Books, Books, Books

What you can't see, due to all those cashmere folds, is the kid passed out after breastfeeding. With my little lug tugging away, I can excuse reading my way through the Library of Congress.


Ha, ha, ha. Almost 20 days after my last post and I'm STILL 0-24 on posting pics of the boys. Don't worry, though; J has the latest on his brand spankin' new laptop and I'm hoping he'll zip away and get that video posted (preferably in the next decade) of P singing "Fifty Nifty United States" with Grandma so it can become the next YouTube phenomenon.

But I digress. Aside from normal small children busy-ness, I've realized in the last few weeks that I've stumbled across more books in the last six months that have radically changed my outlook than I have since my formal education (which, truth be told, rarely gave me boosts of brain-esteem. More like urges to hit snooze... like twenty times. Or to grab a blow torch. To burn the books, of course! Sick minds, you.). So here's a few that some of you might enjoy, too (now, or later, as the case may be):

Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Yes, I know it's not just a book; we took the class last fall and it kicked our rears. Now I'd like to think we're not paying the stupid tax anymore. And anybody with tenacity can do this! Awesome.

Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books. I only read the last five (basically the high school books plus the last one), but they are terrific. I somehow missed these growing up; I had Laura Ingalls, Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon, and several other lovable heroines to cherish, but my daughter--God willing! no shocking news announcement here!--will also have Betsy (who also lived in Minnesota!).

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. My kids will practice their instruments and study 10,000 hours just because of this book. And maybe because of Amy Chiu'sBattle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, but I haven't read it yet. In the meantime, lap up this gem.

Zac Bissonnette's Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching Off My Parents. This book is so good it's sick. I want to pass out free copies to every college-bound kid I know. It's hilarious, the author is hot (hey--only the truth here), and it can save readers from six-digit debt--it's a win-win. The only downside is this book came out about ten years too late.

Michael Gurion's The Wonder of Boys. Okay, so the last half of this book wasn't so great, when Gurion's fixation with the biological order attempts rhetorical gymnastics to show that, hey, if your son is gay, that's completely normal and predictable. (It'd be funny if his logic wasn't so warped.) Now THAT'S a great way to plug a book! Until I run across another book on boys that's decent, the first half of this will have to do. It really made me think about relationships, including mine with J. Boys really do think differently than girls.

Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop. I love Willa Cather. And as my copies of her books are boxed and irretrievable in the basement (pending the final finishing), I had to get my fix--and why not through one of her classics that I'd never read? And boy, have I been missing out. This book is gorgeous. I can feel sand on my tongue right now just thinking about it. And I want to die in New Mexico.

Dr. Jill Lekovic's Diaper-Free By Three. I literally grabbed it off the shelf as I was running by (my typical library-browsing approach now that I have small children), meaning to skim it for tips on tweaking P's potty habits. Holy crow, every mom of a six-month-old should read this! I'm sure other books have better step-by-step directions--Lekovic prefers the anecdote-style how-to over the list--but the theory of early potty training hits a home-run here. She reviews the medical literature and shows how potty training that begins after the age of two is, pun intended, in its infancy in terms of early training and its thousands-of-years history. I literally started reading this yesterday and got so excited that S started sitting on the potty an hour later. We tried it twice again today, too! He squirms, but that's normal--I'm just super-pumped that we're starting now, so he'll be essentially diaper-free sooner (like very feasibly by the end of THIS--2011--year!). Disclaimer: don't freak out if you think I'm a nutso mom--read the book! Even if you have no kids! SOMEBODY you know will benefit from your new-found knowledge.

Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald's Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. This one's the real kicker. I actually read it about a year and a half ago, but I re-read it last November just to soak in its Scriptural reminders (and cultural-debunking) again. As a woman fairly recently released from "the grind," as the world calls it, and slowly learning the amazing, daunting vocation of motherhood, I needed to hear from other moms that staying home to make a home actually does benefit my children, my husband, and me--and NOT because everything is hunky-dory. Far from it. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" 2 Corinthians 12:9. I couldn't have read this book three years ago; honestly, I'm still struggling to accept the self-lessness God blesses me with as I get to train and love our sons. But He's pruning me, slowly but surely. (Of course, I've got the whole black-heart-of-a-sinner thing forever on this earth, but all you REAL Lutherans get my drift, in that very non-Reformed, non-works-righteousness kind of pruning. You know, the white-garment, God's-own-child-I-gladly-say-it kind of baptismal righteousness.)

I hope to post more books up here for you all to peruse and enjoy--probably not on a regular basis (ha, ha, ha!), but every now and again. Now excuse me, I have to go reread me some Bo Giertz before I turn in (and dream about all the books coming through interlibrary loan).