nomadreader

The backstory: The Position  was longlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize . I've previously read and enjoyed two of Wolitzer's other books: The Ten-Year Nap  and The Uncoupling . The basics: Roz and Paul Mellow, a happily married couple with four children, write a very famous book about sex. It features drawings of them in various positions, including one they create themselves. When their four children find a copy of the book, it impacts each of them a little differently. My thoughts: I expected The Position  to be wise, funny and perhaps awkward. As a new parent, I was fascinated by the perspectives of both parents and children. What I didn't expect was to see the action jump to the present (when written, so 2005) and have perspective to see where the six Mellows are now. This combination of past and present infuses The Position  with a much more ambitious premise, and it's a more powerful novel because of it. The four Mellow children were all different ages ...

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: When I was pregnant, I found myself enjoying memoirs of pregnancy by great writers so much more than the traditional self-help pregnancy books. Several people recommended this one to me, and I opted to save it to read while on maternity leave. The basics: When Anne Lamott finds herself thirty-something and pregnant, she decides to have the baby. His father immediately exits the picture, and she must rely on her family and friends to serve as a support system for her single parenthood. My thoughts:  First of all, I'm so glad I waited until after Hawthorne was born to read this. Lamott's son Sam was horribly fussy, and knowing how bad it could be would have been awful for me to imagine while pregnant. My baby is blessedly not very fussy (he does have his days), and I often found myself feeling sorry for Lamott in the early weeks. I'm also fortunate to have a supportive partner. I cannot imagine Lamott's version of motherhood. While it does get better as...

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: Mei-ling Hopgood is a Taiwanese-American who grew up in Michigan and now lives in Argentina. When she and her American husband had their first child, Sofia, they were surprised to discover the differences between Argentinian parenting and American. Mei-Ling sought out to discover the ways different cultures around the world parent. Each chapter is devoted to a different country or culture and a specific parenting task. My thoughts: I've always been fascinated by cultural differences, particularly the things one thinks of as normal that are far from normal in other cultures and parts of the world. When I stumbled upon this title shortly after I got pregnant, I knew I wanted to read it. (Admittedly, the title intrigued me too, as Mr. Nomadreader and I love to keep our house cold in the winter, and I'm always looking for options to keep the nomadbaby happy and warm without compromising our preferred temperature.) How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm  is part memoi...

narrated by Abby Craden The backstory: I've been curious about Bringing Up Bebe  since it first came out, but now that I'm pregnant ( the nomadbaby is due August 9th ), it seemed like a great time to finally read it. On the recommendation of Jen at Devourer of Books , I opted for the audio version. The basics: Pamela Druckerman is a journalist and New Yorker who falls in love with a Brit and settles in Paris. Once they have a daughter, Bean, Druckerman begins to notice how different French children are than American children. They don't whine. They're not picky eaters. They sleep through the night earlier. yet when she asks French parents, they don't claim to do anything special or know what they're doing. In fact, compared to her U.S. friends who all espouse a variety of named parenting philosophies, the French parents insist that's just how children are. My thoughts: One of my biggest fears about motherhood is exhaustion. I've always been a sle...

The basics: Set over one weekend in late summer, Cutting Teeth  is the story of a Long Island beach house vacation for a Brooklyn playgroup of four-year-olds and their parents. My thoughts: Despite having a large cast of characters, I never struggled with keeping the characters straight. Alternating narration from most of the parents certainly helped, as the reader gets to know both the personalities of each character as well as their interior monologues. In this sense, the narrative style greatly contributed to the tension of the weekend, which predictably builds as the novel goes on. Cutting Teeth  is both funny and serious. Fierro, herself a mother of two young children who lives in Brooklyn, frequently pokes fun at the stereotypes and caricatures of Brooklyn parents and children. But while the commentary veered into satire at times, I was also struck by an underlying sadness at its heart. I think of parenting a little differently now as I'm a few months from becoming...

The basics: As the title indicates, How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane  is a humorous parenting book. It's a collection of essays and anecdotes My thoughts: I tend to shy away from straight advice books about parenting, as I did when we planned our wedding, started trying to get pregnant, got pregnant, and now are approaching parenthood. Advice-filled parenting books will likely find a place in my reading life once I know my child and his particular issues, but until then, I increasingly find myself drawn to humor, essays, and fiction about parenting. How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane  is a delightfully humorous essay collection about Johanna Stein's adventures in parenting. I frequently laughed out loud as I read this book, which made Mr. Nomadreader comment how nice it is to hear me reading a funny book. Apparently my typical reading tastes cause me to gasp and cry rather than laugh. Stein's humor doesn't completely mesh with my own. At times I also found mysel...

The backstory: Jessica Valenti founded feministing , a blog I read long before I started this one. The basics: Why Have Kids? A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness  is more true to its subtitle than its title. Valenti combines her own experience as a new mom with research to convey the realities of modern parenthood, including the negative parts. My thoughts: I have clear answers to the question "why have kids?" and its opposite. In the pro column, I believe our child would make the world a better place, whether it be in a large or small way. In the con column, there's the cost, emotionally and financially. I know Mr. Nomadreader and I would be happy taking either track in life; both options would allow us to do things we couldn't do otherwise, and both will leave us feel as though we're missing out. Both would be good choices, and I expected Why Have Kids?  to dive into the complicated intellectual and emotional arguments for and again...

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...