I'm always reading different things and I love to juggle books - subjects and concepts - in order to see what comes up! That means my night table books tend travel from room to room in the house and with me to the offices and wherever I end up during the day.

That's my apology for the chaos of this list!

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I love books, and I live with a book designer who also loves books so our rambling old house is full to the brim. It was fun to look on the bedside table and see the mish-mash piled there - to look at it simply for what it is, rather than thinking of how messy it looks. Almost as interesting an exercise would be to look through the bookshelf in the kitchen which is supposed to hold only the cookbooks. My favorite cookbook is Wild Plums in Brandy by Sylvia Boorman (McGraw Hill, 1962) which contains many odd recipes, including one for porcupine baked in clay, and was beautifully illustrated by Boorman's husband. Beside Wild Plums in Brandy, in the kitchen, is The Spectacle of the Scaffold by Michel Foucault (Penguin, 1977).

But I wasn't asked about the cookbook shelf, and so here is a sampling from what is on the bedside table:

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The question I get asked the most is, "Why write for young adults? Why not write grown-up books?" Usually I hum and haw my answer, but when I reflect upon my current reading list I realize the answer is simple: I write what I read. This isn't to say that I don't read grown-up books, but when I do they are usually titles that are inspired by the YA novels I've enjoyed. (This will also explain why I check under the bed for monsters and can't sleep with the closet door open...)

Currently, this is the reading that has occupied my free time:

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