What are you reading? « Back to Group Discussions

[snozzberry]

I'm always looking for good book recommendations, so I thought it would be fun to have a thread where we can share titles of books we're enjoying throughout the next 9 months - whether they're pregnancy/baby related or not!

So...what are you reading and enjoying right now?

[snozzberry]

I forgot to say what I'm reading right now!

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend - It's about a woman who decides to devote a year to finding a new best friend (or two). So she commits to going on one friend-date a week for a whole year. Funny, and interesting too!

[amyknits1076]

I'm reading several right now. For work, since I'm training to teach the class, I'm reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp. Also reading "The House at Riverton" by Kate Morton. I love historical fiction. And lastly I'm reading "Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home" by Elizabeth Foss in preparation for starting some home preschool with my daughter. Next up on my list is a book for my book club, "The Peach Keeper" by Sarah Allen Addison (I think). I've loved some of her other books, and this is a murder mystery type, I love those too, so this one should be pretty good!

That book you're reading sounds hysterical, I might have to put it on my list!

Have you heard of goodreads.com? It's a social networking site for book nerds. If you're interested I can send  you an invite, just PM me your email address!

[snozzberry]

Yes, I am on Goodreads! Love it!

I will PM you my email.

[amyknits1076]

I got it and friended you! For some reason my PM wouldn't let me reply :/

[TwilightJoy]

Originally Posted by snozzberry 

I forgot to say what I'm reading right now!

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend
- It's about a woman who decides to devote a year to finding a new best friend (or two). So she commits to going on one friend-date a week for a whole year. Funny, and interesting too!

I tried to read that and couldn't get into it. I read the first season, started to get bored, and skipped and read the end.



I just read The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy. Pretty mainstream and outdated.

I'm flying across the country this weekend to vist a friend. The books I'm taking along to read on the plane are Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding and The Baby Book by Sears and Sears.

The Baby Book is huge! I definitely won't get through it in a few hours, but I like hopping back and forth between 2 books.

[snozzberry]

Originally Posted by TwilightJoy 
I tried to read that and couldn't get into it. I read the first season, started to get bored, and skipped and read the end.
I just read The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy. Pretty mainstream and outdated.
I'm flying across the country this weekend to vist a friend. The books I'm taking along to read on the plane are Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding and The Baby Book by Sears and Sears.
The Baby Book is huge! I definitely won't get through it in a few hours, but I like hopping back and forth between 2 books.

Haha, I just finished the first season in MWF Seeking BFF, so maybe it will lose its appeal soon...

Those two books you're taking with you are good ones!

[amyknits1076]

The Baby Book is a good one, I couldn't read it all at once since it covers SO MUCH information, but I did read it as we approached each month/milestone. It was truly very helpful!

[nstewart]

I'm reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte...it's really good and I can't put it down!  (oh, and if you have an e-reader, it's FREE!)

I read a pretty wide range of fiction, from "fluffy" stuff like shopaholic, to more "serious" stuff like Timothy Findley and Margret Atwood, to classics (my favorite of all time being Anna Karenin).  I have to say, it's only in the last 6-8 months I've had time to read fiction again, as since getting PG with DS I was pretty focused on non-fiction, pregnancy and then parenting related stuff.  Time to start back down that route again!  

[Lynann]

I've always been an avid reader, but with 2 boys of 27 months & 12 months I'm not getting a whole lot of time to read.

I am however still in the middle of a few books.

"Deke" the autobiography of D.K. Slayton, one of the original Mercury Astronauts.

"Patriarch" by Richard Norton Smith about George Washington in his presidential years.

"Mary Pride's Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling" by Mary Pride (because I like being prepared ahead of time.)

I'd add in some fiction if I had the time, but then I wouldn't get the chores done.

[aHikaru]

planning on reading Ina May Gaskin's books :)

[Quinalla]

I'm reading Red Hood’s Revenge by Jim C Heins right now. It's the third in a series that takes three of the big princesses (Snow White, Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty) and basically makes them a team of badasses fighting evil and puts twists on their traditional backstories. The author while a man is a huge feminist, lots of fun if you like some kickass women in a fantasy world. Taking all fantasy/sci-fi recs here, especially ones with strong female characters!

For pregnancy/baby related, I just got my reserve at the library for Unbuttoned : Women Open up about the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding and I plan to read The Milk Memos and a few Ina May Gaskin books again. I highly recommend The Milk Memos if you are going to be pumping FT/PT, it's a good resource and has a bunch of diverse stories of mom's who pumped.

Does anyone have a good recommnedation for something that would be similar to The Thinking Women's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer but more recent? I will just get it again if there isn't anything more recent, but I'd like something with more up to date info.

[snozzberry]

Originally Posted by Quinalla 

I'm reading Red Hood’s Revenge by Jim C Heins right now. It's the third in a series that takes three of the big princesses (Snow White, Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty) and basically makes them a team of badasses fighting evil and puts twists on their traditional backstories. The author while a man is a huge feminist, lots of fun if you like some kickass women in a fantasy world. Taking all fantasy/sci-fi recs here, especially ones with strong female characters!

Ooh, I may check that one out! Here's a fantasy with a strong female character that I *loved*...Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Also: The Adoration of Jenna Fox, more on the sci-fi side.

[Quinalla]

Originally Posted by snozzberry 

Ooh, I may check that one out! Here's a fantasy with a strong female character that I *loved*...Graceling by Kristin Cashore.Also: The Adoration of Jenna Fox, more on the sci-fi side.

Awesome, thanks, I'll definitely check them both out!

[Quinalla]

Just finished Red Shirts by John Scalzi, if you are a Star Trek fan, please read this book. You will love it and it is so funny. It is fiction take-off of Star Trek/sci-fi TV that is funny and smart with some great twists. I had to get this read quickly as I was on the waiting list forever and didn't want to wait in line again.

Just started Unbuttoned : Women Open up about the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding, I'll let you know what I think of it!

[nstewart]

I finished Jane Eyre a while back, and it was excellent! 

I've been reading Ina May Gaskin's "Birth Matters".  It is well written, and really interesting.  It makes me thankful to live in a time when we don't have "twilight sleep" and when I have choices about my care provider and also to live in a country where the medical system is not being influenced by insurance companies (not to say it doesn't have its own issues!).

Interestingly though, I think I have to stop reading it before bed.  I find that I'm being kept awake by thinking about the birth of DS, and also about the birth of this baby after reading it.  It's far to soon to be obsessing, right?  I had a wonderful birth experience, but it was not "extatic and pain free" like several of those described in Gaskin's book.  I was reading one birth story in the book which made me remember "the ring of fire" which I had completely forgotten about...

[pastormama]

Re-reading "Real Food for Mother and Baby" by Nina Planck, and "Montessori From the Start" by Lillard and Jessen.

[jacquelinej]

Hrm, gee whiz, I read a lot.  There are currently 6 books on my desk or IPad for birth/pregnancy.  One is Aviva Romm's Naturally Healthy Babies and Children.  It has a pregnancy section too.  Another Aviva Romm I am reading is The Natural Pregnancy Book.  I also have Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar.  It also has a pregnancy and birth section I am reading.  I have a couple issues of Pathways to Family Wellness on my IPad too which frequently has good articles.

The rest are herbal books I am doing research in for my RA as I seek a more natural and healthy approach to treating my RA which may or may not be possible.

Last year when I was homeschooling DD I was reading a lot more about homeschooling approaches for ADHD children.

Then there's the reading I do for future research involving epidemiology.  Most of that is in electronic journals.

At night, while relaxing for bed, I read Historical Fiction, Science Fiction or Fantasy.  Currently in an HF mood, so I am currently reading Helen of Troy by Margaret George.

If you haven't heard of Paperbacksawp.com, you should check it out.  It is how I can afford to read the amount of books I read monthly (12 books/month).  It also has kids books although I have a separate account for the kids books since they are often less expensive then the adult books.  I have been able to find older print books that I could not get online because they were out of print.  

I am also on goodreads although I don't update it very often...I try to keep track of what I have read with it.

It sounds like I read all day, and maybe that is partly true...I don't get to do much else without a 20 minute jaunt to the train station...  

[Quinalla]

Finished Unbuttoned : Women Open up about the Pleasures, Pains, and Politics of Breastfeeding yesterday, I enjoyed it! Its a very diverse collection of essays of women who were and weren't successful breastfeeding and all sorts of different perspectives on it and the book groups them by early days, in the middle of it, breastfeeding problems and weaning. Two that really resonated with me was one about pumping at work that reminded me of my experience and another about how awesome breastfeeding hormones can be. Overall I liked that it just give honest reactions of a bunch of different women to breastfeeding that nicely balanced. It's definitely not a how-to book (there are plenty of those out there already) but it's a good one if you have time and plan to breastfeed.

[cadybh]

I'm rereading Mayo Clinic's Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy - it has little week by week synopses of what's going on with fetal development.

I'm also rereading Anna Karenina.  I read it first in high school and didn't really get it because I didn't have enough life experience.  It's been fascinating to reread as a married adult who has a child.   It's slow going though.  :)  

I am looking for something LIGHT and FUN and FICTIONAL for afterward.  Was thinking maybe of Swamplandia!  Has anybody read that?  I also really want to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Weeks (or whatever her name was) but I worry it's not going to be enough of a fluff break after Tolstoy.