her classmates, and she floundered a bit as she struggled to read along. And that's when I stepped in. 

Despite ongoing angst in our personal relationship, during those months, when we spent hours together each night while I read through The Giver, I Am Malala, The Secret Garden, and Sherlock Holmes' The Hound of the Baskervilles, it was more than just getting through a reading assignment. I found myself not only in the role of reader, but also that of history instructor (trying to explain 9/11 and the ensuing war to a child that came to us knowing nothing about anything outside of her birth country), culture and religious expert, and all around encyclopedia (try reading Sherlock Holmes sometime when you don't have a concept of what a carriage is!). Although she has not become a book lover like the other four, I still look back on that year of reading aloud for school, and realize that sometimes, it was the one thing that gave us common ground, even if just for an hour at night. 

With one year left until she leaves for college, we still don't have much in common. She's doing her life, and I'm raising her four siblings. It sometimes feels like I have two different families living in the same house. But the other night she happened to be home for dinner (a rare occurrence these days). And as we all sat around the dinner table, she looked at me and said, "Remember when we read Sherlock Holmes? I'd kind of like to hear more of that. Maybe you should read it to me." I tried not to fall off my chair or look too excited. After all, I knew it was just a fleeting moment, a passing idea, but it thrilled my bookworm heart that it even crossed her mind. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll find myself in her living room, reading Dr. Seuss's ABCs to her little boy or girl, my grandchild. And maybe, just maybe, she'll finally allow herself to sit and enjoy the comfort and connective power of reading aloud. Walls torn down, one book at a time.

Buy the Book

The Stack is Still Clearing (A What's On My Nightstand #WOMNS Post)

Hello friends and fellow bookworms! My last post on here went live on February 16th, and then it seems, just as in years past, despite starting out strong with my blogging goals, life took over. And while I continued to read through my list and follow my No Spend plans for February, I failed to blog about either topic (or anything else, for that matter). But since I had a moment this morning, I thought I'd at least give a quick update about what I've read since the last time I posted. 

As a reminder, here are the list of books that I started out with from the FRONT stack on my nightstand.

1. Boundaries with Teens - Read the Review
2. The Enchanted Hour
3. Agatha: The real life of Agatha Christie - Read the Review
4. Poirot and Me - Read Review Below 👇
5. Sugar Changed the World - Read the Review
6. To the Land of Long Lost Friends - Read the Review
7. Is God anti-gay?
8. The Girls of Atomic City - Read Review Below 👇
9. How to Raise an Elephant
10. Dear Mrs. Bird - Read Review Below 👇
11. The Feather Thief
12. SoulCare
13. Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs
14. What She Ate
15. Hank & Jim
16. Don't Overthink It
17. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the only one I've read before, but not this version)
18. The Quotable Tozer
19. 7 Men

Over the last couple of months, in addition to reading the official books from my stack (which I'll get to in a minute), and completing Souvenir on my Kindle (you can read my review of it on Goodreads), I also read the following books to the kids: 

• Exploring According to Og the Frog - Read my Goodreads Review
• Haffertee's First Easter - Read my Goodreads Review
• Unbroken (Adapted for Young Adults) - Read my Goodreads Review
• The Hobbit (Illustrated by Michael Hague) - Read my Goodreads Review
• Elisabeth Elliot: Do the Next Thing - Read my Goodreads Review
• Where Is the Colosseum? - Read my Goodreads Review
• Operation Christmas Child: A Story of Simple Gifts - Read my Goodreads Review
• Adoniram Judson: Danger on the Streets of Gold - Read my Goodreads Review

So as you can see, I haven't been lagging on my reading for 2021, they just haven't all been part of my official stack that I'm still working through for the year. But if you're curious about the ones that I have marked off of the list, here's a brief rundown.

👍Poirot and Me by David Suchet has definitely been one of the more enjoyable books from my stack in 2021. As an avid fan of Agatha Christie since I was in junior high, with Poirot as my favorite sleuth, it should come as no surprise that I was also a fan of the British television show. 

Who better to write a book about the show and this lovable Belgian detective than the man who played him for more than two decades? David Suchet threw himself into this role, 110%, and his love for the fictional character comes through in his writing. I'm not even sure Christie herself liked Poirot as much Suchet did and does.

If you are a fan of the books or the show, this is a must read. Two thumbs up from me, and a big thanks to my sweet Hubs for his placement of this under our Christmas tree.

👎Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce. I had high expectations for this book, based on the reviews that I had read on Goodreads. However, once I dug in, I found that I had a hard time getting into the story. I wanted to like the characters, I wanted to like the plot line, but I found that it dragged a bit, and I ended up just wanting the book to be done. 

That being said, I now see that it is planned out to be a series of books, and since the story took a bit of an unexpected upturn at the end, I might be willing to give book #2 a try, if I ever run out of books from my stack to read. The likelihood of that is slim to none, but there's always a chance (especially if I stumble across a used copy of it at some point in time). 

If you have read this book and liked it, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan. Last year I had read her book about the Biltmore House (see my review), and felt that the idea was strong, but the writing could have used some work (and a good editor). Even so, when I saw that she had written a book about the women of Oak Ridge during WWII, it piqued my interest and I went about getting a copy for my stack.

The good news is that it gets a thumbs up 👍 from me. As with The Last Castle (her book on the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC), Oak Ridge is just down the road from me (the opposite direction of Asheville) and contains a fascinating, and often overlooked, part of history. 

Although I was aware that Oak Ridge played a role in the creation of the atomic bomb that eventually brought an end to WWII, I was unaware of the extent of the secrecy surrounding the work and workers during the dark days of the war. This book makes me want to road trip down there one of these days and see what remains of that history before it's completely gone.

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That's what's been going on with my stack of 2021 books. I'll do my best to report in a little more regularly going forward, but...with five kids and homeschooling and working freelance jobs and summer coming...I'm making no promises. 😄

👉 If you haven't already connected with me on Goodreads, I recommend following along there, as I do write reviews as soon as I complete whatever book I'm reading at the moment.

What have YOU been reading?

News from The (Kid's) Stack

Hello fellow bookworms and casual readers! The news this week is slim, in that I'm still working my way through several of the books from my stack (and e-reader), but I did manage to finish one of the books I've been reading with the kids, so that will be the focus of today's post. If you don't know who Tony Evans is, keep reading. If you work with kids in any way (parent, teacher, grandparent, church leader, etc.), keep reading. If you've been looking for a way to explain why Ephesians 6 is important, keep reading. If you don't fit into any of those categories, but you'd like to understand more about the armor of God, keep reading! 

Today's review from the (kid's) stack covers A Kid's Guide to the Armor of God by Dr. Tony Evans. I first heard Dr. Evans when I was a freshman at college, up in prim and proper New England. I usually sat in the balcony for chapel, and I will never forget his voice carrying up to the rafters as he passionately spoke about how the "skinny white boy you see painted in pictures, was not the same Jesus who overturned the money tables in the temple and called people a 'brood of vipers'..." And we all jumped when he slammed his hand down on the podium and shouted, "NO! That's not MY Jesus! MY Jesus calmed the storm with a word! MY Jesus kicked the money changers out of His Father's house! MY Jesus isn't someone who's afraid of His own shadow!" Let me just say that it was a memorable chapel, and I loved every minute of it! 

I can't remember exactly when I picked up his Armor of God book for kids, but I believe it might have been on special during an Amazon Prime day, a few summers back. I recognized his name, and even though I knew the kids weren't ready for all of those concepts yet, I thought I might as well pick it up and put it on the shelf for the day that they were. This past fall, one of our girls was asking me about the armor of God and what that meant, and I immediately thought about Tony's book, still stuffed in a drawer in our library, waiting for the right time to emerge. I sensed that the time was coming, but then Christmas was upon us and all of our Christmas tales took the place of the usual nightly reading, so it would have to wait. But when January rolled around and things got back to normal, I added Dr. Evans book to our reading rotation, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect as our pastor announced that we would be working through the book of Ephesians this year. Well there you go!

A Kid's Guide to the Armor of God is a basic overview of the armor, as described in Ephesians 6:10-18, but simplified. Honestly, if you're an adult who isn't sure how it all works together, or what it even means, or if you know a new Christian who needs a basic overview, this is a good book to get you going, written on a level that makes it palatable, even to those who don't have a full understanding of all the "Christianese" that is often thrown around in other books. Our kids (ages 8-12) particularly liked the questions that are asked throughout the book, because it made them think through what we had just read, and they were often a catalyst for further, deeper, theological discussions. Two thumbs up from this parent!  

Also in this series (although I haven't read them yet, but plan to):

A Kid's Guide to the Power of Words

A Kid's Guide to the Names of God

A Kid's Guide to the Names of Jesus

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YOUR TURN! 

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What have YOU been reading this week?

Notes from The Stack (A "What's On My Night Stand" #WOMNS Post)

This week in the update from The Stack, we feature one book from the actual stack, and one from my virtual shelves, as I work my way through Kindle downloads as well. I resisted ebooks for years, and even after purchasing an actual Kindle several years ago, I never used it for reading books, just for watching BritBox through Amazon Prime. But when the kids came along, I suddenly found myself sitting in car lines, medical offices, and on soccer sidelines, with plenty of time on my hands and no book at the ready. And that's when the Kindle app on my phone became my go to option for all those minutes of unanticipated reading time. 

Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

These days, I still rely on the phone app for reading ebooks, and my Kindle is still primarily used for music and shows, but I've come to recognize there are benefits to the ebook, specifically price, especially when it's a book I'm not sure I'll want to ever read again, and Amazon loves to throw "$2 digital credits" my way when I opt for a slower shipping time on regular purchases. Many of the books I've got waiting in my Kindle lineup I got for free or pennies on the dollar, which is definitely a price I can get behind! The one downside I've found is that I cannot loan books when I find one I like, and before you tell me that you can, yes, I know. Technically there is a way to do it, but Amazon has definitely NOT made it user friendly! And it will never be the same as pulling a paperback off my shelf and handing it to a friend or family member, after telling them all about how I loved it and they would too. 

Whatever your preference, paperback or ebook, I've got you covered with both today! And my recent Kindle read happens to currently (as of the time of this writing, the first week of February 2021) be available for FREE with Amazon Prime (although it's only getting two stars from me, so do with that what you will). 

Book number one today, the aforementioned freebie on Kindle, is The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking (who, you may recall, also wrote The Little Book of Hygge). Now, considering my take on his first book (read the review if you don't remember), you might be surprised to see him in my Stack again, ebook or not. The key to this one is the FREE aspect, mentioned above. If it's free, I'll occasionally give it a shot, which is what happened in this case. 

Reviewed in a sentence: it's a profanity-laced love letter to Denmark and socialism. 

A slightly longer review of it would include the following positives: I appreciated his take on looking for ways to show kindness to strangers (something that I can get behind as a Christian), and I've even been pondering the idea of planting a neighborhood garden in our side yard this spring, as a way to develop and build community. I also loved that little ol' Knoxville, Tennessee (up in my neck of the woods, as we'd say around here) hit the top of the list in U.S. cities where citizens would go out of their way to help someone they didn't know. But outside of that, I couldn't get over his use of profanity and his deeply held views that socialism is the key to Utopia. Two stars...but if you want to read it and decide for yourself...it's free right now if you have Amazon Prime, so that's right up there in the Utopian world for bookworms. 

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Now the second book of the week came directly off The Stack from my nightstand, and was just one of those "easy read" books that I was looking forward to diving into, and it didn't disappoint. To the Land of Long Lost Friends took me right back to the sunny skies of Botswana, and recalled memories of places I haven't thought of since we lived there (briefly), some 16 years ago. You can't go wrong (most of the time) with the adventures of the Number 1 ladies and their assistant detective in training, Charlie. Poor Charlie, who is always so picked on and never seems to catch a break...got the happy ending in this book, and I couldn't have been happier about that. 

Photo by C.G. Koens, Botswana, Africa

And that's what I've been reading since last week, in addition to continuing to work through Dear Mrs. Bird (which I'm a bit stuck on, as I don't like the direction it's heading), Poirot and Me (currently $3.99 on Kindle, if you're interested in giving it a try), and I just started The Girls of Atomic City, which has been fascinating so far, and I look forward to digging into that more in the coming weeks. On my Kindle, I'm taking a break from Wiking (though I still have one book from him left on my virtual shelf) and diving into Souvenir, which has been on my wish list for a while as a paperback, but I finally purchased the ebook version for free, thanks to all those lovely Amazon credits I mentioned earlier. And so on we go...traveling the world through books. No mask required. 

What's on YOUR nightstand?

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And what would YOU add to my "must read" list?  

Updates from "The Stack" (What's On My Nightstand - #WOMNS)

Another week, another two books down from The Stack! My nightstand is clearing off faster than I expected (of course, having two hours, two days a week, to read in the car is pretty helpful for that - thanks to a new taekwondo schedule for the four kids). But never fear, I've still got some big books to come, and my nightstand happens to be a 4' cabinet, a space that holds more books than I can read in a year...or two, so there will be no shortage of books for the reading goals of 2021! 

The books this week were all about surprises. Neither was what I was expecting, and both were a result of me not reading the description closely enough (or the reviews, as it turns out in the case of the first book). However, I still learned things from both, and will be passing them along to others in my life who are interested in giving them a try. Speaking of giving away...stay tuned, because even though I'm not doing it this week, in future reviews, if I think a book will be a one-time read for me, I'll be offering my copy to one lucky reader who leaves a comment, so keep your eyes open for those giveaways going forward! 

Book #1 this week is Sugar Change the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos. This past summer, our oldest was taking an online high school English class and the teacher was talking about this book. Since I'd never heard of it, I looked it up on Amazon and ended up buying a copy, because it sounded interesting. When the book arrived, I was surprised by the "coffee table" look of it, and thought perhaps I'd ordered the wrong thing. But, as it turns out, I did not...I just didn't catch that it was written for teachers, to be used as part of a classroom curriculum. 

Building off of the experience and history of each of the authors families, Aronson and Budhos follow the trail of sweetness from England through the Americans, from France to Haiti, touching on the enslavement of plantation workers, brought from Africa, to the indentured field hands that were tricked into coming from India. The one thing I can say about this that I appreciated, was the broad overview of slavery around the world. So often, especially in the United States, it seems that we get stuck with being the only country with a history of slavery, but as this book demonstrates, from Brazil to the Caribbean islands, the sad history of slavery is widespread, with greed always being at the core, and not limited to the American south.

The authors did a fair job of following the historical trail of a much sought after sweet, in the form of honey and then sugar cane, and came full circle as the invention of beet sugar began to quell the need for sugar cane and thus, the employment and use of indentured servants and slaves. If you're a teacher, they even have an entire section after the conclusion of the book, on how you can tie this into your lessons, promoting student participation. For that reason, this isn't really a book that I would say, "Oh yes, it's a must read!" I did learn some interesting facts about sugar (although I don't know that I ever needed to know that much about it), and also broadened my view of the world of slavery, outside of the United States, but it's a library read at best. I'm personally giving my copy to a teacher, because that's really who was in the minds of the authors when they wrote it. 

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The second book from my stack this week was yet another surprise. I'd included Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie on my Christmas wish list, after seeing it pop up on someone's Goodreads suggested reading list. My sweet hubs dutifully purchased and wrapped it, and I was stoked when I found it under the tree. Except then I opened it, and got a shock (which was totally my fault), because somehow I failed to see in the description that it was an illustrated, graphic biography. In other words, it was basically the comic book telling of her life. Let's just say that was not what I was expecting. At. All.

Nevertheless, I finally dove into it this last week and read it in an evening. While I am not a fan of the comic book format, I did chuckle over the inclusion of Christie's sleuths, who would, from time to time, pop into the story and torment their creator. I couldn't help but laugh when Christie, thinking about her famous (and apparently annoying) creation, Hercule Poirot, quipped, "If Hercule had his way, all scones would be square." The queen of mystery had a somewhat sad life, in reality, with her father passing away when she was just 11 years old, her first husband (he of the famous Christie name) leaving her for another woman, the death of a series of family members, and even the philandering eyes of husband #2. However, through it all, she seemed to find enjoyment in her writing, her travels, and her time spent on archaeological digs. 

If you enjoy Christie's work as a mystery author, you might also enjoy this colorful telling of her life's story. However, although I haven't read them (yet), I think I will prefer her own autobiographical works, Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir, and An Autobiography. Those aren't currently on the top of my stack, though, so you'll have to wait on those reviews.

What about you? 

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What's the best find out of YOUR stack this week?

Update from "The Stack" (What's On My Nightstand)

This opening paragraph could also be titled, "Reading Update OR How Many Links Can I Fit in One Paragraph?" But as it happens, I'm plugging right along on my Goodreads goal for the year (as I type this I'm at 10 out of 65 books, but that may be higher by the time this publishes on Friday). If you missed the post I wrote about children's books I've read so far, you can find it here. In the meantime, I've finished two books on Kindle (reviewed here and here), and earlier this week I wrapped up the first paperback from my bedside stack, Boundaries with Teens.

As a side note, I wanted to have someone design a really cute little watercolor of me, snuggled up with a book and a mug of something warm, to use with these Nightstand posts, but since that was going to cost an arm and a leg, and my blog makes no money for me, and the only person who clicks the like button on any of my posts is my husband...I didn't think it was worth losing a couple of appendages. So for the time being, you're stuck with Bitmoji me (and if you don't have Bitmoji, they make life—and text messages—a lot more fun, so you should check them out in the App store, it's free). But back to the book!

The book on the top of my stack when I took the picture earlier this month just happened to be Boundaries with Teens: When to Say Yes, How to Say No by John Townsend. Well, it didn't just "happen" to be on the top of the stack...it was there because I'd been reading it to try to figure out what was "normal" for my teenager and what I should be overreacting responding to, rationally. I was about halfway through the book before Christmas, when I found myself in conversation with a friend who was sharing some of the things she was going through with her teens. After listening for a little while, I paused the conversation, went to our bedroom, grabbed the book off my nightstand, came back out to where she was, and handed it to her. She needed it more than I did. I then had to take a break from that book (since I no longer had it), while I waited for another used copy to arrive, after Christmas.

I finally got around to finishing it this week, and my thoughts on it go something like this...

If nothing more, this book was an encouragement that I am not crazy, as I parent a teen whose mood changes from moment to moment. There were many times when I was nodding my head in agreement, and having "Yes! I'm not the only one," moments while reading, which, especially in the midst of hard moments, is sometimes all you need as a parent, especially when it's your first teen rodeo. But it also had some practical suggestions, that even though some of them sounded stupid (to me) on paper, when I found myself in situations where I could try applying them...it actually changed the tone of our conversations and made me look differently at the way she was reacting in the moment. And changing my viewpoint meant that I could let it—whatever it was at the moment—roll off a little bit easier.

Bottom line: It's a good book for first-time parents of a teenager to read, if for no other reason than to help you know what behavior isn't totally out of the norm, especially if you—like me—were a totally different type of teen than the one you find yourself raising. The one thing I would change would be for the author to update it. It was written in 2006, and a LOT has changed in the last 15 years, including the overwhelm of social media and the prevalence of smart phones. It would be really helpful to have a chapter on both of those, as "taking away computer time" is a bit archaic these days.

Thoughts? Opinions? Have you read it? And more importantly...

What's on YOUR nightstand these days?