What's on my Nightstand?

Lacy Ellinwood
Lead Library Consultant

 

The leaves have fallen, the temperatures are dropping, and the days are getting darker; that means it’s time to hunker down with a good book. In my case, there is no shortage of books that have accumulated on my nightstand over the past year. I thought I would confess to YOU and only YOU what I lovingly curated from my chosen book peddlers over 2021 but haven’t opened…YET. These are not book reviews. I will share why I chose these titles and what has kept me from diving into these books I was once so excited to acquire.

Edward Weston: His Life from Ben Maddow, published by Aperture in 2005. 

Before becoming an employee at the Mississippi Library Commission, I was working on a second master’s degree in humanities with a focus on film theory and art history, specifically in the medium of photography. I had studied the work of Weston and his partner Margrethe Mather and was looking to gain further insights into his work that might illuminate the concept of “the female gaze” in the art of Mather and other photographers. Aperture is a known publisher for high-quality materials on photography, so I naturally picked up the title when it was suggested by Thrift books. DARN YOU RECOMMENDED READS RIBBON! Due to the academic nature of the purchase, it has sat unread underneath my collagen face cream for nearly a year. My book shame has been bubbling, but I know that it will eventually be a good investment when I find that elusive thing called “time” to get back into my research interests.

The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine: How I Spent a Year in the American Wild to Re-create a Feast from the Classic Recipes of French Master Chef Auguste Escoffier, by Steven Rinella. 

We all picked up watching, reading, and listening habits during the pandemic. One of my habits was consuming all content created by Meateater and listening to interviews from conservationist and writer Steven Rinella. You can find his show on Netflix and his podcast on Spotify. The man is fascinating, and while I do not encounter Alaskan brown bears regularly, or hunt and forage wild game, I am like most librarians and have a fascination for knowledge. I have learned a lot of about feral hog populations and that the fat pockets behind the eyes of a caribou taste like raw pizza dough. Thanks, Steven Rinella! This title is one of my most recent book purchases and my goal is to take it on an upcoming trip to my hometown of Buffalo, NY. I have a feeling I might get hungry on the plane while reading.

An Echo in the Bone, by Diana Gabaldon.

This is the seventh book in the Outlander series of novels. I have been slogging my way through this series for the past four or five years. What started with a discard at a library book sale has developed into a long-term relationship with Claire and Jaime. I fall in love with one book and then 1200 pages later need to take a breather. It’s an on again off again sort of thing. I was in the breather phase with the series, but the pandemic was in full force and I thought I needed more reading material. A librarian never has enough reading choices, am I right? As I write this blog post I have started reading this book and it has acquired the dubious coffee mug stains of weekend leisure reading. While I appreciate the Starz television series of the books, there is much richer content to be had in these lush novels. Currently there are nine books in this series…looks like I might have some more titles to add to my nightstand for 2022.

My hope is that this confession relieves some of the anxiety you may have about your pile of best book friends waiting on your nightstand. Whenever you are ready, they are there to occupy the time of the brooding winter months or to break up a streaming binge session. I implore you to read what you love, when you love it, and know that there is a book for every reader.