A few people have asked what books currently make up my bedside* stack. Before I let you all in on the big secret of what’s next in the ol’ reading queue, it’s important to note that it isn’t a matter of if this list will change, it’s a matter of when it will change. That said, as of 11:19am on Sunday, November 25, this is the current stack of What’s Up Next (once I finish Lisey’s Story tonight):

1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

This is a re-read of one of my top 10 favorite books of all time. I get to teach it to my sophomores next month and want to re-familiarize myself with it. I also need to figure out a project for them to do based on the novel, and I think I have the beginnings of an idea, but I won’t know for sure until I double check some of my facts.

2. Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brains

Should be fun to see how many of these errors I blunder through on a daily basis.

3. Aesop’s Fables

A long time ago I received this gorgeous leather-bound, embossed, illustrated edition and it is high time I actually read it.

4. Whitman: Leaves of Grass and Other Pros by Walt Whitman

Somewhere along the way I picked up this old paperback and it has been resting at or near the top of my stack for over a year already. I swear that this time, when it rises majestically to the top of The Stack ™ I will not push it back down!

5. Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony by John Scalzi

I enjoyed The Android’s Dream enough to go out and buy the whole OMW series. I am really looking forward to starting this, and if anything is going to change, it will be this series moving towards the top of the list.

6. Mixed in there somewhere will likely be some titles I need to read for teaching, including:

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (re-read)

Night by Elie Wiesel

Julius Caesar by The Bard

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

And there you have it. That’s the current list, subject to change within 3 minutes of this being posted.

* I don’t really have a bedside stack. I have a favorite chair, with a shelf right next to it containing these titles. On the other side of the room are two bookcases filled with books I haven’t read yet. You’d think eventually I would whittle down this collection, but for some reason I keep buying more and more books. The good news is, this means I will always have a book to read. The bad news is, I invariably read the new books before the unread books I have owned for, oh, 10 years or more.