How do you review books that are basically someone else’s life narrative? Fat Girl Walking is Brittany Gibbon’s story, and her owning her story. I respect that, and feel no desire to take it to task. In fact, the writing is crisp and the humor sarcastic. There is little I can point to as flawed other than a few instances of casual ableism. I just didn’t like it. And since I rate by the Goodreads system, that means this book gets a single star. Perhaps […]
A Book For the Anti-Sanctimommy
No one has to be told that parenting is rough sometimes, but what’s hard to remember is that every kid is different. Making it even more difficult are the parents who think they know so much better than everyone else, and make it their job to let the world know. Though some of us have an easier time than others avoiding (or becoming) this sort of person, it’s good to see a new breed of parenting book making its way in this often complicated existence. […]
Our house is a very, very fine house
This book came highly recommended by a psychologist friend of mine. While it is fiction, it gives a very realistic look into the lives of a family affected by autism. Told in the first person, you get an intimate view of how autism feels. Livvie Owen is 14, and she has two sisters, one older, one younger, and a mom & dad. They’ve moved multiple times, a result of both life circumstances–they live in a dying small town–and Livvie’s disruptive behavior, which landlords find hard […]
Motherhood, am I right?
I reviewed another of Jessica Valenti’s books (“The Purity Myth”) for last year’s Cannonball Read, and she actually acknowledged my review on Twitter. That was a very happy day. I knew about this book but hadn’t read it; I discovered it on Audible on Friday ended up listening to it pretty much straight through. Ms. Valenti is a feminist author and mother of her young daughter Layla. Layla was born SUPER early, spending her first weeks in the NICU. Ms. Valenti spends time talking about […]