what’s on your nightstand?

I was lucky to spend a lot of time this Thanksgiving weekend reading. I’m not really sure how I managed it, but I pulled off reading an astonishing 5 books between Wednesday and Sunday night, plus there are two more that I’m about halfway through.

One of the things I read this weekend was a kind of creepy Japanese thriller called Out, which features a bunch of women who work part-time in a boxed lunch factory and operate a side business cutting up dead people for the yakuza, which they start after one of them murders her husband. Somehow, not quite in the holiday spirit, I know.

I also read The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, which is the sequel to 84 Charing Cross Road, a truly charming book that was recommended by one of my readers last year.

I’ve still got a great bunch of books on my nightstand, including Don DeLillo’s Falling Man, Marisha Pessi’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and Gary Shteyngart’s Absurdistan. But at this rate, my night stand will be empty by Christmas!

What are you looking forward to reading this holiday season? Is there a book that you read at this time every year? Are there new releases that you’ve got on your wishlist?