Books #55-68
I've slowed down a lot the past few weeks and also jumped around in various books, leaving only fourteen books completed since my last post. "Only." Hah. That's still one every couple of days. We also finished setting up our bookcases in the baby stuff room/library and filled them with the fiction, revealing that I have an alarming backlog of books to read. ert suggested that I suspend my Bookswim membership and focus on the books we already own, and since the library website now offers wishlist functionality (and online requests), I'm planning to cancel by the end of March.
55. How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids edited by Sarah Franklin
These essays varied widely in their ability to hold my interest, but the ones that didn't weren't terrible, most were pretty good, and there were a few that were absolutely fantastic, like the account of a pilot taking her three month old daughter on her first plane flight--in the copilot seat. That one is reproduced here in its entirety and was what prompted me to get this book out of the library.
56. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane
57. Wizards at War by Diane Duane
I love how YA fiction published after, say, 2000 or so, suddenly starts getting much longer. Thank you, J. K. Rowling! The longer form of these last two novels allowed Duane to do plots that were a little more involved and add some extra focus characters. I thought the aliens were very well handled and would have liked to see more stories, but it's clear that Wizards at War is intended to be the final volume in this arc. However, I believe she's moved on to other series in the same world. I'm looking forward to reading them.
58. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
59. Heidi Grows Up by Charles Tritten
Books from my childhood, which I brought up the last time we went to MD. I don't have much to say about these except that Heidi is deservedly a classic even if it does suffer a bit from the angelic child trope common in books published in this century. The sequel (written by Spyri's translator after her death) is, well, a sequel written by someone else--for all that, it's a fine book.
60. Dates From Hell by Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, and Lori Handeland
Four short stories in a collection, largely chosen because it includes a story by Kelley Armstrong, who's one of my favorite authors. I liked her story (featuring Hope and Karl) but wasn't impressed enough with any of the other three to go looking for their books.
61. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown
There is a certain type of novel that many people write where suburban housewives and children realize the utter misery of their lives and everything is horrible. This is one of those novels, but I enjoyed it regardless. Definitely not my normal style.
62. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
What a lovely book. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but I was totally sold on the world and the characters by a few chapters in. It was nice to see actual character arc, too, and a heroine who couldn't do everything. I'm looking forward to reading Fire even if I suspect it will creep me out horribly.
63. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
For some reason I thought this was going to be a chapter book like Sunwing (Kenneth Oppel), but it turned out to be a picture book, about a lost baby bat who falls into a bird's nest and is taken care of by the mother bird. She eventually finds her way back to batdom, but stays friends with her three foster siblings. I want a copy for my child once it's old enough to appreciate it.
64. Giving Birth: A Journey into the World of Mothers and Midwives by Catherine Taylor
Gave me lots of useful questions to ask at my last OB appointment about how Mt. Auburn handles births, and also reinvigorated my anger at the medicalization of birth and the lack of trust in women that most hospitals evidence.
65. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
I swear, I would read a book about refrigeration if it was written by Mary Roach. She's such an incredible writer--I spend half her books laughing and the other half astonished and fascinated at the science she pulls out to tell me about. All the same, this is not a book you want to read if you are squeamish--I'm glad I wasn't reading it during my first trimester.
66. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
A short read about the ways in which humans tend to excuse and tend towards irrational behavior, with specific examples for each type. Nothing I hadn't heard before, but interesting to have it all gathered together.
67. Maybe Baby: An Infertile Love Story by Matthew M. F. Miller
It felt distinctly odd to be reading a memoir about infertility when one is eight and a half months pregnant. I found Miller's chronicle of his and his wife's attempt to get her pregnant to be fascinating and touching and sad, and I hope they succeed. I suspect this is one of a very few books about infertility from the male partner's perspective.
68. A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk
When redheadedmuse saw that I was reading this, she told me that she also read it when she was pregnant, and hated it, but was really glad she'd read it later because it gave her the ability to say "well, at least I'm doing better than she was". Things could be worse! I think the reviews on the back of the book must have been written by people with more distance from pregnancy and twenty-four-hour childcare the first year than I have, because they gushed over how funny and touching it was, and while there were funny bits, like when she compared talking to the baby during pregnancy to a field attempting to negotiate with the motorway being built through it, I spent the first half alternating between being intensely grateful that the author's experience was not mine and being worried that the similarity of my experience to hers meant something awful and the second half pretty much terrified that I will be that depressed and unable to get help. Not exactly the most helpful thing to be reading. I'm glad it exists, but I never want to read it again.
55. How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids edited by Sarah Franklin
These essays varied widely in their ability to hold my interest, but the ones that didn't weren't terrible, most were pretty good, and there were a few that were absolutely fantastic, like the account of a pilot taking her three month old daughter on her first plane flight--in the copilot seat. That one is reproduced here in its entirety and was what prompted me to get this book out of the library.
56. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane
57. Wizards at War by Diane Duane
I love how YA fiction published after, say, 2000 or so, suddenly starts getting much longer. Thank you, J. K. Rowling! The longer form of these last two novels allowed Duane to do plots that were a little more involved and add some extra focus characters. I thought the aliens were very well handled and would have liked to see more stories, but it's clear that Wizards at War is intended to be the final volume in this arc. However, I believe she's moved on to other series in the same world. I'm looking forward to reading them.
58. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
59. Heidi Grows Up by Charles Tritten
Books from my childhood, which I brought up the last time we went to MD. I don't have much to say about these except that Heidi is deservedly a classic even if it does suffer a bit from the angelic child trope common in books published in this century. The sequel (written by Spyri's translator after her death) is, well, a sequel written by someone else--for all that, it's a fine book.
60. Dates From Hell by Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, and Lori Handeland
Four short stories in a collection, largely chosen because it includes a story by Kelley Armstrong, who's one of my favorite authors. I liked her story (featuring Hope and Karl) but wasn't impressed enough with any of the other three to go looking for their books.
61. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown
There is a certain type of novel that many people write where suburban housewives and children realize the utter misery of their lives and everything is horrible. This is one of those novels, but I enjoyed it regardless. Definitely not my normal style.
62. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
What a lovely book. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but I was totally sold on the world and the characters by a few chapters in. It was nice to see actual character arc, too, and a heroine who couldn't do everything. I'm looking forward to reading Fire even if I suspect it will creep me out horribly.
63. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
For some reason I thought this was going to be a chapter book like Sunwing (Kenneth Oppel), but it turned out to be a picture book, about a lost baby bat who falls into a bird's nest and is taken care of by the mother bird. She eventually finds her way back to batdom, but stays friends with her three foster siblings. I want a copy for my child once it's old enough to appreciate it.
64. Giving Birth: A Journey into the World of Mothers and Midwives by Catherine Taylor
Gave me lots of useful questions to ask at my last OB appointment about how Mt. Auburn handles births, and also reinvigorated my anger at the medicalization of birth and the lack of trust in women that most hospitals evidence.
65. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
I swear, I would read a book about refrigeration if it was written by Mary Roach. She's such an incredible writer--I spend half her books laughing and the other half astonished and fascinated at the science she pulls out to tell me about. All the same, this is not a book you want to read if you are squeamish--I'm glad I wasn't reading it during my first trimester.
66. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
A short read about the ways in which humans tend to excuse and tend towards irrational behavior, with specific examples for each type. Nothing I hadn't heard before, but interesting to have it all gathered together.
67. Maybe Baby: An Infertile Love Story by Matthew M. F. Miller
It felt distinctly odd to be reading a memoir about infertility when one is eight and a half months pregnant. I found Miller's chronicle of his and his wife's attempt to get her pregnant to be fascinating and touching and sad, and I hope they succeed. I suspect this is one of a very few books about infertility from the male partner's perspective.
68. A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk
When redheadedmuse saw that I was reading this, she told me that she also read it when she was pregnant, and hated it, but was really glad she'd read it later because it gave her the ability to say "well, at least I'm doing better than she was". Things could be worse! I think the reviews on the back of the book must have been written by people with more distance from pregnancy and twenty-four-hour childcare the first year than I have, because they gushed over how funny and touching it was, and while there were funny bits, like when she compared talking to the baby during pregnancy to a field attempting to negotiate with the motorway being built through it, I spent the first half alternating between being intensely grateful that the author's experience was not mine and being worried that the similarity of my experience to hers meant something awful and the second half pretty much terrified that I will be that depressed and unable to get help. Not exactly the most helpful thing to be reading. I'm glad it exists, but I never want to read it again.