Four Books in Bed with Me

Kasey Cox

The best part about reading outside of school is that you don’t have to finish a book in order to do a book report! (My apologies and sympathies to students who head back to school assignments this week.) Even in writing a book review column for our dear Gazette, I’ll admit that it’s helpful to have finished the book(s) under discussion, but not always necessary. This week is a case in point.

Most bibliophiles I know have a pile of books waiting on their nightstand, as well as a few floating around the house – next to the Lazy-Boy, in the bathroom near tub or toilet, on a counter in the kitchen. For me, this is in part a preventative measure, so I don’t have to resort to reading the cereal box while waiting for the kettle to whistle. The rest of the revolving stack is analgesic. I might need something quick and satisfying, that I can finish in the ten minutes in bed before sleep takes me; other times I’m looking for a story I can really sink my teeth into, an absorbing tale that takes me away like Calgon did in commercials of the 1980’s. Alternatively, I almost always have one or two self-improvement, informational, do-it-better kind of books around. I may never actually finish these texts, but having them nearby makes me feel productive and well-intentioned.

I have an especially interesting pile right now, four books which I truly am sampling equally from. That many at once is usually too many, but it’s such a fun combination, I’m excited to share. Caveat lector, any one of these books could easily merit a future book review all its own, or may provide a strong start but an insipid ending.

The book that’s been next to my sleeping head nearly a year is “How To Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It,” by Patricia Love (yes, that’s really her legal, given surname) and Steven Stosny. Yes, there are books on communication between the sexes and improving your marriage ad infinitum, ad nauseum, but I gotta tell you, this runs circles around Dr. Phil or John Gray (“Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”). My only criticism is that it’s a little heavy-handed on the observation of gender differences in processing fear or shame, but my perception may be a little skewed, since I’ll let several weeks go by without picking up the book again, and then I have to re-read the first chapter.

The rest are more recent acquisitions. When I saw the previews for “Stardust”, I was intrigued by the movie, but my immediate comment to Kevin was a wish that it had been a book first. Luckily, Kevin is a Neil Gaiman fan, and so he hooked me up. I’ve waited a few weeks since the Harry Potter release, because I wanted to enjoy “Stardust” without any Deathly Hallows hangover. Now Gaiman’s book is a welcomed, much-anticipated treat. Indeed, “Stardust” is a journey into Faerie, the land that the Brits still spin stories about, but we Americans water down with tame Disney replacements. “Stardust” takes the reader into the enthralling and bewitching realm of Faerie, that place of Queen Mab, the Brothers Grimm, and Edmund Spenser’s Elizabethan epic.

A BookSense newsletter brought to my attention editor Jenni Ferrari-Adler’s new collection, “Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant.” I thought it would be a cookbook, but haven’t been disappointed to discover an anthology of essays about the amusing concoctions the contributors eat when they don’t need to worry about anyone else. I read one essay; I laugh; I get some great ideas for meals; I put the book down and pick up another until the next time I’m in the mood for something short and sweet.

I’m balancing “Eggplant” with a book on being careful with money, because my love of exotic foods gets me in trouble grocery shopping. A friend recommended “America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money”, and now I see why. Like books on communication for couples, there are too many books on learning to budget, often written by people trying to make a fast buck on folks who are grasping at straws to handle their finances. I love “America’s Cheapest Family” because it’s easy-to-follow, practical, and the authors live the lifestyle they describe.

Author Joan Didion, most recently celebrated for her memoir “The Year of Magical Thinking”, is quoted exulting her passion for books. “When I’m near to finishing a good book,” she said, “I damn near have to sleep with it.” I grew up with a bookshelf that doubled as the headboard for my bed. Have I learned by osmosis while sleeping? With books, anything is possible.

Questions, comments, the title of the book that’s leaving wrinkles on your face at night, email Kasey at frommyshelf@epix.net