My Bedside Book List | National Readathon Day with Casper

I've got yet another book-related post today, I feel like I've been doing a lot of these recently but this time I feel it's more than appropriate coming up to the first ever National Readathon Day in the US which is this Saturday, the 24th January. So I suppose this is post is particularly for the benefit of any American readers but I'm very happy to use any excuse to spend the day reading!

In case you aren't sure, National Readathon Day is a movement started up by Penguin Random House, Goodreads, Mashable and the National Book Foundation in a bid to tackle low literacy rates in the US and encourage a love for reading across the country- a very worthy cause in my opinion! To take part, you can join the National Readathon Day FirstGiving page where you can ask friends or family to donate. Then, on Saturday your goal is to read for four whole hours from 12pm to 4pm in whatever time zone you happen to be in. If you're in the US or Canada, there are also a number of different venues across North America holding Readathon events too. If you want a little bit more info on the ins and outs of Saturday's Readathon, there's a much more comprehensive guide on the Penguin Random House website. 

To celebrate National Readathon Day, Casper, a New York-based memory foam mattress company are asking readers to share some of the books that are on their nightstands which I thought was a fab idea! They offer free shipping and a 100 night trial period of American-made mattresses and like me, their two favourite things are a comfy bed and a good book!
Anyway, without further ado, the books that are currently on my nightstand:

1//A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks

This is a book my friend, Hilary lent to me a couple of weeks ago which is currently at the top of my night-time reading list. It's actually a series of five short stories which basically all explore different people's lives and their search for meaning and connection. I've just finished the first story in the series and absolutely loved it so I'm really looking forward to reading the rest! 

2//The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I just started this last night and I am absolutely addicted. I think I came across it on Goodreads new releases shortly before it came out, which was only this past week, so I've had my eye on it for a little while. I've heard critics describe it as "the new 'Gone Girl'" and even though I still haven't read 'Gone Girl', I can imagine this book being just as good, if not better, if what I've heard is anything to go by. The story basically begins with a woman who gets the same commuter train to work every morning, one which stops at a signal each day allowing her to watch a young couple going about their daily business in their house backing onto the tracks. Over time she invents a whole life for this couple in her mind, imagining in elaborate detail, every aspect of their lives, until one day she witnesses one shocking event that changes everything. 

3//The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

I think I started this book around New Year and at the start I really liked it, I thought it was really engaging. Basically it's about a man, Harry August, whose mind, after every time he dies, returns back to the start of his life and he continues to live it over and over again. Soon he finds that there are others of his kind who exist within a secret organisation called the Cronus Club. However, I'm about halfway through now and the plot, for me, is beginning to get a little tedious. Nothing much has happened at all over the last several chapters which is quite frustrating as well but I'm just going to keep reading and see what I think of it by the end.

4//Emma by Jane Austen 

Ok, so I've been reading 'Emma' for an embarrassing length of time. I don't even know why, because it's not that I'm not enjoying it. I suppose it's one of those books that gets set aside any time I pick up a serious page-turner. I am really loving this book so far though, I think Emma is a great character. She sort of epitomises "everywoman" in a way and there have been lots of times when I've actually laughed out loud at this book. I'm really looking forward to reading some more of Austen after I eventually finish this.

What books are on your bedside table at the moment?