What's On Your Nightstand - February

Time again for Nightstand! I haven't participated in a few months but, as a result, I kind of lost track of my reading goals near the end of January and wandered about a bit listlessly.  So I'll kickstart my February by jumping back into my favorite meme hosted by 5 Minutes for Books.

This year I have purposed to read more of the books on my shelf, followed by books I've purchased for my own reading pleasure, than books for review. So far, so good. I've only accepted a handful (literally - I can count them on one hand!) of review titles and I'm not interested in any of them taking over my entire reading life. I am reveling in the freedom to read whatever I like whenever the fancy strikes (no deadlines/timelines/other requirements). Reading freedom is an amazing thing (I had forgotten about...). The downside is that once I'm done with one book I'm more apt to wander about wondering what to read, exactly, because the entire reading world is open to me at once. (That can be a little deliriously overwhelming.)

Note: I am not saying that I am no longer accepting review titles but I am glorying in the ability to choose my reads book by beautiful book! I'm just becoming way more picky about what I will accept.

That explained, here is what I'm thinking I'll read this coming month:

I'm finishing up re-reading Magic for Marigold (which, by the way, is being republished in April 2014) in conjunction with the Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge which I host here every January. I'll have it finished by the end of the week.

It's nice to squeeze one more Montgomery into the month.

There was also some pleasure taken in throwing an Anne of Green Gables tea party (locally) as part of this reading challenge. I love starting off a new reading year with Montgomery and I love concluding it with friends!

I will be re-reading Little House on the Prairie aloud to my kids this coming month. We've already read this title and, while I was tempted to move on to another title in this series, I don't think a re-read will hurt them. We'll be reading this one along with the Reading to Know Classic Book Club and also to participate in Barbara's Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge which she hosts over at Stray Thoughts.

I picked up a copy of John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ which I've begun reading as a devotional along with my Chronological Study Bible reading. (I've never read the Bible chronologically before. I've attempted it but never followed through. This time I purpose to see it through. It's laid out in readings for one year. Feel free to check in with me at any point this year and ask me how I'm doing with it. Lecture me if I've let it fall.)

Lastly, I'm working through the The Complete Father Brown stories by G.K. Chesterton which I've never read. I'm reading these along with Annette. (It's always fun to read along with a friend!) Both of us are a few stories in and I'm positively loving it!

I'm pretty sure those things alone will nicely fill up my time but I have plenty of books floating around my house to pick up whenever moments present themselves. The above listed titles are just the ones I'll be most focused on. Like, for example, the third book in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series is still staring at me in the face....

So what's on your nightstand? I'm off to find out!