Books Read, Top Picks & Short Reviews 2010

For those of you who are new to my little corner of the blogosphere, I have had the goal of reading 100 books in single year for a couple of years now. I haven't yet accomplished it, but I've been pretty close. The following is the list of books I read in 2010. Yes, I even keep track with a spreadsheet, I'm that level of dork. 

My rating system goes from 1-5, 5 being best, and I include a few-word review of the book. I have chosen my top 5 reads from 2010 and those are highlighted accordingly. If you're an Amazon addict like I am and you are looking for some new books to read, do me a solid and click the links on my page to order the titles from Amazon so I can earn my $0.20 and Be Validated as a Real Blogger. 


Some relevant notes as you scan through the list:


#1: I work in a children's literacy-related field, so there are some kids' books on the list. #2: I am obsessed with True Blood and therefore read the book series as well. #3: If "alright" is not enough of a review to satisfy you, please request via email or in the comments section and I will do a full review. #4: I read a lot of random shit.

Oh, and while you're at it, go ahead and click once on the Top Mommy Blogs banner to vote for me. I am currently ranked #688 and could seriously use some help. It can be your good deed for the day. 

Here's the list:

1. Tales From The Crib by Jennifer Coburn. 3 Cute, light

2. The Bitch In The House by Cathi Hanauer 3.5 Worth reading but not a lot of substance

3. The Birth Order Effect for Couples by Cliff Isaacson 3.5 Interesting

4. What Do You Do All Day by Amy Scheibe 4 amusing

5. Damaged by Cathy Glass 4.5 Very good but frustrating at times    ***TOP PICK***

6. The Yoga Mamas by Katherine Stewart    4 Cute

7. The Guy Not Taken  by Jennifer Weiner 3 Alright

8. Ruined by Paula Morris 4 Very interesting, not quite what I expected

9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 5 Excellent book ***TOP PICK***

10. Something Blue (2nd time)   by Emily Giffin   4 Favorite of mine

11. The Beach House by Jane Green 4 Pretty good

12. The Senator’s Wife    by Sue Miller    2 Hated the entire plot of senator’s wife, boring

13. Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica   4 Hilarious

14. The Necklace       by Cheryl Jarvis 2 Pointless waste of my time, better if it was fiction.

15. Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill 2 Started strong, became pointless and boring.

16. Heading Home With Your Newborn   by Drs. Laura Jana & Jennifer Shu 4 Excellent guide, easy to follow and amusing at times.

17. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson 3 Overrated

18. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester    4 Very cute story, X-Men & Heroes-type plot

19. Anxious Parents: A History of Childrearing in America by Peter Stearns 2 Boring conjecture, horribly edited, could have been much better.

20. Jane Eyre (4th time) by Charlotte Bronte     5 All-time favorite

21. We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver     5 Excellent, disturbing ***TOP PICK

22. Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman 2 Not as much science or useful info as I had hoped

23. Cherry by Mary Karr 2 Started strong, became much less interesting

24. All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris 4 Pretty good

25. The Tao of Poop by Vivian Elizabeth Glyck 4 amusing, could have been longer

26. Jemima J by Jane Green 4 Pretty good

27. Sleeping Arrangements by Madeline Wickham 3.5 Entertaining, but something missing.

28. The Gatecrasher by Madeline Wickham 3.5 Entertaining, but infuriating characters

29. The Things We Do For Love  by Kristin Hannah 4 Pretty good

30. Raising Cain: Protecting The Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon 3.5 Worth reading but could have gone much deeper

31. Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson 4 Pretty good

32. Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah 3.5 Worth reading but not as much substance as could have been

33. The Second Shift by Arlie Hoschild 2 Dated and overrated

34. The Crescent City Lynchings by Tom Smith 2 Disappointing

35. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain    5 Loved it  ***TOP PICK***

36. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 2 Well-written but too disturbing for my tastes

37. Becoming Attached by Robert Karen   3 Alright, more academic than anticipated

38. Bed Rest by Sarah Bilston  4 Pretty good

39. Mommy Tracked by Whitney Gaskell 3.5 Entertaining, but something missing.

40. As Hot As It Was You Ought To Thank Me by Nanci Kincaid 3 Alright

41. Watermelon by Marian Keyes 3 Writing style distracting, frustrating characters.

42. Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton   by Philip Kerr   2 Contrived and boring.

43. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson 2.5 More boring and drawn out than expected.

44. Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls 4.5 Very good  ***TOP PICK

45. Your Baby’s First Year by American Pediatric Association 4 Useful

46. The Girlfriends’ Guide To Surviving The 1st Year of Motherhood by Vicki Iovine 4.5 Very good  ***TOP PICK***

47. The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin 3 Disappointing

48. The Second Nine Months by Vicki Glembocki 4 Would recommend to a mom-to-be

49. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See 3.5 Good, but hated the ending.

50. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry 3 Alright

51. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner     4 Interesting

52. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 3 Overrated

53. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 4.5 Very good, more unique than anticipated, almost exactly the same as the movie though

54. Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter 4 Pretty good

55. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 3 Alright

56. Diary of a Mad Mom-to-Be by Laura Wolf 4 Second time read

57. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Ladvik 3.5 Much more depth than anticipated.

58. The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks     3 Overly ambitious

59. What To Expect The First Year by Heidi Murkoff 4 Useful

60. Baby 411 by Denise Fields   4 Useful

61. The Nursing Mother’s Companion by Kathleen Huggins 3 Disappointing

62. Me Of Little Faith by Lewis Black 3 Alright

63. Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner 3 Alright

64. From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris 4 Cute

65. F My Life by Maxine Valette et al      4 Hilarious

66. Scarlet Feather  by Maeve Binchy      2 Contrived and boring, too many characters.

67. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll 3 Alright

68. Eat, Pray, Love    by Elizabeth Gilbert 2.5 Overrated and mostly boring. 

69. Good Things I Wish You by A. Manette Ansay   2 Boring  

70. The Lacemakers of Glenmara  by Heather Barbieri 3.5 Worth reading but not a lot of substance

71. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline 4 Pretty good

72. The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison    3.5 Pretty good, not quite what I expected

What were YOUR top 5 books of 2010?

Dumpster Diving

It's a good thing I'm not a germaphobe. See, my son has a walker that he absolutely loves. Now before all you crazies start telling me how it's "not safe" and "hinders development" and blah blah blah, check your facts and trust that he is never near a flight of stairs, and that n=2 does not a representative sample make.

I typically put him in it when I'm doing stuff in the kitchen such as preparing dinner, putting away dishes, all that domestic shit for which I am somehow responsible even though I also work full-time from home AND take care of the child. He enjoys tooling around the tile floor, terrorizing the cats, staring intently at the flow of water in their fountain kitty dish thing.

But his absolute favorite thing to do is a variation of this:

Fig 1: An accurate representation of my son's favorite kitchen activity.

Yes, he's a Dumpster Diver. A Trash Picker. He has knocked the goddamn thing over I don't even know how many times, gleefully pulling whatever he can get his little paws on out from the trash and then throwing it onto the floor. Fun times. 

So my husband wired the thing underneath the countertop so it can't be tipped. Great, right? Sure, except now he scoots over to it in the walker and LICKS THE EDGE OF THE CAN. 

GRRRRROOOOOSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

Fig 2: No, that's not my son. But I'm afraid this is where he's headed if I let him.

So I took a picture of him doing it with my phone to show you folks, but it's at least a 15 step process to get it from the phone and onto blogger, and he isn't even licking the can in the picture so I decided it wasn't worth it. 

What kinds of crazy shit does your child do?

Mommy Needs a GD Nap

I started to write the post I really want to write the other day while D was down for a nap. I no sooner had typed the title in the appropriate box that I heard him wake up.

Dammit.

And then, the past few days have been straight. From. Hell.

My beautiful, darling child has had an amazing nap and sleep schedule for months now. I would typically get 3-4 short naps or 1-2 long ones every day, plus 7-8 hrs straight at night. I thrived on the predictability of his routine.

But then, this week he decided "Fuck this, Mama. I hate sleeping. I hate everything you do to try to get me to relax." And then he whines All. Damn. Day. Because he's overtired. And so am I. So we basically spend the day whining at each other.

It's great. Lots of discovery learning going on at my house. Grrrrrr........


2 hours of sleep last night for me total. No good naps for either of us today.

But he's asleep now, I hope to god he stays that way until at least 6am. In the meantime, I am going to bed. The post about my trash-picking tyke will have to wait another day.

I Love You, Doc.

So I figure the only way to get back into the habit of blogging regularly is to just do it - to stop worrying about the readers I no longer have, whether or not what I want to blog about is interesting enough or funny enough, or whatever other stupid anxiety I have. Here goes nothing.

The baby (known to you folks as "D") had his 6-month check-up today with the pediatrician. This doctor, Dr. B., is also my primary care physician. I was all Norman Rockwell Nostalgic For The Days Of Family Doctors Who Know Your Life History Etc. when I decided that our entire family would go see her for everything.

That, and she's Awesome.

She's possibly as much as a decade older than I am, but I really don't believe it's by that much. She was pregnant at the same time I was and gave birth to her son in September. My son was born in June. In the same hospital. With almost exactly the same birth story, ending in a c-section.

When we go to see her, she gives me information that is a) generally accepted by the medical community, b) currently being researched, c) researched and found to be lacking, and d) what she would do for her own baby. She's positive, she listens, she isn't condescending, and she doesn't act like a know-it-all.

Like I said, she is Awesome.

Ever since I found out she was pregnant, I began to have these delusional images of us hanging out outside of the medical practice. You know, having "baby dates" and such. It's like I have a Girl Crush. Or maybe a Mom Crush....? Nah, that seems like a bad google search waiting to happen.

But every time we go for an appointment I chicken out before asking her if she ever "hangs out" with patients. I mean, I don't want to be the Weird Mom Who Asked Out The Doc. So today I swore to myself I would at least put some feelers out there to assess the possibility. (Again, sounding dirty.....yikes.)

I made some small talk about her baby, she told me about a few gifts he got for Christmas including these (which now I want for my son):

And so I asked "What does his Dad do?" because I was genuinely curious and expected her to say something either totally unexpected like "he works construction," or totally anticipated like "molecular biologist." What she actually said was....

"Oh, I'm not married. I'm doing this on my own."

I responded with the words that popped into my head immediately: "Wow! Good for you! That's awesome!"

I am so lame.

Because as her baby screams from the next room where she nurses him in-between patients, I'm sure she's thinking "Isn't this so awesome???"

I'm surprised I didn't throw in a "Girl Power!" and a high-five. FML.

So now I'm even MORE enthralled with this woman, because she grows even more fascinating to me with every visit. Now I want to ask how other people tend to react when they find out she's doing it on her own, did she use a sperm donor, how did she choose said sperm donor, how is she finding working with the baby in tow because I do it at home and it sucks but at least she has a nanny, etc., etc., etc.

Dr. B., you're just so much damn cooler than me.

Ummm......can we maybe hang out sometime?

Seven Truths

I am so out of practice in my written communication skills it isn't even funny. It is, however, amazing to consider how not that long ago I was writing papers every day for class, cover letters and essays for grad school admissions, blogging almost daily - I was so used to expressing myself and conveying ideas through the written word that I would send my husband berating e-mails instead of arguing with him in-person. lol

But now, as I reflect back on 2010, I realize that I have not written much of anything at all in a very long time, "baby poop journal" aside. So I ask for your patience as I blow the dust off my keyboard, crack my knuckles, and try to jumpstart the side of my brain that contains vocabulary words beyond "nappy nap," "cutie patootie," and "swingy-dingy."

There are many things I want to blog about, but in order to keep myself focused I am going to restrict myself here to the things I learned this year that I think might be helpful to other moms-to-be and new moms. So here goes:

1. Giving birth is a lesson in letting go of control and expectations. I knew going in that I would have no idea what could or would happen so I never bothered with a birth plan or anything like that. Even then, the last thing I expected was a c-section, yet that's what I had to have after 23 hours of labor. As disappointing as that was, I had to get over it in the face of knowing that 50+ years ago, my baby and I would probably both have died during childbirth. The c-section saved both our lives.

2. Breastfeeding is not just hard, it is painful. Not one book I read in advance of motherhood prepared me for that. They all hint at "discomfort" but say nothing of curling your toes and blinking back tears even when your baby latches properly. They certainly say nothing of this lasting for 4-5 weeks. It would have been helpful to know this so I wouldn't have felt like I was doing something wrong. La Leche League - you could do a better job at preparing women with realistic expectations. I was okay after finding out it was normal and that it would end. Thank god for the Babyfit.com message boards, that's all I have to say.

3. The most commonly heard and read advice to stay in the hospital as long as you can so you can catch up on your rest is bullshit. They wake you up every 45 mins to an hour for stupid shit like blood pressure and temp readings, cleaning the floors, bringing meals, changing linens, checking the baby, etc. I couldn't sleep for anything. It was only after being home for a couple of weeks that I actually began to catch up on my sleep.

4. Do not let anyone make you feel guilty or badly for any of the choices you make, no matter how big or small they are. It is YOUR child, and at the end of the day we're all just doing the best we can to make it through and keep our kids healthy and safe.

5. Try not to get caught up in "shoulds" and "oughts." I cried on my second day in the hospital when the doctors said we had to give my son formula and the lactation consultant "tskd" at me for allowing them to show us how to finger-feed. I knew that I "should" breastfeed, but he had a fever and the doctors said he needed it - fuck her for making me feel caught in the middle of a battle between "breast is best" and the medical community. My son is still 99% breastfed, but I'll be damned if I'm going to feel guilty for giving him a bottle of formula every now and then.

6. None of us are perfect. If we get caught up in striving for perfection we will only find ourselves isolated and lonely. Some of us find ourselves feeling that way anyway. Parenting isn't a contest or a race. My son will never fault me for not giving him enough tummy time when he was a baby, but hopefully he will flourish from the cuddles, hugs, kisses, and snuggles he receives almost constantly.

7. And lastly, I heard the most profound and true quote about motherhood the other day: "The days are long, but the years are short." Try to keep things in perspective and remember that some day, sooner than we would all like, our children will be too big for our laps, too independent for carrying, too impatient for our stories, and too busy to call or visit. This doesn't mean you should be a martyr in the meantime. Instead, keep in mind that motherhood is the most ordinary yet profound role you will likely play in this life, but someday the most all-encompassing aspects of it will come to an end.

That's it for now. I will return soon on a lighter note with tales of hilarity from our New House Misadventures & Mishaps, the list of the 73 books I actually read this year (even though I didn't make it to 100), the birth story (for those interested), and as usual, Random Ramblings.

Happy & Safe Holidays to everyone!

Addicted to Watching These...

Man, It's Been Awhile

But I have an excuse!

Back in June I gave birth to a healthy baby boy and so I have no time to blog - at least for now. But I promise I will be back! Then I can add parenting and home improvement to my list of topics. That's right, we bought a house too! Just moved in a couple weeks ago.

As for my reading 100 books this year, I am only at 73 so it looks like I'm going to come up short again in 2010. But at least I have an excuse!