Catching Up...

It is sometimes hard to keep straight when I finished reading things, because I go through them quickly. So, during the previous week, I read:

Winter 2006 issue of The Compleat Mother. I started getting this magazine when I was pregnant with my first son. It was a little on the "radical" side for me at that point and I got hung up on the sometimes poor editing/typos. I let my subscription end after getting it for two years. Well....I've become more radical myself since then and I recently purchased a bulk subscription with four of my playgroup friends. So, now I totally devour this magazine as well (I still get a little peevish about the typos). It is a hardcore "natural mothering" almost zine-like magazine. (I'm an Area Rep now too, so if anyone wants to buy a one year subscription, Paypal me $12 ;-)

The excellent feminist classic: Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience & Institution
This book really clarified for me the "institutional" elements of motherhood that I sometimes find so oppressive and binding--it isn't the children themselves, in the climate of motherhood in which I find myself. I got a little ranty about the patriarchy and how it is holding me down and then felt depressed and oppressed. Got a handle on myself fairly quickly though. It was a great book and made me think about many issues, as well as feel a bit despairing...

I also read my newsletter from Attachment Parenting International, my newsletter from Mothers & More, and my alumni magazine from UMR

I borrowed Not Buying It from the library. It was an interesting memoir. Some of the reviews on Amazon were a little harsh--I do not think she promised anything other than what she delivered. It was a semi-journal type account of her "year without shopping." She did not pretend to be an expert on simple living, nor to give you fab tips on becoming one. It was her documentary of a personal experiment basically. My mom had checked out The Memory of Running at the same time, so after I finished my book, I read hers as well. It was fiction and I just gobbled it down. I usually read nonfiction, so some fiction is kind of a treat--I have a much easier time putting nonfiction down. When I read fiction, I get glassy eyed with having read "too much" and actually feel a little ill. It was an engaging story--loserish guy takes off on his bike to LA after losing all the members of his family. Loses weight and "finds himself" along the way. The character was one of those "unlikeable" characters that you enjoy anyway.

I know I read some other things as well, but the children's patience is waning greatly, so I'll have to catch up later (or not, I have many things in my to read pile, so I may just go forward in time from here).

Edited to briefly add two others I remembered: Breastfeeding Your Baby and Pregnancy Day by Day. Both by Sheila Kitzinger, both a little on the older side. I got them free from a stuff-swapping playgroup friend :-) They are both heavily illustrated--the breastfeeding one has some very nice photos. Probably the most photos of any breastfeeding book I own thus far. I'm taking back to playgroup to swap to someone else though, so I guess I won't own it for long! Hmm. Maybe I should rethink my plan. Making gingerbread houses with playgroup tomorrow--taking L's leftover parade candy to contribute to the bounty.