nightstand notes/ wanna view some reviews?

Nonfiction is killing my reading. Last months' books- you know, the ones that I had every intention of finishing last month- are still sitting on my shelf with bookmarks intact. Well, one of them needed to be returned to the library, so I bought a copy from Amazon and waited for it to be shipped. It arrived, and then sat unopened again on my shelf.

I've had to do a little rearranging, since these nonfiction books are really cramping my reading style. I needed a break, so I snuck in a quick novel, in the meantime. For now, I'm going to keep trucking with one of the nonfiction titles, but the other is going to have a little break. Here's what else I've got going on:

*When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica S. Perl -- JAM and I are reading this together, and we've only got a couple chapters left. We both have already expressed our enthusiasm for this delightful and thoughtful middle grade novel. I'm anxious to find out how it ends! We're going to have a giveaway and my full review of this one later this week on 5M4B.

*Everything Beautiful Began After Simon Van Booy -- I haven't yet started this one because I actually forgot to check on its approval on NetGalley. I loaded it up on my Sony eReader last night, and I'm hoping to sneak in some reading time today during naptime. I don't know much about this except that the description called to me-- the summer in Athens setting, the potential for new relationships among the characters, and the reviews raving about the author's beautiful way with words. Looking forward to this one.

*Late, Lost and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning by Joyce Cooper-Kahn, PhD and Laurie Dietzel, PhD -- Yes, I know, more nonfiction. But this is important reading this summer, as we need to learn better ways to help JAM as he prepares to go into sixth grade in the fall. For JAM, his ADHD involves executive functioning challenges, especially in areas like organization, planning and decision making, which is making school even harder as he gets older.

Bibliophiles rejoice! You can take a peek at lots of other readers' bookshelves over on 5 Minutes for Books today on our What's on Your Nightstand? community round-up. Link up with us, or chat along in the comments.


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If you're so inclined, you can check out my reviews from the past few weeks:

*The Ninth Wife -- a perfect summertime novel, with a title that is definitely eye-catching!

*The Art of Roughhousing -- for parents who love to play physical games with their kids... and maybe even more so for parents who don't!

*A Butterfly is Patient -- beautiful new picture book full of incredible butterflies and a lyrical text

*S'Mother -- thirty-plus years of letters sent to the author from his mom makes for a funny memoirish type book

*Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie -- a lovely book for young independent readers

*Where's My Wand? -- my top pick of all this time around, a fabulously funny memoir/book of essays


In desperate need of catching up on my reading,