falling for me

Who doesn't love a good makeover story? That's what half of television is these days, it seems. Take a ungroomed gal in baggy clothes and give her a dress and haircut and wow! Cut off the old guy's foot-long beard and shazam! Add some paint and throw pillows and presto! The allure of change endlessly appealing if it's happening to someone else.

"Falling for Me" by Anna David is a trusty example of the story. She was single and emotionally entangled with an unavailable man when she came across "Sex and the Single Girl" by Helen Gurley Brown and got inspired by her joie de vivre. She decorates her apartment, takes cooking classes, studies French and travels to Spain.

I think being single when you don't want to be single is analogous to being infertile. In both cases, you are yearning for a relationship that doesn't exist. It may never exist. It is out of your control. You feel blocked off from the life everyone else enjoys all around you. I think society has a greater amount of sympathy for the infertile. There are awareness efforts and a sense that it's terribly unjust. But being single? There's nothing anyone can do. I wish there was more empathy in that regard.

I found it gratifying to read about her efforts to improve her life. She is a likable writer and totally relatable. Her exploits in the kitchen made me remember my terror of cooking for others. She said her apartment was full of the cheapest possible functional things. I totally remember those days in grad school.

The match.com dating travails get tiresome - perhaps it's just not my thing but I can't get interested in date stories that are a string of IMing and emailing. It seems removed and synthetic. I remember a quote from somewhere about how young adults of the current generation will never get to know each other the way we (30-somethings) did. We fell in love in person, having conversations across the table, holdings hands on walks. Generation facebook will flirt and date and fall in love by virtual communication. He posted a message about me, he "poked" my page, he "winked" at me.

eating the rainbow

"Eating the Rainbow" published by Star Bright Books is a fun board book teaching both colors and food names. It has a simple organization, clear and attractive, of the foods (apple, raspberries, strawberry, tomato) and photos of cute babies chomping away. My son would love this book since he likes identifying colors and I love that he would learn some new vocabulary! He hasn't seen figs or litchis on his plate yet. I'm a big fan of introducing kids to healthy eating at an early age so this book is a perfect example.

gift of an ordinary day

What do you do with the best days of your life? How to you keep them intact? How do you preserve happiness?

These are the best days of my life, I know. These are the days of pure love, of hearts swelling, of the beautiful gift of a little boy.

He has been going around giving kisses to everything - Christmas tree ornaments, his toys, the chair. He has such a big heart. Yesterday he said "Nose" and wanted me to kiss his nose. Then he said "Ear" and I kissed his ear. Then we did cheek, chin, forehead, mouth, top of head. I love cuddling him!

Last night he woke up at midnight crying so I cuddled him on the couch. Then we went to our bed and he slept with his cheek pressed to mine and his feet against Joe's head. He didn't sleep in, he woke up with Joe and wanted breakfast.

We had a great routine last week - every morning we went to the gym and he played "balls" at the childcare room. I loved getting my workout in! But today he threw a fit and didn't want me to leave. So I scooped him up and we went to the library.

I reread "The Gift of an Ordinary Day" by Katrina Kenison last night. I need to go back to that book over and over again so I learn the message anew. This little boy is only growing up and away from me - so do not get annoyed when he is clingy. Savor singing "Frosty the Snowman" over and over - these moments are fleeting. Don't be short-tempered when he wakes you up - treasure the sweetness of his chubby cheek pressed against yours. It is a temporary gift.

We have five and a half hours of daylight today. It is also very cold - 8 degrees. We made cookies this weekend in two sessions and I gave them out to the neighbors. The biggest triumph is that I didn't eat any! That is very good since I didn't get my gym time today!

I'm excited for this week - having my husband home.

the help

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett is fantastic in every way! It's going to be a great movie, I can't wait! I loved the story about the color divide in the 1960s South. It has lots of great roles for actresses.

I also read "The Dogs of Babel" by Carolyn Parkhurst and loved its depiction of a grief-struck widower struggling to make sense of a mystery and then finally letting himself know what he always knew. The reveal at the ending made utter sense and was done great skill and sensitivity.

I did not care for "The House on Oyster Creek" by Heidi Jon Schmidt. The omniscient narrator was an intriguing twist on an old tale - woman married to rich man who doesn't understand her and gets a crush on local handyman, etc. But their relationship never really got off the ground or held my interest. The pacing was very slow. There were some nice lines though - she felt as if she was coming unraveled and he held the string or something like that.

"Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer is a powerful and challenging book. It's so good, it's dismaying. I don't know how I'm going to go grocery shopping after reading. He asks - what is eating meat worth to you? He lists all the costs - ecological destruction, global warming, risks of a pandemic due to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, etc. But what makes his book different from Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver is an emphasis on the suffering of animals. Pollan and Kingsolver say - eat local foods for your health and the planet's health. Foer says - animals are sentient creatures, not products, and they should be treated as such. He depicts PETA with sympathy.

I do eat seafood - I started being "pescaterian" in high school. I thought meat was gross and liked the idea of limiting my appetite. It's possible to eat fantastic meals without beef or chicken or pork and it's more likely they will be healthy for you. So why not? I've stuck to it for years and now I am glad! I didn't go vegetarian for environmental reasons but now that I'm more familiar with the costs of eating meat, I am certainly glad I didn't contribute.

His discussion of "bycatch" and the "war of extermination" going on in the oceans is giving me pause now. I keep getting attracted to vegan lifestyles - "Food Inc" and Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet" get me riled up. But then I end up eating lots of processed soy, which doesn't seem healthy either.

I read Shirley Jackson's "Raising Demons," a sequel to "Life Among the Savages." It was cute but more of the same, not very different from the first book. It kind of made me sad to read that her later life was full of problems with addiction and agoraphobia. Those years with her little ones were the best of her life, perhaps.

I am currently very excited about a special book about my son's second year! I am making a photo book on Shutterfly.

church mice

I have also been reading a slew of children's books! I came across a recommendation for Graham Oakley's Church Mice series and ordered some online. They are from the 1970s and they are funny, with beautiful detailed drawings that give a twist on the text. The stories are sort of James Bond adventures starring two mice and a cat who has heard so many sermons he is nonviolent. Very adorable and charming and witty.

I also have "Evening" by Susan Minot to read and "Raising Demons" by Shirley Jackson, the sequel to "Life Among the Savages." I have a big stack of library books, including MFK Fisher's "The Art of Eating" and "Coming into the Country" by John McPhee - the classic book about Alaska. "Red Families v. Blue Families" by Cahn and Carbone should be interesting, based on an article I read in The New Yorker. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett is supposed to be good. "The Last Supper" is also by Rachel Cusk. I also have "Red Hook Road" by Ayelet Waldman, which got good reviews but I have to get into the right mood to read about a bride and groom killed.

at home in japan

Not sure how I came across "At Home in Japan" by Rebecca Otowa but it was an interesting peek at a different culture. I am obviously interested in reading about Americans in Europe and this was a different setting. It's not very involved or detailed about her relationship with her husband and how she adjusted to Japan - she is close lipped about her intimate life. But she talks about the house she lives in and how it has been in her husband's family for over 300 years. She talks about the bath culture and how women are expected to cook meals with many courses with dazzling presentation. She doesn't talk about how hard it must be to sacrifice your sense as an individual over and over - that make me miserable. Rural Japan is not necessarily a place I'm drawn to but it was interesting. ("If You Follow Me" was also set in rural Japan and I loved that book!)

"The Lost Girls" by Amanda Pressner, Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett needed an editor with a chainsaw. I was aghast when I saw this 300-page tome! This is not War and Peace, people. I enjoy their blog and peppy attitude about traveling. They seem down to earth and friendly. But this book made the mistake of thinking they were the interesting part of the story and not their experiences traveling. Perhaps I sound mean, but none of these women are Elizabeth Gilbert when it comes to writing ability. The blog felt a lot more immediate and interesting than the book.

"Peppermints in the Parlor" by Barbara Brooks Wallace was really enjoyable! I wish I had read it as a preteen. It has shades of "A Little Princess" in that a young girl is orphaned, declared penniless and must work as a servant in a mansion run by an evil woman. She strives to brighten the dour lives of the old folks by sneaking in a kitten and befriends a young boy named Kipper and uses lots of Cockney slang. The plot is nothing new but there are some unforgettable images - a tea bag passed down a long table and everyone uses it until there's no flavor at all. People sitting around the parlor tempted but deathly terrified of taking a peppermint. A trapdoor leading to an underground labrynth. Too much fun for a young reader!

"Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" by Margaret Sidney is a classic, I know, but it doesn't have much appeal to adults. Too sickeningly sweet, plot similar to "Little Women" but with less complex characters. The family is poor but loving - they charm a indolent boy with a rich grandfather who becomes their benefactor, etc. If I wanted a children's book about the beginning of the 20th century, I'd go for "All of a Kind Family" anyway! Those books are wonderfully warm and fun to read.

russian winter

I knew I'd like "Russian Winter" by Daphne Kalotay because the premise was so intriguing - ballerina who defected from communist Russia auctions off her jewelry, which raise questions from the past. And I did love it. It captures what life was like under Stalin - the atmosphere of wondering if you are being watched, the distrust, the people disappearing. A professor suspects the ballerina is his mother, based on his investigation of jewelry, and tries to connect with her but she refuses. The mystery propels you to the end, where everything is exposed in a shocking way. Great read - perfect for cold weather. I read "A Reliable Wife" around this time last year and loved the spooky atmosphere of my book connecting to the weather.

I read "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" by Sloane Crosley and thought the essays were fun - but I was really grossed out by the story about her bathroom. I was perplexed why she always gets rave reviews and accolades like "the next David Sedaris!" - and then I discovered she is a book publicist. So every writer is going to promote her book, so she'll like them. Duh. Anyway, I read "How Did You Get This Number" by Sloane Crosley and liked it. She writes about an Alaska wedding trip gone wrong, the junior high board game called "Girl Talk", and buying stolen merchandise from a furniture salesman while going through a breakup. The essays were witty and well-crafted but nothing earth-shaking.

I got Maira Kalman's book the day it came out! "And the Pursuit of Happiness" is another of her hybrid art/essays works with musing on democracy and celebrations of our history paired with whimsical drawings and photos. I love her!

"Mitten Strings for God" by Katrina Kenison is an extremely powerful book about motherhood that captures the mood I strive for. I loved her other book "The Gift of an Ordinary Day" and sought out this book. She writes about creating a peaceful home of creativity and appreciation. She encourages living by your own standards and not racing around doing things just because everyone else is. She advocates a lot of the principles of Waldorf schools - no TV, lots of nature, emphasizing self-reliance. Her reflections really touched me, esp her comments on the challenge raising kids to value living a good life, not just having good things. I want to read parts of this book to my husband - and try to convince him we shouldn't get a TV! Stop the frenzy and savor simplicity.

at home

I have been whipping though lots of great books... Let's get going.

Today I devoured Bill Bryson's "At Home: A Short History of Private Life" and found it fantastically entertaining and informative and wondrous. He takes his own house, a Victorian building used by the church's pastor as a point of reference and then takes off into the history of architecture (Palladio), construction materials (brick, stone, wood), city planning and the cholera epidemic, life of servants and slaves, hygiene, etc. It's great for people who love to learn because he covers so many different areas in such a humorous and provoking way. I love his writing, I have read nearly all his books, and this was a perfect choice as a new homeowner.

"Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights" by Sophia Dahl is a cookbook by a model. I came across this in Vogue and actually enjoyed the book quite a lot. It's well-designed with lovely pictures and line drawings and arranged by meals and seasons (Winter breakfast, winter lunch, etc). Many of the recipes look tasty - they are healthy, English, and wholesome. Baked eggs, parsnip soup, baked apples...

"Fly Away Home" by Jennifer Weiner is my new favorite book of hers. It's about a senator's wife who deals with the aftermath of a scandalous affair and her two daughters - a rigid doctor who is having an affair herself and a recovering addict with low self-esteem. They all go through various upheavals and then retreat to a family cottage by the sea. Is that the perfect set up or what? Female bonding by the crashing waves - the blankets pulled up to the neck as secrets are revealed on the porch by the salty sea air - it's the quintessential Lifetime movie.

Weiner relies on certain tropes - the loudmouth best friend, the unplanned pregnancy which ends up being the best thing ever, the use of conditional tense to describe time passing ex: "She'd get out of bed... She'd throw on a long-sleeved shirt..." She also uses indulging in food as a symbol of personal pride. I was waiting for sad-sack Gary to be redeemed - but no, he really was a one-dimensional loser character. Anyway, these are minor issues as on the whole I enjoyed all three main characters and felt the ending was believable.

I read "A Life's Work" by Rachel Cusk - a memoir about her initial response to mothering an infant. I had two reactions - moments of gratitude for describing something perfectly - and annoyance that she was just complaining needlessly. There are many difficult, painful, lonely and depressing parts of having a baby. I know this is true and I know it's important to let other mothers know they are not alone in feeling less than elated 24/7.

But at the same time ... these are the facts. Babies cry all the time, they are needy beyond anything you imagined, they devour your freedom and sense of identity, they change your body, cause you pain, ruin your sleep for years, and demand more. But this is just the way it is. No one in the sky is going to revamp babies and design next year's model to cry less. So what do we do? We focus on the good things (Cusk said, "What good things?" when a friend gave her this advice) and toughen up. Think of women throughout history who were pregnant nonstop - and didn't have disposable diapers. Think of women who yearn to have a baby and can't. Think of women struggling to find food for her babies. In a few months, the baby will learn to sleep and you'll feel better.

I also read "Tide, Feather, Snow" by Miranda Weiss about her experience moving to Alaska and living in Homer. She writes beautifully about nature and all the unique activities of the state, like dipnetting for salmon in a river and kayaking and cross country skiing.

home in alaska

So since my last post, I drove to Alaska, lived in a rental unit, bought a house, moved, unpacked and am now finally somewhat at home. And I got my library card!

The first book I dug out of my boxes of books was "The Gastronomy of Marriage" by Michelle Maistro. It is such a cozy read. It is not a book to set the world on fire, but it's like hanging out in a warm kitchen with a friend, feeling free to talk about things like what's for dinner without feeling that your intelligence is being insulted. It's lovely and always puts me in the mood for Chinese food.

Library books -

Speaking of China.... I read "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of The Cultural Revolution" by Ji Li Jiang. I knew nothing about Chinese history and was totally engrossed in her life story - as a young teenager facing terrible persecution and abuse under Chairman Mao. She shows how everyone was brainwashed into thinking Mao was like a god and yet they were suffering so much. They had no human rights - they were detained, forced to work in fields, searched, humiliated, made to turn in family members. What a tragic time - unbelievable that people were persecuting people just like them. Humans can find something to fight over, no matter what.

I also read "Toast" by Roger Rosenblatt - his memoir about the time he moved in with his son in law and grandkids after his daughter died suddenly. It's sort of like a journal, with a sense of notes being jotted down. He writes about how the family copes and what it's like to be thrust back in the role of active parent of young kids.

"To Dance: A Balleria's Graphic Novel" by Siena Cherson Siegel is about a young girl in Puerto Rico who studies dance in NYC. It's very sweet - her husband Mark Siegel did the illustrations.

"Pride of Baghdad" by Brian K. Vaughan and art by Niko Henrichon is based on the lions from the Baghdad Zoo who escaped after the bombing began. It didn't really speak to me - it's very stereotyptical with violent art and portentous statements. It is for the teenage boy demographic. I thought, because it was based on a true story, it might rise to the next level but it wasn't for me.

"Christmas Tapestry" by Patricia Polacco is a picture book with the happiest ending possible that brought tears to my eyes.

the big house

What have I been reading?

I reread "The Big House" by George Howe Colt. It's kind of rambling - I'm not really interested in the ancient Roman beliefs about houses by the sea - and the author gets a bit twee from time to time. The book is about his family history so it can feel somewhat over indulgent. But I love it anyway because I sympathize with loving a special house by the water and seeing it through the eyes of many generations.

I am rereading "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" by Janelle Brown and got her new book, "This is Where We Live." Good summery books.

I read "Life After Yes" by Aidan Donnelley Rowley and it had its moments. The main character had a weird dream and this is treated with as much gravity as if they were all ancient Greeks who believed dreams were portents. The plot had some surprising soapy machinations and bits of insight about grief, but it felt like it was for younger readers who are fascinated with weddings.

people of the book

"People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks is dazzling and masterful and sublime. I loved it madly. She takes a historical Jewish book and imagines how it came to exist. The frame story is a rare book researcher examining the book and finding different marks on it - salt, an insect wing, wine stain. Then the story goes back into history and explains what happened - in a Jewish ghetto in Venice, a young girl during the Holocaust and a Muslim in a harem. The mystery compels the story forward while the historical aspects reveal a history of anti-Semitism. It's a great gift to readers and those who fully believe the secret of life is in a book.

I also read "The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance" by Elna Baker and found it quite a hoot. Yes, it's a memoir by someone in her mid-30s or so, but it's hilarious. My favorite part was the section about her job as an actor at FAO Schwartz pretending to be a nurse looking for adoptive homes for babies. Also there's a hilarious story of how her Halloween costume as a fortune cookie went awry. She finds a lot of humor in the fact that she's a believing Mormon in hedonic NYC and loves both worlds fully. She is involved in the Mormon social activities and works at Letterman and Nobu. She also was obese and lost 80 pounds.

all over the map

I read "All Over the Map" by Laura Fraser after attending her book reading at Powell's. I totally adored "An Italian Affair" and was eager for her new book. I like her bemused take on things. She goes on all kinds of adventures - Outward Bound, a silent retreat, her college reunion, - and reports on stories in Rwanda and Samoa, where she is attacked. It's very upsetting. She struggles to find peace in the struggle to find peace (as Sarah McLaughlin would say). The ending clobbered me. I had just reread "An Italian Affair" so the Professor seemed very alive and sharp in my mind.

The structure feels kind of loose but her company is so charming, I enjoyed going along with her.

I also read "Life Would Be Perfect In That House" by Meghan Daum, which is extremely enjoyable. She's a hilarious writer. She recounts things in a deadpan way that makes me laugh - often describing mistakes she has made. She describes her passion for real estate and moving and I definitely related. There's a part in the end about a company called Soft Surroundings that makes me smile thinking about it.

I liked this passage - very apropro as we are moving soon.

"There are many dramas inherent to relocation via the highway: the tears triggered by a country song, the weird free fall of registering at a motel and not knowing your address, the exhilerating merger of open road and open future. But no one ever talks about those agonzing miles between your departure point and the point at which the interstate fades into a generic ribbbon of asphalt. No one ever talks about the suspension of disbelief required to pull out of a driveway that is no longer yours, coast through a neighborhood that will soon no longer be home, and pass - if not for the last time ever, at least for the last time before they become symbols of nostalgia - the landmarks that, while utterly prosaic, have long been the only thing standing between disorientation nad sweet familiarity."

the year of magical thinking

I tried to sell back those books yesterday - they only took about 1/3rd. So I'll either donate them to Goodwill or keep them. Hmm.

And I bought some books. I am so hopeless. So much for clearing off the shelves.

I read "James Herriot's Treasury for Children" upon recommendation of Catherine Newman, who I slavishly ape in every way. Adorable book of animal tales that made me cry with their gentle and sweet understanding of the world. I can't wait to share them with Little Mister. I also got James Herriot's memoir on CD to listen to as we drive the Alaska Highway. (And "Alphabet Juice" because we think Roy Blount Jr. is funny on NPR and some CD on sale about historical moments that changed the world.)

I also read "Trouble" by Kate Christensen and I love this book. It's heady with Mexico City atmosphere - it totally takes me back to our trip there. The grit and polluted air and flavors and music and streets... It's totally a fun read with a shocker of an ending.

"The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion is a reread. She analyzes her own heartbreak and grief after her husband died and daughter was seriously ill. Through this prism, we see her rich life and how much she lost.

"Shelter Me" by Juliette Fay was okay. Too talky and slow. A widow grieves and is rude to her Catholic priest and falls in love with her handyman building a porch. Not for me. The best part was the sermons - it was sort of wish fulfillment of a Catholic priest taking responsibility and condemning the molestation crisis in the church.

I also picked up an adorable board book for Little Mister. "Ten Little Babies" by Gyo Fujikawa is the cutest thing ever.

clearing off the bookshelf

Oh, this is hard. I would like to hug each book to my chest and make it part of me forever. But we're moving and I need to clear out our stuff. We must make room for wonderful gifts of the future.

So here's a loving goodbye.

First I must note that Powell's has really enabled my book buying habit! I just can't resist an interesting title marked off. Who cares if I'll read it again? I just have to have it.

"Seven Loves" by Valerie Trueblood. Extremely beautiful, poetic language but not plotty enough for me.

"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Loved this book, a brilliant marriage of action adventure and profound philosophical musings on religion. But will I read it again? No. Some books you read once, get the message, and you're done with it. Humans yearn to believe the better story and that's just the way we're built.

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. Great cover, an exciting opening, lots of sweet animal - human moments, decadent atmosphere.

"What Do You Do All Day?" by Amy Scheibe. A funny book that gives you a sense of solidarity with SAHMs.

"A Wedding in December" by Anita Shreve. I really liked this book - reunion of friends, glamorous locale, secrets revealed, a wedding - all the elements I adore. Everyone is grappling with 9-11 in the book, which makes it seem kind of dated.

"The Girls" by Lori Lansens. This book is SO good. It made me cry. It's stunning. She takes a out-there premise of conjioned twins and tells a story of love, simple and complex.

"I Know This Much Is True" by Wally Lamb. I read this while pregnant. Such a good book. It's enormous and yet addicting, a whole world is created for you. It's about a man with a mentally ill twin brother.

"Goodnight Nobody" by Jennifer Weiner is a funny book about a SAHM solving a mystery. The description of suburban life is comic but the mystery is rather lame.

"Mail" by Mameve Medwed is a very enjoyable book about a Harvard woman falling for her mailman. It's clever and sweet and a good read.

"House & Home" by Kathleen McCleary is all about a woman's love for her home in Portland. This means a lot to me as I am preparing to leave beautiful Portland. But the plot aspects are kind of humdrum.

"The Brothers K" by David James Duncan is a big book about baseball, brothers, the
'60s. I confess my interest waned at times. But the ending was extremely powerful, an arrow to the heart.

"Dating Big Bird" by Laura Zigman is a chicklit book about the desire for a baby, not the desire for a man. It's bright and funny, set in the NYC fashion world, with a heartfelt yearning to be a mom.

"Happy All the Time" by Laurie Colwin is about two couples who are happy. They have no real conflicts. It killed me. I was reading page after page waiting for some tension and there was none. It annoyed the heck out of me. I love Laurie Colwin's books about cooking, I think she is a world-class charmer. I want to love her fiction. But I don't.

"The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean is a crazy story about orchids and then cult that surrounds them. She writes in the first person about reporting the story and takes it into many directions - the nature of passion, Florida's invasive species issues, botany. It's totally enjoyable to read b/c she takes you into all these unexpected and yet enthralling ideas.

"The Nanny Diaries" by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus is a peek into the rarified Park Avenue world from the eyes of the nanny. She is exposed to the high life but doesn't belong. She is intimately involved in raising their child but viewed as staff. The opening scene of the interview process is the best part. The plot is kind of weak with one-dimensional characters.

"Leave Me Alone, I'm reading" by Maureen Corrigan. I really like her insights and excitement for books! I am just as nutty for books as she is. She got me to reread "Gaudy Night" and "One True Thing" and Laurie Colwin's fiction. She also recommends MFK Fisher, which I need to read.

I did a big cleanout of my bookshelf before this move. I was very strict. Shopaholic, goodbye. Adios, Know It All. Only worthy books would come along. But then I ended up wanting to read them again and (don't tell) purchased the books again. (Damn you Powells!) Books are a story - and they are a connection to the past. I remember who I was when I reread a book. "The Thirteenth Tale" makes me feel neauseated b/c I read it in the first trimester.

I am searching for the secret of life and I know it's in a book. I feel that as a child, I found something in books that I want again. So I read and read, always looking for that secret.

heart of the matter

So I've been reading a bunch of divorce memoirs. "An Italian Affair" by Laura Fraser is a reread - she has a new book out I'm excited about. The "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress" book. Then this morning I read "Falling Apart in One Piece" by Stacy Morrison. Other books in this genre include "Split" by Suzanne Finnamore and "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and "Happens Every Day" by Isabel Gillies. I think I like these books because women are freed to speak out and tell the truth about their relationships. They go through awful turmoil and pain, but generally they find freedom. They have permission to do crazy things - have an affair ("An Italian Affair"), travel the world ("Eat, Pray, Love"), eat biscuits from KFC and do a lot of online shopping ("Split"). They break the rules and become interested in Zen wisdom and then find liberation.

So this book was "Falling Apart in One Piece" by Morrison, editor of Redbook. I felt great sympathy for her. Her husband left her after she had a baby and he really seems like a crummy, self-involved loser. She's working really hard at her intense magazine job and caring for the baby and dealing with a nightmare house situation and he says he's done with the marriage. Pretty harsh.

The book is not as funny as the Mennonite book or as charming as "Eat, Pray, Love" or glamorous as "An Italian Affair." It's very honest and wrenching. I related to her struggles with a toddler. Parenting can be so hard, so draining and thankless. You need a break. And you don't get one when you're a single parent. The little things can be so overwhelming. She writes about coming home with a ruined vacation and her son's lip getting hurt. She goes to the ER and he has to have stitches in his lip. The stitches don't dissolve so she has to go back to the doctor and have them removed. Then she has to go back home, pack the diaper bag for daycare, find parking, get him to daycare and herself to work. She leaves her car double parked, thinking a ticket is the last of her troubles. She writes about going through such a arduous ordeal just to accomplish something small - getting out of the house. It's hard.

Ruined vacations, a house fire, and a basement flooded with sewage! It sounds utterly miserable. I'm glad she found some peace finally.

I also read "Heart of the Matter" by Emily Giffin. I really liked the concept - story of an affair from alternative viewpoints of the wife and the mistress. She does a good job at drawing believable characters. There are some lively observations about parenthood.

summer at tiffany's

"Summer at Tiffany's" by Marjorie Hart is a super cute memoir of a summer at the end of WWII. Marjorie and her friend Marty got jobs as the first female pages at Tiffany's on 5th Avenue. They were wide-eyed college girls from Iowa and enjoyed a glimpse of glamourous nightclubs. They dated servicemen and saw Judy Garland and mourned the loss of a cousin in the war. Despite the sadness, it's an innocent time - they are super excited that their apartment has a toaster.

Kind of too bad she didn't go to Yale, though. (While in NY, she impressed someone with her cello-playing and they offered her admission to Yale. But she turned it down.)

"Mennonite in a Little Black Dress" by Rhoda Janzen is hilarious! The cover photo of a dress made me think it would be really cutesy, but the author is a professor. She went through a surgery gone bad, a car accident and her husband leaving her within a period of months and then returned to her parents' home who are Mennonites. The real attraction is her deadpan sense of humor - recognizing the ridiculousness of her train wreck situation and finding solace in the values of family and community. She is never sappy - she's honest about her bad marriage and her responsibiity for staying with him so long. She has so much clarity and appreciation, it's really uplifting to read.

I started "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks and I already love it!

an exact replica

I've been doing more rereading. "An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination" about a stillborn child. I tried to read the "Butterflies of Grand Canyon" but couldn't really get into it. It's a cozy mystery so it's the characters aren't exactly deep and I keep confusing them. They all seem to have weird names that begin with E.

bringing home the birkin

"Bringing Home the Birkin" by Michael Tonello is quite entertaining. Hermes wouldn't sell Birkin purses to people who walked in the store - but he figured out that they would if he spent a ton of money in the store first. So he started doing this as a business - going to Hermes stores and events all around the world, living a lavish lifestyle at fancy hotels, then reselling the bags on ebay. He thinks the bags aren't really worth so much money, but he'll take advantage of the pentup demand.

He's pretty smart and the book is funny. For me, it exposes the shallowness and hypocritical world of designer fashion. These people think they are special because they have an expensive purse - so dumb. And we're sold this message in a million ways every day.

Rereading "The Imposter's Daughter" and "Renegade." At the library, I got "The Butterflies of Grand Canyon" which looks fun.

the kind diet

I was really inspired by "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone - so many good arguments for eating a plant-based diet, both for personal health and to save the planet. I bought a bunch of weird ingredients and made some recipes. They have been good, even my husband likes them. I guess I am still stuck on the issue of eating so much processed soy foods like Vegenaise and soy cheese. Michael Pollan says eat real food, not fakey food products. Plus I think soy can mess up your hormones if you eat it a lot. So I am perplexed. Certainly, reducing my intake of dairy would benefit my health. I eat quesadillas for snacks several times a week. I did feel different after a vegan meal. I felt very light and floaty. Anyway, it's a good book.

"When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead is a real delight, a YA book set in the NYC of the late '70s. I like the gritty atmosphere of the homeless and a strange sandwich shopkeeper - these are kids with a lot of automony and brushes with a great variety of people.

"Someone Will Be With You Shortly" by Lisa Kogan is a bunch of essays on modern life - she's quite funny and manages to savage Republicans quite frequently. Erma Bombeck meets Rachel Maddow. I chuckled at several stories.

Next up!

I have two New Yorker issues to catch up on.

I went to the bookstore yesterday and got Richard Wolffe's "Renegade" - I read it when it first came out and loved it. I mean, the story of the campaign is stranger then fiction. Also more dramatic, more hilarious, more mind-boggling and more meaningful than fiction. "Renegade" dutifully retells the story we all lived through with the characters we all got to know too well - but because the hero won and saved the day, I want to hear the story again and again.

I also came home with two other books that were discounted and intriguing. "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers is a book I read in high school and wanted to reread. "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks sounds too tasty - a literary mystery that sweeps across 600 years.

And at the library, I have a ton of children's books awaiting me! I requested a bunch of books that Gwyneth Paltrow recommended in her GOOP newsletter.