The Guilt-Free Guide to Your New Life as a Mom Monday, Apr 30 2007

The Guilt-Free Guide to Your New Life as a Mom
by Sheryl Gurrentz

Why did I read it?

Well, basically because I’m a brand new mom. At the end of my pregnancy I wanted to stock up on “new mom” reading and I ended up buying a few other books off e-bay. Then I found this on amazon, and it looked interesting and got great reviews. I was debating whether or not to order this one too when I took a trip to my favorite used book store during my last weekend pregnant and found it on the clearance shelf for $2.00! Once I got my reading “mojo” back a few weeks after Piper was born, and after I read most of “New Mom’s Companion,” I picked this one up.

What’s it about?

This is another book who’s title pretty much says it all. GFG (Guilt Free Guide) covers many aspects of new motherhood – everything from childcare decisions, breastfeeding, emotional adjustements, baby products, adjusting to going back to work, and more. The chapters are small and contain an introduction and then bulleted paragraphs containing tips or facts on the topic.

Did I like it?

Overall, I really liked it. I REALLY REALLY liked the beginning, the section on post-partum adjustement and emotions. Some of the feelings and thoughts they described were EXACTLY what I was feeling and thinking. This section really made me feel better about some of the ways I felt, like being jealous that Steve got to go back to work and wishing the baby would just “go away” for a few minutes. These are thoughts that I felt guilty for having and reading that they were normal made me feel so much better.
I also really liked the section on breastfeeding and the part on going back to work.
Some of the latter chapters didn’t really apply to me (like choosing childcare – already done – and buying baby products – again, done) but seemed to have good advice. That’s one of my small complaints about the book. Chronologically, it didn’t make much sense. One of the first few chapters was on weaning from breastfeeding, then a few chapters later was a chapter on what to buy in preparation for baby. So when exactly are you supposed to read this book? To take full advantage of it you would have to read some during pregnancy and certain chapters at various times during your baby’s first year, but these chapters aren’t in order that way.
There were also a few inaccuracies, like saying that your baby should sleep on it’s back OR side.
However, this book was by far the best “new mom” book I’ve read so far. The first section made it more than worthwhile for me.

Rating:

A-

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The New Mom’s Companion Sunday, Apr 29 2007

The New Mom’s Companion: Care For Yourself While You Care For Your Newborn
by Debra G. Rosenberg and Mary Sue Miller

Why did I read it?

Well, I gave birth to a baby 2 weeks ago – I think that’s a pretty good reason. Actually, at the end of my pregnancy I went a little crazy stocking up on books to read, and I really thought I should get some “new mom” reading. This got good reviews on amazon.com so I picked it up (an ex-library copy) super-cheap on E-bay.
To be completely honest, I haven’t actually read every word of this (yet) but I’ve read most of it, and I’ve read enough to write a review.

What’s it about?

I think the title is pretty self-explanatory. But to elaborate a little, this book presents (in question and answer format) all kinds of topics relating to your post-partum period – physical changes, adjusting to being a mom, new family dynamics, and lots more.

Did I like it?

Yea, I did like it. The author’s attitude is very compassionate and understanding (and encourages you to feel that way towards yourself), and certain parts really did make me realize that some things I’m feeling and experiencing are normal. I thought some of the questions were a bit redundant, and I’m not a huge fan of the question/answer format in general, but overall this was a good book.

Rating:

B+

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Borrowed Finery Saturday, Apr 28 2007

Borrowed Finery: a memoir
by Paula Fox

Why did I read it?

I got this book in a lot of books I won off E-bay, and it sounded interesting, and I generally like reading memoirs.

What’s it about?

Borrowed Finery is the memoir of Paula Fox, an apparently popular author of fiction. She was abandoned by her parents at a young age and shuttled between homes in California, New York, and Cuba, among other places. Her “Hollywood” parents also appear at various points of her childhood, along with various old-time actors and celebrities (she dances with John Wayne and delivers a book to Orson Wells.)

Did I like it?

Ugh, it was BORING! For someone who did have a unique and eventful childhood, I thought it really could not have been explained in a more dull way. There is very little dialogue in this book, and while I admit that I sometimes doubt how truthful the dialogue in memoirs is, it felt like something was missing, at times reading like “I went here. I met so and so. She had a daughter who I played with.” I’ll admit, her sentences were a bit more poetic, but it was still pretty dull reading. Also, there were too many insignificant characters introduced. And the ending left alot unknown – I felt kind of gipped – here, I read this whole book, and other than one poetic encounter with her daughter, I never really find out what became of Paula’s life.
One other thing – I may have enjoyed this book a tad more if I knew who all of the celebrity names she was dropping were (they were far before my time.)

Rating:

C-

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Ongoing “To Be Read” List Monday, Apr 9 2007

I wanted to re-post this because I’m adding several books, but I’m also leaving the ones I’ve read on there (crossed off) so I can see my progress…

TO BE READ:

Chick Lit

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Babyville by Jane Green
Good Grief by Lolly Winston (own it)
I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson (own it)
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (own it)
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner (own it)
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (own it)
Something Blue by Emily Giffin (own it)
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin (own it)
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (own it)
24 Karat Kids by Judy Goldstein & Sebastian Stuart
Bed Rest by Sarah Bilston
Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophia Kinsella
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophia Kinsella (own it)
Jemima J by Jane Green (own it)
Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell (own it)
Why Girls are Weird by Pamela Ribon
Confessions of Super Mom by Melanie Hauser (own it)
Heiress for Hire by Erin McCarthy (own it)
Nearlyweds by Beth Kendrick
Watermelon by Marian Keyes (own it)
His N’ Hers by Mike Gayle (own it)
You Made Me Love You by Joanna Goodman (own it)
Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble
Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot (own it)
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (own it)
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (own it)
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Banks
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner (own it)
Montana Sky by Nora Roberts

Modern Fiction

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (own it)
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (own it)
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult (own it)
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving (own it)
The Girls by Lori Lansens
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (own it)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Rent Tent by Anita Diamant (own it)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (own it)
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb (own it)
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts (own it)
The Reader by Bernard Schlift (own it)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (own it)
Empire Falls by Richard Russo (own it)
Atonement by Ian McEwan (own it)
Second Glance by Jodi Picoult (own it)
Mercy by Jodi Picoult (own it)
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult (own it)
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (own it)
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult (own it)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel by Heather McElhatton
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (own it)
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory (own it)
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb (own it)
The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant (own it)
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
Before: Short Stories About Pregnancy from Our Top Authors
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts (own it)
The Last Girls by Lee Smith (own it)
The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring (own it)
The Outside of August by Joanna Hershon (own it)
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (own it)
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (own it)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (own it)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (own it)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (own it)
A Time to Run by Barbara Boxer & Mary-Rose Hayes

Memoirs

Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama (own it)
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (own it)
Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Heat by Bill Buford
Jesusland by Julia Scheeres
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison (own it)
Borrowed Finery by Paula Fox (own it)
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (own it)
Lucky by Alice Sebold (own it)
Come Back: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Through Hell and Back by Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine
The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon
Shiloh Autumn by Bodie & Brock Thoene (own it)
Night by Elie Wiesel
Running with Scissors by Augustus Burroughs (own it)
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Instructional/Self-Help

How to Be a Cat Detective by Vicky Halls
The Working Gal’s Guide to Babyville by Paige Hobey (own it)
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp (own it)
The Diaper Diaries: The Real Poop on a New Mom’s First Year by Cynthia Copeland (own it)
Babyproofing Your Marriage by Stacy Cockrell, Cathy O’Neil, and Julia Stone
em>The New Mom’s Companion: Care for Yourself While You Care for Your Newborn by Deborah Rosenberg and Mary Sue Miller (own it)
The Guilt-Free Guide to Your Life as a New Mom by Sheryl Gurrentz (own it)
Baby Laughs by Jenny McCarthy (own it)
This is How We Do It: The Working Mother’s Manifesto by Carol Evans (own it)
The Three Martini Playdate by C.S. Mellor
Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

Non-Fiction

The End of Faith by Sam Harris
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Earth in the Balance by Al Gore
Fat Politics by J. Eric Oliver
The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney
The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich
Six Feet Under: Better Living Through Death by HBO (own it)
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (own it)
Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart (own it)
Downsize This! by Michael Moore (own it)
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

Classics

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

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Lipstick Jungle Sunday, Apr 8 2007

Lipstick Jungle
by Candace Bushnell

Why did I read it?

Well, I loved Sex and the City, the TV show based on another of Candance Bushnell’s novels. I’ve wanted to read something else by her, and Lipstick Jungle got the best reviews on amazon so when I saw it on the clearance table at Border’s a while back I picked it up. This happened to be the book I was in the midst of when I gave birth to our daughter, so it was on hiatus for a few weeks. I just picked it back up a couple of days ago now that I’m starting to feel normal again.

What’s it about?

Lipstick Jungle is about three powerful business woman, who are friends, in NYC – Wendy, a movie executive, Victory, a fashion designer, and Nico, a magazine editor. Each has their own storyline revolving around their love and work lives – none of the storylines are all that interesting enough to give too many details on here.

Did I like it?

It was OK, but I was a little disapointed. The main characters just weren’t likeable to me. There were so many secondary characters introduced that sometimes I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. The plot lines weren’t that interesting (as I mentioned above) and were of course (as this is chick lit) predictible. There were also lots of lengthy flashbacks that made parts somewhat confusing. Sometimes a chapter would jump ahead an indetermite length of time and we would find out that some problem or issue had been resolved, but we either wouldn’t find out exactly what happened, or we would find out in one of these flashbacks. I would have just preferred to read what happened as a linear storyline.

Rating:

C+

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His ‘N’ Hers Thursday, Apr 5 2007

His ‘N’ Hers
by Mike Gayle

Why did I read it?

This book came in a “lot” I bought on e-bay because it contained a few other books on my “To Be Read” list. When I finished “Jemima J” I was pretty much at a loss of what to read next. I am at my wits end waiting for this baby and wasn’t in the mood for anything serious that would take alot of thinking, nor did I really want to waste anything I was dying to read on my distracted mind right now. I grabbed “His N’ Hers” off the shelf and read the first few paragraphs and it wasn’t bad, so I decided to read it.

What’s it about?

It’s about Jim & Alison. The book opens with Alison, an engaged thirty-something Brit, finding her precious cat Disco dead, which was kind of a depressing way to start the book (but essential to the storyline I found out later.) She ends up deciding to call her ex-husband, Jim, to tell him the news (because Disco was his cat too, for years.) They end up getting together to go to the vet to see Disco’s body for the last time. Then…..the book jumps WAY back to when Jim & Alison were first meeting. This took me by surprise! I thought the book might jump back and forth between the past and the present, but the whole middle section of the book (probably 3/4 of it total) is in the past, taking you through Jim & Alison’s entire relationship. At the end, the book comes back to the present, with Jim & Alison at the vet, and then it jumps a few months into the future a few times.

Did I like it?

At the beginning it took a little getting into. Why do I want to read about the whole history of this relationship that I know won’t work out?, I thought. But I ended up really liking Jim & Alison and enjoying seeing where their relationship took them (and how it eventually went wrong.) By the middle of the book, and especially at the end, I began really liking it and was definitely rooting for them to get back together. Overall, I didn’t expect much out of this book but I ended up really enjoying it – which was a very pleasant surprise!

Rating:

A-

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Six Feet Under: Better Living Through Death Wednesday, Apr 4 2007

Six Feet Under: Better Living Through Death
by HBO

Why did I read it?

A few months ago Steve and I rented the first season of Six Feet Under and instantly fell in love. We ended up watching at least one episode almost every night, and buying the last two seasons. We finished up the series a few weeks ago and I can honestly say that this is probably my favorite show ever (the only thing that it might contend with is BH 90210 – come on, I grew up with it!)
Seriously, I don’t know if I’ve ever loved a show like I love(d) SFU. I cried when Nate died, I balled like a baby when we watched the finale. I had dreams that I was in their world. It was like an addiction – if we didn’t get to watch an episode for a few days I felt like I was in withdrawal.
Anyway, when I saw that there was a book about the series I planned on getting it. One day last week, after I found out we were getting a tax refund, I went ahead and ordered it on E-bay.

What’s it about?

Obviously it is about the show “Six Feet Under.” It’s mostly a conglomeration (sp?) of all kinds of memorabilia from the show. Not “Behind the Scenes” kind of stuff, but memorabilia from the actual characters. Like, letters they’ve written, transcripts of their online chats, report cards from when they were kids, that kind of stuff. Interspersed are pictures, both of the set, cast, and even childhood pictures (obviously the actors themselves when they were kids.)

Did I like it?

Of course I liked it! Anyone who is a SFU fan would like it. I do have to say that I wished there was more to actually read. It only took me about an hour to flip through the book and see/read everything that was there. The people who made this did a good job of keeping true to the characters when they created this though.

Rating:
B+

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Jemima J Monday, Apr 2 2007

Jemima J
by Jane Green

Why did I read it?

Jemima J was recommended to me on the nest book club message board when I was looking for “chick lit” recommendations a while back. I saw it super-cheap on E-bay from a seller I was already buying multiple items from (and who has a great shipping discount) so I got it, and, wanting to stick to my “light reading” regimen I picked it up after finishing my previous book.

What’s it about?

Jemima J is an 100-pounds overweight British journalist who has a desperate crush on her co-worker Ben – but Ben is more interested in her only friend, the glamorous Geraldine.
When Jemima’s company gets the Internet for the first time, Jemima discovers the anonymity of cyberspace and re-invents herself as “JJ” – a thin, beautiful TV presenter. She meets Brad, a gym-owner in L.A. and sends him a doctored photo of herself. So when Brad and JJ’s relationship begins to get serious and she makes plans to go meet to L.A., she must take action, fast. Jemima actually manages to make herself look like the photo, and Brad IS the hunk he portrays himself as…but everything doesn’t quite go as planned in L.A. And let’s just say that Ben, who, while Jemima was gone HAS actually become a famous TV presenter, isn’t completely out of the picture either. *I’m trying to get rid of spoilers in my reviews so I’ll stop there*

Did I like it?

It was alright. This was my first Jane Green book and she had a really weird style of switching between the first and third person (I wonder if all of her books are like this?) It was a fairly quick, entertaining read, but I never really got “attached” to Jemima, and parts of the plot were just so unrealistic. And of course, the ending, although it was supposed to be a “surprise that no one will see coming” (according to the book jacket) – wasn’t THAT much of a surprise and was a little abrupt and predictible.

Rating:

B-

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