As my part of my Learn goals for 2016, I’m reading a variety of styles and genres of books in the attempt to discover new ideas and expand my horizons. My goal is to read at least 25 this year, of which I’m keeping track on Goodreads. Are you over there? Let’s connect!
The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth
I’d characterize this one as pretty light fiction, maybe even chick lit? It’s the story of three generations of midwives, each with their own secret. The tale is told in alternating voices, but I found it easy enough to follow. It was a quick read and all the questions are answered and tied up in a pretty bow by the end, which my optimistic heart loved. I checked some reviews and someone wrote that it felt a bit like a Jerry Springer episode – I got a nice laugh out of that description!
(P.S. Starting in May and continuing through August, The Inspired Readers Book Club is changing things up: we’re hosting the Inspired Readers Summer Book List Challenge! We’ve picked two books for each month, which you can read at your own pace. Then check in with the Facebook group when you feel inspired with thoughts or reflections on the books! We hope this will allow us all to continue to read and stay connected, but in a way that is more manageable during summertime. We always welcome new members and would love for you to check out what we’re reading this summer! The Secrets of Midwives is one of the choices for May.)
Why Can’t We Just Play?: What I Did When I Realized My Kids Were Way Too Busy by Pam Lobley
My original intention for reading this book was reassurance in my unpopular parenting choices. We live in an area where kids are involved in multiple extra-curricular activities, participate in competitive sports by age 6, and the pressure to “keep up” is unreal. So I figured this memoir, written by a mother intent to recreate a summer like the 1950s, would be right up my alley. Little did I know how much this book would affect me and in ways I didn’t expect.
This paragraph from the last chapter sums it up: “This is the message of the 1950s: their low expectations. Or rather, their reasonable expectations. We demand so much more of our family life – our family experience – than previous generations did. And it saddles all of us with an unachievable burden. If you’re looking for the main difference between childhood in the 1950s and now, it is that children were freer then. Free to imagine, free to be bored, free to fail, free to be average.” You know me and my unreasonable expectations for my life. The “permission” to unburden myself from the demands of our city and (more importantly) my perfectionist, overachieving tendencies…let’s just say it was a reminder I really needed. It’s okay not to carry the weight of every.single.thing.
(I received this book from Familius, but all opinions are mine.)