"When I was your age, television was called books."
Here are a few of the books I have lined up to read during all that peaceful "me time" we work-at-home-moms are so blessed with. Well, once I'm finished with that House Hunters marathon and this awesome box of bon-bons, that is.
1.) Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids
This book has phenomenal reviews on Amazon, and it seems like just the sort of thing I've been looking for. I'm about half way through it, and it's had a pretty big impact on me so far. What I'm liking about it is that it's not a "do this, don't do that, this is how you're damaging your fragile children" how-to guide. It's more of a discussion about how simplifying our lives and homes benefits our children, and I feel rejuvenated every time I read a little bit. With Spazzy's ADHD, she responds very well to routine, structure, and predictability, and I feel strongly that the more stream-lined our home life is, the better off she'll be. And the better off we'll all be, too. We'd like to get her to the point where medication is no longer necessary for her, and I believe it's possible for her, but we have a lot of chaos to cut first. This book has been a great launching point for me so far.
I'll post a review of this book once I get through it, but it may be awhile. Ellen's on, you know.
2.) Catching Fire
Of course I've already read it, silly. But we're going to read it together as a family on our way to Florida this summer, so it's on my mind. :)
3.) Deadlocked
It's not out until May, but I'm looking forward to the next installment in the Sookie Stackhouse saga.
4.) Where We Belong
I love, love, love Emily Giffin, and I can't wait until July when her latest novel comes out. I'm a huge fan of her style, and the way she walks the line between fluff and heartfelt realism. She's one of my personal writing heroes. I will always spend money on her books. Now if Curtis Sittenfeld would please give me something new soon...
5.) DivergentA friend who also loves The Hunger Games recommended this Veronica Roth series to me. I borrowed the first book online from the library, but something screwy happened and it failed to load to my account, and then the lending site was all, "You're last again, bitch!" So whatever. Anyway, I'm going to read it at some point this summer.Or preferably even this spring, but we'll see. It can take me a good month to get through a book these days.
Only ONE non-fiction title in the bunch! Whoo-hoo! What's on your reading list? Anything I should absolutely, positively add to mine?
I'll finish 'Mockingjay' later this week. I just bought 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' for Kindle. I've wanted to read it for a long time, but wasn't keen on the price tag. I just got it for $3. I'm also determined to read the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy at some point, even if it takes me a year to finish. I started it once, and never got very far.
ReplyDeleteIt warms my heart to read that you, an accomplished writer I respect, also read the Sookie Stackhouse books and Emily Giffin. I feel a little better about my own choices. Have you read Jennifer Weiner at all? I feel she is similar to Emily Giffin in that she is characterized as "chicklit" but the stories are more thoughtful and the characters more complex than, say, the Shopaholic books.
ReplyDeleteI am so pumped for Emily Giffin! Thanks for reminding me of that.
ReplyDeleteSimplicity Parenting sounds good, I'll check it out. I loved a book called "Scream Free Parenting." It's an awful title because it's about sooo much more than not screaming at your kids. It's one I try and flip through every few months to help keep my parenting mind working.
Suggestions, although you've probably already read them: Room, The Millennium Series, and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
On my list right now are Sarah's Key and Shades of Grey, since I keep hearing about both!
I've read some Jennifer Weiner, and I like her. I'm not ashamed of the books I enjoy at all. I like a pretty wide variety. One of my favorite books of all time is All Quiet on the Western Front, and I'll proudly display it on the shelf right next to Shopaholic Take Manhattan. Well, I would, but I sold most of my books to HPB to clear clutter. But yeah, I refuse to feel like everything I read has to have some deep, literary meaning. Sometimes I just want something sweet and warm and well-written. :)
ReplyDeleteJessie, I have Scream Free Parenting on my Amazon wishlist! I'm thinking I might pick it up after I finish Simplicity Parenting. I don't necessarily look to these books to tell me how to be a parent, but more as a way of keeping what's important constantly near the forefront of my mind. If I'm regularly working my way through something that inspires me, those ideas will stay right there where I need them and can be aware of them when the time comes to call on them. That's why I enjoy reading parenting books.
ReplyDeleteOne guilty pleasure I have read on my nook (that just sounds wrong in every sentence) are these books by um, this English woman... balls. Let me go look. Jill Mansell. I'd never heard of her prior (though I don't keep up with who's selling what), but these have come up super cheap in the nook shopping area and are total fluff, but just fine for beach reading (or pretending you are on the beach instead of in your bathtub or in your backyard). Anyway, if they are in the Amazon loaner program, any of them are fun and worth the read if you need a fluff fix.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to add a bunch of these to my long, long list. Definitely looking forward to Simplicity Parenting.
I'd highly suggest anything by John Holt, too. Even if you aren't a homeschooling proponent, it will make you seriously think about the way we think about schooling in this country and looking back at your own schooling through his lens is really revealing, and helpful in so many ways, I think. No matter what choices we all make as parents about education, there's so much value in his work, especially since his background includes being a teacher in NYC. It was really groundbreaking stuff in his day. I ilke "Instead of Education" more than some of his other works.
I love the Shopaholic series, too, though not the baby one, I'm sad to say.
Shopaholic and Baby was the worst one...until Mini Shopaholic, which took me over a month to read because it was so painful and awful. It was finally the breaking point for me—I finally hated the Becky character and wanted to punch her in the ovaries for being so damned stOOpid. I need my fluff characters to be people I can cheer for, and she's just such a moron that I can't do it anymore.
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