While checking out a dozen titles, the librarian said, “What a variety!” I take pride in my eclectic reading habits. 

But after examining the fresh stack on my nightstand, every title fell into familiar genres—travel, memoir, women’s fiction, young adult, and literary works.

Travel stories keep me entertained when I’m stuck at home. Memoirs provide a peek into the lives of strangers. Women and family fiction are the genres I write. Young adult novels makes me feel young-ish again. Literary reads let me get lost in beautiful prose. I collect nine-dollar words like ersatz, soupçon, and alacrity. 

Still, I’m not as broadminded as I believed.

I rarely take out books on sports. I only read sci-fi or fantasy when critiquing a fellow writer’s manuscript. (Check out Contraptioneer and Lure of the Grove!) Coming-of-age and dystopian stories are not my first pick.

I yawn just thinking about Roman or Greek empires. If the book features an animal, I usually pass. 

That said, I suddenly remember loving Wallace by Jim Gorant. A competitive Frisbee-playing pit bull wins the hearts of people biased against the breed. Traveller is another favorite. The story is told through the eyes of Robert E. Lee’s battle horse. The same author, Richard Adams, also anthropomorphized rabbits in the memorable Watership Down. Lois Lowry’s dystopian saga, The Giver, has stayed with me ever since I read it in 1994. And I have a soft spot for ALL children’s literature.

After my mom died, this title was on her nightstand. I’ll never know if she bought or borrowed it. Did she read it?

The nightstand is just one landing place for books.

Devotionals and bibles sit on a separate table. Hundreds of titles are stored in Kindle and iBook apps. The Chirp app is my go-to for audio. Books I use for research are piled high on my writing desk.

Beach reads are saved for the beach or backyard.😎

My bookshelves are filled with old National Geographics, textbooks on art and artists, and homeschooling reference materials. Just this morning, I looked up ‘the distribution of instruments in a modern orchestra’ in the Golden Encyclopedia of Music.

My reading tastes might be more diverse than I thought.

What’s on your nightstand?