Salmon and Souvlaki

I’m not quite going to hit 2011’s mark of books read (almost 150) but I’m going to come close (almost 125!).  I track my reading on Goodreads.  So if we’re not friends there, you should join me!

Here are my favorite parenting/childbirth non-fiction books of 2012
(with edited reviews from what I posted on Goodreads through the year).

Parenting:

Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen:  Immediately, this book helped me treat Ellie differently and even helped me play better with a friend’s child just after reading it.  I particularly liked his emphasis on understanding what children are truly expressing underneath their [often annoying] requests for us to play with them. His chapter on discipline is particularly useful to me – I like his balance between setting clear limits for children and also allowing them the autonomy they need to learn and grow.  I am also grateful that Ellie already has “non-parents” in her life to play with her, something he stresses is crucial for every child to have.  His emphasis on staying connected (or reconnecting after disconnecting) with our children is so important.  I think his approach to parenting is helpful for parents of all children, even pre-teens/teens who may not want us to “play” with them per-se but still need us to come alongside, love, and connect with them.

Parenting Is Your Highest Calling And Eight Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt by Leslie Leyland Fields: This was a particularly freeing book for me. I thought she did a really nice job of navigating through the varying parenting philosophies without approving/condemning of any of them necessarily and showing how important it is to read Scripture to see God’s truth clearly.  (The author is also an Alaskan and a foodie!)

Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five by John Medina:  This book will be a book I recommend to other parents – a succinct, easily readable presentation of peer-reviewed research in a really helpful format. The conclusion and practical tips at the end are a great summary of the book. I especially appreciated the section about raising moral kids. (Hint: pay attention to their emotions.)

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough:  This book says much of what I intuitively felt while teaching – i.e. it’s not just the academic stuff that determines success. Teachers (no matter how excellent) cannot ensure success. Any teacher will tell you this but administration on up through the federal government puts such stress on teacher excellence, denying other factors that play into whether or not children will succeed.  So this was a gratifying book to read as a teacher but also a really helpful one to read as a parent.  Highly recommended to parents, teachers, or anyone who wants to help kids succeed.

Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow by Michael Thompson: I picked up this book from the “new non-fiction” shelf at the library, more out of disgust than interest but am now completely converted! I thought it was going to be talking about little kids (as in, anti-attachment parenting) but it’s actually a really compelling case for sending your kids away from you to camp (or something similar), when they’re old enough and ready to leave you. Reading this made me realize how very formative my years at Tanalian Bible Camp were for who I am today. The information about homesickness and how to prepare your kids for handling it was particularly effective.

 Childbirth:

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin:  This pregnancy’s reread, it was still helpful, inspirational, and insightful. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in either delivering a baby without medical intervention and/or anyone who needs to understand what a woman might experience in natural childbirth.

Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: The wisdom and science of gentle choices in pregnancy, birth, and parenting by Sarah J. Buckley:  This book was instrumental in the choices that Nik and I made regarding our first pregnancy with Ellie and how and where Ellie was born. I would consider this required reading for anyone who is expecting a baby. I’m so glad that I read it when I did (at around 21 weeks pregnant). Reading it, along with a couple other books, drastically changed the course of our pregnancy – for the absolute BETTER.  I skimmed it more this time, having already made many of the decisions that she provides great information about. But it was still helpful – particularly in reminding me about the incredible way that a woman’s body is created in order to birth a baby (particularly the exquisitely timed hormonal cascade that culminates in delivery).

Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond by Hilary Flower:  A really helpful book for anyone who is still breastfeeding when she becomes pregnant again with lots of good information about what to expect.  It’s still useful even if you don’t plan to nurse the older child after the baby is born.  There is also plenty of help for managing nursing two children at once.

I’m not quite going to hit 2011’s mark of books read (almost 150) but I’m going to come close (almost 125!).  I track my reading on Goodreads.  So if we’re not friends there, you should join me!

Here are my favorite non-fiction books of 2012 (except for the parenting/childbirth books in the next book post).
(with edited reviews from what I posted on Goodreads through the year).

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain:  This book was a pleasure to read. I found her sections on parenting/teaching introverts to be particularly sensitive and useful. I also found her section discussing the preference for extroversion in the evangelical church to be particularly telling. Actually, I found the whole book to be very interesting and relevant to everyone – both introverts and extroverts. I also learned that there’s a technical term for people like me (someone who is pretty much on the dividing line between the two types) – ambivert or pseudo-extrovert. I think a lot of relational problems (at work, at home, in friendships, in parenting, etc.) would be more easily understood (and perhaps solved) if people read this book.  (Here’s a Ted Talk by the author and an NPR interview if you’re interested.)

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg:   If I remember nothing else from this book, I want to remember that in order to change a habit, I need to identify the cue that prompts me to do the thing I want to change and the reward for doing that thing. Then I just need to figure out something else to do that gives me the same reward in response to that cue.  This book was a really cool look into habits and how they are all pervasive in our lives and how to change them if we really want to.

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive SCRABBLE Players by Stefan Fatsis:  This book was totally fun to read and helped me understand why playing regular Scrabble drives me crazy.

In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language by Arika Okrent:  I had no idea about the obsession throughout the past 800-900 years that people have had with inventing the “perfect language”. Fascinating from a linguistic point of view but also for contemplating “why do we need language?” and “why is it good that our language is imperfect?” – both questions that anyone (linguistically-inclined or not) can find important.

Sewing/Cooking/Food

Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child by Meg McElwee:  I’m in love with the projects in this book. I have already made the doll, doll clothes, and doll carrier and there are many more projects I’d love to make.

Ruhlman’s Twenty: The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook by Michael Ruhlman:  This is like going to cooking school, except at home and at your own pace. Much of what he writes about, Nik and I have figured out in bits and pieces over the past few years. I still learned a TON about cooking though and this helped me feel much more confident in the kitchen. Highly recommended to anyone who likes to cook or wants to become a better cook!

Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller:  I learned an awful lot about olive oil from this book, a subject that I never would have been interested in if I hadn’t married a Greek man who loves olive oil. Thanks to this book, I feel vindicated in our choice to buy expensive olive oil and even more frustrated with the state of food in America and the world.

The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila:   I read this one from cover to cover – unusual for a cookbook but I really enjoyed the stories that she had attached to each recipe. There are also many recipes in this that I’d like to make. I’m especially intrigued by the veggie burgers – they look like another delicious filling vegetarian option for us. Nik wants me to make the peanut butter cups! 🙂

Memoir

The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband by David Finch:  This was HILAROUS, as in, tears streaming down my face, uncontrollable laughing at points.  It was also amazing insightful into what every couple faces in a marriage (not just marriage between someone with Asperger’s and someone who’s not). He also caught me off guard at the end with some insights into marriage life that left me in tears. A fabulous book.

All Roads Lead to Austen: A Yearlong Journey with Jane by Amy Elizabeth Smith: I had such fun reading all the different Latin American reactions to Austen. I’m inspired to read through Austen’s books again, looking for deeper meanings than the “fun” that I’ve just gotten out of them before. (If you don’t love Jane Austen’s books, you probably wouldn’t enjoy this. There are a lot of Austen book club discussions that wouldn’t make sense if you don’t know the stories.).

The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me by Bruce Feiler:  This book had me crying at multiple times. The author has a wonderful writing style with an idea that every mom and dad should consider, even if we don’t have cancer.

Spirituality

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker: Other than her annoying ultra-casual writing style, I really enjoyed this book. Many of the changes she made over the course of the experiment are changes that Nik and I have also made/been making ourselves over the past five years. This book encouraged me that we can still go much deeper into the practical and spiritual sides of simplification/generosity/care for the environment, etc.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp:  This was a phenomenal book. I had never contemplated what a difference giving thanks, in everything, for everything, could make in my life. Now to just practice it!

Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 years by Philip Jenkins: Who was Jesus? Was he God? Was he man? Some kind of combination of the two? While I was in the midst of reading this book, the worship leader at our church said, “Jesus, fully God and fully man.” Before reading this book, I probably would have said, “Well, of course, obviously, terribly hard to understand how that is possible but true just the same.” Now having read this book, I wonder how many other doctrines of the faith, we (I) just take for granted as having always been the orthodox truth, as in believed by all true Christians, (since Jesus walked on Earth) when in actuality, they have been debated, [literally] fought over, and at some point decided to be true.  Also, a really interesting look at the way the church split in the 500s (mostly East/West), just a tantalizing mention of this effect on the rise of Islam, and how the prevailing political power (like which emperor was ruling) made such a difference to the doctrines that eventually won out as truth.  Finally, his last few pages were a needed reminder to me about why it is important to study theology and to know what we believe and why.

From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer: This provides the best framework that I’ve seen for developing a Christian theology of technology.  I definitely am starting to think differently about the way that we interact with and use technology (all of it, not just computers).