Confessions of a Scary Mommy: An Honest and Irreverent Look at Motherhood - The Good, The Bad, and the Scary byJill Smokler

Smokler took some time off from working when her kids were young. She started a blog about motherhood, and found a community out there with other blogger moms who shared about the ups and downs of motherhood. She added an anonymous "Confessional" sections and moms responded with real, honest, sad, and funny confessions.

This book has short chapters on different aspects of motherhood (pregnancy, birth, vacations, sick children), and each chapter begins with a bunch of "confessions" from her blog.

Some confessions:
"I like my children best when they are newborns. I like them less every year after."
"If I'd known the kind of father my husband would be, I never would have married him."
"I swear at my kids in German and they have no idea what I'm saying."
"I have triplets, so why am I lonely?"

All I have to say about this book is: if you're thinking about having kids, you probably shouldn't read this book. If you already have kids, you might be either totally amused and relate to Smokler, or maybe you'll think she's a bad, bad mom. Or maybe both. I thought it was funny.

Guest Blogging on The Chocolate Gravy Diaries

I'm happy to write that I'm guest blogging on Sindy's blog, The Chocolate Gravy Diaries. For those of you who don't know Sindy, she is a very creative, curious, and thoughtful lady, and her blog posts are great food for thought.

Each month on her blog, I'm writing more in-depth about the books that have influenced me and shaped who I am today. You can head over there to read my November post on He's Just Not That Into You. My December post will be up next week.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

A little bird told me that you're looking for a great book to read during your upcoming holiday vacation. A sprawling novel with superb writing, well-developed characters, and a wonderful story?

Well, get out your pencil from your pencil pouch, because I have the book for you!

This book has everything: a nun who gives birth, twins, an abandoning dad, political uprisings, homicide, suicide, love, unrequited love, and transplant surgery. What else are you looking for in a book??

I really, really enjoyed this book. I'm thinking of giving it to some people for Christmas.

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

This story takes place over one weekend on the East Coast island of Waskeke. The Van Meter family is gathered for their eldest daughter's wedding. It's like we're flies on the wall of their beach house as everyone gets together and catches up.

I don't want you to write this book off as a chic-lit wedding weekend easy reading book. For having so many characters (the parents, sisters, bridesmaids, groomsmen, other relatives), each one is quite distinct and memorable. Furthermore, the relationships between each person are also very clear.

This is a very detailed and observant book about relationships, the things we tell ourselves, and the importance of figuring out what matters in life and what doesn't.

For whatever reason though, I'm finding that I can't give this a wholehearted recommendation. Maybe about an 70%-hearted recommendation. It's a good read, just not one to make me gush.







PS: Contains adult themes and content.

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

This is a graphic novel about a Japanese-American man, Ben Tanaka. His longtime girlfriend, Miko Hayashi, accuses Ben of being attracted to white women. This is just one of her problems with Ben. What's really going on between them and can it be helped?

Ben is really not likable at the beginning of this book. I started to have some empathy for him toward the end. And at the very end, it was just heartbreaking, so give this guy a chance!

The dialogue in this book is spot on. The observations about ethnicity and relationships also hit close to home. Painful and heartbreaking, but I'm recommending it! However, if you happen to have some Asian male angst, I'm not recommending this to you because it might hit TOO close to home.

Friends Like Us by Lauren Fox

Willa was best friends with Ben during high school. He had a secret crush on her. Fast forward to their mid-20s. Willa and Ben re-connect, Willa introduces Ben to her best friend, Jane. Ben and Jane fall in love. However, as the Prologue tells us, Willa and Jane are no longer friends. The rest of the book tells us what happened between them and Ben.

Okay, sounds like another chic-lit book? And it kinda is, but this one is different mostly because it is painful and crushing to read at times. I found it to be very engaging. The only distracting thing is that Willa likes to use a lot of puns, and this is a bit overdone. Overall though, this would make a satisfying read for a rainy winter afternoon.

The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One by David B. Feldman, PH.D. and S. Andrew Lasher, Jr., MD

This book has been sitting on my shelf for years, and I finally picked it up and worked my way through it.

It's not easy to talk or even think about end-of-life issues, but this book addresses the kinds of questions that families might have when a loved one is dying.

The titles of the chapters are in the form of questions:
Could the doctors be wrong? (chapter 1)
Who are all of these people? (chapter 2)
What treatments are available? (chapter 3)
...and so on through symptom relief, what to expect as someone dies, and how to say goodbye, etc.

I appreciated that this book addressed not only the physical component of caring for a dying loved one, but also the emotional piece as well. This book also discusses hospice care which I think is a very under-utilized service, or if it is used, a patient is oftentimes admitted very late, so there's not enough time to take advantage of all of the services that hospice has to offer.

Hopefully you won't need the information in this book right now or anytime soon, but if you ever do, know that this is a very helpful guide to read, and that there are answers to your questions.