nomadreader

narrated by Madeleine Maby The basics: Wednesday Martin is an anthropologist, originally from Michigan, who moves from the West Village of New York City to the Upper East Side and turns her anthropological training on Upper East Side mommies. My thoughts: Since having a baby, I find myself drawn to narratives I might not have been before. I'm fascinated by how people raise their children, in this country, throughout different times in history, and around the world. (See also: How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm , How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane   and Bringing Up Bebe . ) As a mom, I find myself remarking, "these people are crazy!" as often as I do "I can't believe I think this is normal now!" So much of parenthood seems to be finding people with whom you agree and finding people whose choices make you feel better about your own. To that end, Primates of Park Avenue  is both. It's entertaining,  at times alarming, and informative. A few chapters...

The basics: As the title indicates, Doodle Diary of a New Mom  is a book of single-pane comics about the first year of motherhood. My thoughts: Hawthorne turned one yesterday(!) I picked this book up at the library awhile ago after hearing about, and while I don't have a lot of things to say, I do have a few. This book wasn't quite what I expected, but that isn't the book's fault. I expected it to be more of a memoir than it was. In hindsight, I don't know why. This book is a ridiculously quick read. I read it from cover to cover in about half an hour. Each page is a single illustration with a caption. Some are hilarious. Some are almost tragic. Some aligned with my experience so perfectly I want to frame them. Some were so different from I experience I marveled at how different motherhood is for everyone. The verdict: Doodle Diary of a New Mom  is an entertaining collection of comics. I would have enjoyed more exposition and reflection, but I think new moms...

The backstory: When I read the essay collection  Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York last year, Elisa Albert's essay was among my favorites. When I heard her new novel, After Birth , was a feminist, foul-mouthed novel about childbirth and early motherhood, I knew I had to read it. The basics: Ari, mom to 1-year-old Walker with her older, professorial husband, is still coming to terms with her traumatic c-section. She's unhappily living in fictional Utrecht, New York, a town near Albany, where Albert actually lives with her professorial husband and young son. My thoughts: Ari describes herself as "a little obsessed with [Mina Morris], by which I mean a lot, which I guess is what obsessed means." After reading After Birth,  I feel the same way about Ari. And perhaps about Albert herself. This books speaks  to me in both expected and surprising ways. I have a six-month old son, and as an intelligent, feminist, academic realist, I have some c...

The basics: Confessions of a Scary Mommy  is an irreverent and honest book about the journey into motherhood, from Smokler's surprise first pregnancy to the present, when she has three children. My thoughts: When I started back at work after maternity leave, a friend told me I had to read this book. So I did. And there were some parts I really liked. Each section begins with anonymous confessions. I admit: some made me laugh, some made me sneer, and others made me sad for the person who confessed. They were unconnected and eventually a little annoying. The book itself is arranged somewhat chronologically and thematically. Predictably, I enjoyed some parts more than others, as I'm the mom to a 12-week-old, not three kids who walk and talk. As with most stories of parenting, I connected and related to some more than others. The reading experience itself wasn't deep enough for me. I'm all for irreverent and honest, but I still wanted depth and a stronger voice. It fe...

The backstory: After enjoying Making Babies: Stumbling Into Motherhood , I set out to find more memoirs of pregnancy and motherhood by great women writers. I stumbled upon this one at the library, and the subtitle, "Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence" seemed to fit me perfectly. The basics: Rebecca Walker, known for her honest memoirs and her tumultuous relationship with her own mother, Alice Walker, shares her journey to motherhood in this memoir, written in journal format. My thoughts: I read this memoir in the early weeks of my pregnancy, and I loved that Walker tells her story chronologically through journal format. For me, pregnancy was much more psychologically and emotionally challenging than physically uncomfortable, and charting Walker's similar struggles was a lifeline. I spent much of life not wanting children. A few years into my relationship with Mr. Nomadreader, I realized our different ideas about parenthood could end our relation...

The basics: Making Babies  is Anne Enright's memoir of becoming a mother and the first two years of her two childrens' lives. Enright and her husband were together for 18 years before having children relatively late in life. My thoughts: I remember wanting to read this when it first came out, but I put it in my virtual "wait until I'm pregnant" pile. When it arrived in the mail a few days after telling one of my best friends I was pregnant, I was ecstatic, and I knew it was exactly what I needed at that moment. As excited as I was to finally  be pregnant, I was also somewhat ambivalent about it. I was nervous about all the changes pregnancy would bring, and Enright's words were reassuring in the best ways. She beautifully captures the joys, annoyances, and ambivalent moments of pregnancy and motherhood. Enright's irreverence, wisdom and humor shine through this memoir: "Humans give birth in pain so that they can’t run away afterward." Alth...

The backstory: After loving   Nine Months , Paula Bomer's first novel , I was so enchanted with her writing, I wanted to read her short stories (and y'all know short stories are not typically my thing. Except when they   are   awesome .) The basics: This collection of stories is somewhat thematic, but not entirely so. Many of the stories feature parents of young children and/or pregnant women. In some stories these attributes are the focus, but in others they aren't. My thoughts: One of the reasons I was curious about this collection was because I found Nine Months  so bold. When I do enjoy short stories, I like a boldness of story telling: use the medium for its benefits. Bomer did not disappoint. The first story in the collection, The Mother of His Children" is raw and bold, but it's also a beautiful exploration of love and humanity. As is often the case with collections (of short stories or essays), I enjoyed some more than others. What I loved about the...

The basics: Nine Months  is the story of Brooklyn wife and mom of two Sonia, who finds herself unintentionally and unhappily pregnant with number three. With frustration mounting, Sonia takes off on a cross-country trip alone--and does so many things pregnant women aren't supposed to do. My thoughts:  I've been saving  Nine Months  to read until I was very, very pregnant. I'm so glad I did because it was fun to live vicariously through Sonia. I'm happily pregnant, of course, but I also really dislike being pregnant. The thought of being pregnant again--ever--terrifies me. I can relate to Sonia's feeling of helplessness, but as real as it is, this novel is also escapist fun. It's fantasy that's firmly planted in reality: ""You’re pregnant. You’re doing a great job. I know it’s hard.” “You don’t know how hard it is. And I’m not doing a ‘great job.’ I haven’t done anything, except fuck you. This is happening to me, don’t you understand? I have not...

The basics:  "Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women’s voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential." (from publisher) My thoughts: I chose to use the publisher's description because it's not the kind of book I would normally read (or enjoy), based on its description. Yet I kept hearing trusted friends and colleagues rave about it, so I decided to give it a try. And I am so, so glad I did. Not only did I like it, I loved it. I loved it so much I think it should be required reading for anyone. Period. Hear me out, my fellow nonfiction and business book ...

The backstory: When I read Susanna Daniel's debut novel, Stiltsville , I gushed that "it's the most emotionally engaging novel I've read in quite some time ." It not only made my top ten of 2010 , it came in at number two. Given my love for Stiltsville , I was eager to see Daniel return to Miami with her second novel, Sea Creatures. The basics: In 1992, Georgia's college admissions consulting business has failed. When her husband Graham doesn't receive tenure at Northwestern, they move back to her native Miami, where a friend of Graham's has offered him a job studying hurricanes. Their three-year-old son Frankie hasn't spoken for eighteen months, but there seems to be no medical reason why. My thoughts: I foolishly sat down to start reading Sea Creatures  before work one morning, and it was a struggle to not call in sick. One again, Daniel's writing captured me from the opening page. It's the first print book to capture me with writing ...

The backstory: Curtis Sittenfeld's previous novel, American Wife , remains my all-time favorite novel . The basics: Sisterland  is the story of Violet and Kate, twin sisters who both are somewhat psychic. In adulthood, Vi has embraced her powers and works as a psychic. Kate, however, has disavowed her powers in an attempt to live a 'normal', happy life with her husband, a professor of science, and two children. When a minor earthquake hits St. Louis, Vi predicts a major one coming soon, and her prediction makes her an instant celebrity. Meanwhile, Kate shares a sense of Vi's prediction, while Jeremy does not. My thoughts: I adore the way Curtis Sittenfeld writes. I was highlighting my e-galley compulsively as I read. She builds the world and her characters beautifully and honestly. She inserts beautifully detailed observations that stopped me cold: "The feeling that gripped me in this moment was similar to what I imagined the relatives of an alcoholic mus...

The backstory: I enjoyed Rosamund Lupton's debut thriller, Sister  ( my review ), when my book club read it last summer, and I was eager to read her follow-up. The basics: When a fire breaks out during Sports Day at the elementary school where her son, Adam, attends, Grace realizes her daughter Jenny is still inside and rushes in to save her. Soon, Grace and Jenny are both unconscious in the hospital, but they work together in their out of body experience to figure out who started the fire and why. Also on the case is Grace's sister-in-law, Sarah, a police officer. My thoughts: I expected Afterwards  to be a very different novel than Sister , but I was still surprised just how different Afterwards  was. It's not fair to compare these novels simply because they were written by the same author, but given my disparate levels of enjoyment and the differences between their quality, it is somewhat inevitable. In fact, I might have abandoned this book if I hadn't been fasc...

The backstory: We Need to Talk About Kevin  won the Orange Prize in 2005. My thoughts: If you happened upon me on Twitter while I was reading it, you're probably surprised I not only finished the novel but ended up loving it. About a third of the way through, I bean to struggle mightily. Although I found Shriver's writing was gorgeous, the action was quite slow to build. As I bemoaned to Lu at Regular Rumination (who hated it), she admitted the ending was almost interesting. It, as well as my love for So Much for That  ( my review ) and how many trusted friends loved this novel, convinced me to keep reading. Soon, something intriguing happened, and I was hooked again. I devoured the last half of the novel and haven't stopped thinking about it since I finished it a month ago. We Need to Talk About Kevin  gets billed as a 'school shooting novel,' 'the novel that will make you not want to have kids,' or 'a study of nature versus nurture.' None of ...

The backstory: Winter Garden  is one of the picks for my new book club this month. (We meet every other month and read two picks, but this month we chose three!) The basics: Sisters Nina, an award-winning photojournalist, and Meredith, who stayed home to take over the family's orchard, are quite different. They've both struggled with their mother's emotional distance throughout their lives and relished their father's affection. My thoughts: If not for my book club, I would likely not have made time to read Winter Garden . I foolishly dismissed it as fluffy, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how emotionally affecting this novel is. It is safe to say I first identified more with Nina, the roaming photojournalist who doesn't want to settle down, than with Meredith, who has a struggling marriage and two daughters in college. Nina describes her "yearning to see everything, no matter how terrible, to know everything."  Despite my initial preference for ...

The backstory: I've enjoyed Peggy Orenstein's features in The New York Times Magazine  for years and loved her memoir about infertility and adoption, Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, a Romantic Night, and One Woman's Quest to Become a Mother . The basics: Peggy Orenstein's subtitles really serve as their own descriptions: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture . My thoughts: I've long been fascinated (and concerned) with what I perceive as a reversion to gender normative expectations and stereotypes. I fear the U.S. is regressing, and it's a trend I'm troubled by. Although I'm not a mother, I'm intrigued by the gender roles young children find themselves in, and this book included tales that frightened me: "They respond to questions about how their bodies feel--questions about sexuality or arousal--by describing how they thi...