It's easy to list what books are on my night table. But when I started to compile my list it seemed too obvious a task.

What was of interest to me was what books would be on my characters' bedside tables. The characters from Cul de Sac Moon are avid readers. They read to be inspired, entertained and to learn. It is no mistake that Addie's books are about troubled kids nor is it a surprise that both Sigge and Bernerd pursue their interests through literature. I am very fond of my characters and I really appreciate their literary recommendations. They are three rich and varied lists. I hope you enjoy their suggestions as much as I did.

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Now that we're seeing some sun and warmer temperatures, I aim to do my reading outdoors; here's four recommendations for the park, lake, beach (or night table, on those rainy evenings):

Slammerkin, by Emma Donoghue (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd).

Donoghue has most recently received wide attention for her novel Room, but her 2000 novel Slammerkin (the word is eighteenth-century vernacular, a noun that refers to both a loose gown, and a loose woman) is also definitely worth putting on your reading list. Donoghue, who holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, employs her expertise in this era to create a vivid, breathing account of late 1740's London, and the often-vicious circumstances faced by young women who lacked fortune, titles, or family. Our heroine, Mary, whose poor family casts her out once they deem her "unvirtuous," survives and adapts to the violent, dehumanizing world of mid-century London; the brutalities of Mary's life are simultaneously mitigated and exacerbated by her attraction to luxurious clothing, fabrics, accessories, and the liberty and status that these beautiful things symbolize.

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I am a voracious re-reader of books. On first read, I charge through the pages devouring the story. Satiated I turn back to the beginning and read slowly, ingesting the sentences and sections that I admire. Also, I confess to writing my thoughts alongside certain passages, circling unusual uses of words, and even dog-earring corners of pages, which befuddle or entrance me. I know some find this distasteful, but I hold onto the school days' joy in finding a previous reader's thoughts scribbled in the margins of textbooks - reading turned from a solitary activity into an interactive one. So my Night Table is often stacked with books that recycle themselves from top to bottom and bottom to top. I have chosen to discuss two of these books, a novel and a collection of short stories.

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The Pale King$29.99 add to cart

Book of the Day, David Foster Wallace's The Pale King. David Foster Wallace left us such a mystery when he died, at his own hand, while at work on The Pale King. David Foster Wallace is considered by some to be the best American writer of a generation. When the unfinished fragments that make up The Pale King were published posthumously it was reviewed everywhere, including, The Paris Review, The Guardian, The New York Times Book Review, The Globe and Mail, and our newsletter the May June edition of The Bookseller has a story about David Foster Wallace, click here for a sneak peak.