I Heart Books

I recently had to pack my bedside book stack into boxes so my husband and I could perform the magic trick of converting our not-so-big bedroom into two really small bedrooms, for our growing children.We have moved ourselves into the room that our kids have shared for nine years, and it looks pretty and tidy and like someone else’s house--nothing like moving to get things cleaned up! Fortunately all we had to do was move rooms, not our entire house. (Not much painting and drawing happening while turning the house inside out.)

So while packing, I marveled at my bedside book stack (those recently read or in progress). Every book went in the “KEEP!!” box. I cannot imagine parting with any of them. Snippets of each of them play in my imagination at the oddest times of the day or night, and every single one has moved me, even caused me to weep. (Well, except maybe Indesign for Dummies. That one seems to move right through me. But maybe it has caused me to weep, come to think of it.)

Many of these books are considered children’s books (middle grade or young adult) but are remarkably deep and powerful, often troubling, always poetic—not for the faint of heart. Two of the books about whales are non-fiction. I am usually an escapist, and prefer fiction, but whales are magical, and there is plenty of escapism there. And two of the books are illustrated memoir (David Small’s and John Burningham’s) but by author/illustrator’s with phenomenal imaginations, so plenty of escapism.

So with no attempt at summary or synopsis, but with only the highest recommendation, I present to you My Bedside Book Stack:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volumes I and II, by M.T. Anderson (YA)

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (MG)

John Burningham by John Burningham (Memoir)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (YA)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (YA)

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech (YA)

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech (MG)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (MG)

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (YA)

Stitches by David Small (Illustrated Memoir)

Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli (MG)

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (YA)

The Book Thief by Martin Zusak (YA)

Moby Dick by Herman Mellville (you know what this is)

The Whale by Philip Hoare (Non-Fiction)

Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound by David Rothenburg (Non-fiction)

Indesign for Dummies by Galen Gruman (Self-help)

I hope you get a chance to read one or two of these. And if you have, tell me what you think.