The Books on my Nightstand

I love to read and I love books. But a few months ago, I realized that I hadn't been reading many books recently. So I selected a few and put them on my nightstand. I figured I would be more likely to read one if I had the books nearby.

Here's my stack:

Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn G. Heilbrun
I got this at a library book sale. I had read some of Heibrun's detective novels under the pseudonym Amanda Cross. The book examines how women's lives are written in biography and autobiography.

Simply Southern by Cappy Hall Rearick
A gift from my mother-in-law, Simply Southern is a collection of newspaper columns. The short pieces are good for reading before bed.

Hollywood Be Thy Name The Warner Brothers Story by Cass Sperling and Cork Millner with Jack Warner Jr.
Another book sale purchase, this is a history of my favorite movie studio.

Big Girls Don't Cry by Rebecca Traister
I read good reviews of this book and then picked it up at Barnes & Noble. Traister's observations of the 2008 presidential election should be interesting in light of the 2016 race.

Film Noir The Dark Side of the Screen by Foster Hirsch
I got this book about 20 years ago when I was part of a classic movie group. I started re-reading it when I took my film noir course over the summer.

I finished Writing a Woman's Life, and will return it to a book sale. I'm about three quarters through Film Noir and about halfway through Simply Southern. This is the first time I've read more than one book at a time outside of school. I like this approach and will continue with it.