Books on the Nightstand Podcast, Episode #26: Open That Book!

Mar 11

Books on the Nightstand Podcast, Episode #26: Open That Book!

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Books on the Nightstand, Episode 26 (18:58)

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Why do we buy a book that we really want to read, and then keep it on the shelf, unread, sometimes for years? We ask ourselves that question in segment one.

Then, in celebration of February’s Open That Bottle night. But instead of opening a bottle (of wine), we are opening books that we have saved for some special occasion. The occasion is now. Ann finally reads Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees, and Michael dives into The Book Thief, asking himself why he waited so long to read this fantastic book.

Speaking of The Book Thief, there’s a great video of the author, Marcus Zusak, from a Good Morning America appearance. We can’t embed the video in this post, but if you click on the video image, below, it will take you to the link where you can watch it.

As always, we have two books we can’t wait for you to read: The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys and The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf. Both are great reads, and we hope you enjoy them!photo credit:Jay Heaviside

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, HarperCollins trade paperback
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, Knopf Books for Young Readers
The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys, Delacorte Press hardcover

The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire, and the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf, Knopf hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

Graceann

Thank you thank you thank you for discussing The Book Thief – I found it life-changing. The top read of my year so far, and like you, I ran out of space to write down my favorite quotes by page 10. Brilliant.
Graceann

Thank you thank you thank you for discussing The Book Thief – I found it life-changing. The top read of my year so far, and like you, I ran out of space to write down my favorite quotes by page 10. Brilliant.
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Michael

Thanks for the comments Graceann! I thought it was life-changing too and was going to say that on the podcast, but then I remembered back to the post I wrote about over-hyping books and one of the examples I used was “This book will change your life!”
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Michael

Thanks for the comments Graceann! I thought it was life-changing too and was going to say that on the podcast, but then I remembered back to the post I wrote about over-hyping books and one of the examples I used was “This book will change your life!”
Graceann

Oh I know – I don’t know whether it will change anyone *else’s* life, but it changed mine. In the end, we can only speak for ourselves in any event. I step carefully away from words like “best” or even “good.” I prefer to use “I” statements to tell how a book affected me personally, because anyone else’s mileage may (and almost always will) vary.
Graceann

Oh I know – I don’t know whether it will change anyone *else’s* life, but it changed mine. In the end, we can only speak for ourselves in any event. I step carefully away from words like “best” or even “good.” I prefer to use “I” statements to tell how a book affected me personally, because anyone else’s mileage may (and almost always will) vary.
http://theladypastor.blogspot.com Emily

I really enjoyed this episode! I’m adding so many fabulous books to my “TO READ” Goodreads list everytime I listen. Thank you for your podcast. It is a blessing and I hope it continues to grow and grow. I always look forward to downloading it and listening to it while I process & withdraw books at the seminary library where I work. THANK YOU!
http://theladypastor.blogspot.com Emily

I really enjoyed this episode! I’m adding so many fabulous books to my “TO READ” Goodreads list everytime I listen. Thank you for your podcast. It is a blessing and I hope it continues to grow and grow. I always look forward to downloading it and listening to it while I process & withdraw books at the seminary library where I work. THANK YOU!
Merry Patrick

Do I recall this last podcast, you both did “re-cap” the books you reviewed? Hooray – I always get so lost in your wonderful insightful comments that when you get to the end of all that information I ask myself, what was the name of that book?….and this time you mentioned all titles at the end. Thank you, it just pulls it all together. Keep up the good work!
Merry Patrick

Do I recall this last podcast, you both did “re-cap” the books you reviewed? Hooray – I always get so lost in your wonderful insightful comments that when you get to the end of all that information I ask myself, what was the name of that book?….and this time you mentioned all titles at the end. Thank you, it just pulls it all together. Keep up the good work!
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

Merry, yes! One of our listeners made that request on our Facebook group, so we instituted that practice 2 episodes ago. So I was happy when you brought it up, too, knowing that it is valuable. Not sure why we never thought of it before!

Thanks!

Ann
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com Ann Kingman

Merry, yes! One of our listeners made that request on our Facebook group, so we instituted that practice 2 episodes ago. So I was happy when you brought it up, too, knowing that it is valuable. Not sure why we never thought of it before!

Thanks!

Ann