It’s book review day! This month I only got through two books. One I loved. One I was just meh about. I thought about delaying this post another month until I had finished more books, but you know what…who says you need multitudes of books for a good book review?
I started the month reading…
Bringing up Bebe. When American journalist Pamela Druckerman has a baby in Paris, she doesn’t aspire to become a “French parent”. French parenting isn’t a known thing, like French fashion or French cheese. Even French parents themselves insist they aren’t doing anything special.
Yet the French children Druckerman knows sleep through the night at two or three months old while those of her American friends take a year or more. French kids eat well-rounded meals that are more likely to include braised leeks than chicken nuggets. And while her American friends spend their visits resolving spats between their kids, her French friends sip coffee while the kids play.
Motherhood itself is a whole different experience in France. There’s no role model, as there is in America, for the harried new mom with no life of her own. French mothers assume that even good parents aren’t at the constant service of their children and that there’s no need to feel guilty about this. They have an easy, calm authority with their kids that Druckerman can only envy.
Of course, French parenting wouldn’t be worth talking about if it produced robotic, joyless children. In fact, French kids are just as boisterous, curious, and creative as Americans. They’re just far better behaved and more in command of themselves. While some American toddlers are getting Mandarin tutors and preliteracy training, French kids are – by design – toddling around and discovering the world at their own pace.
With a notebook stashed in her diaper bag, Druckerman, a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal, sets out to learn the secrets to raising a society of good little sleepers, gourmet eaters, and reasonably relaxed parents. She discovers that French parents are extremely strict about some things and strikingly permissive about others. And she realizes that to be a different kind of parent, you don’t just need a different parenting philosophy. You need a very different view of what a child actually is.
While finding her own firm non, Druckerman discovers that children – including her own – are capable of feats she’d never imagined.
(Book summaries from Amazon)
I struggle with putting into words what I thought of this book. I generally enjoy parenting books for the ideas they give me on how to be a different or better parent. Of course, some I don’t agree with it all, but appreciate the different viewpoint. But this one was just…fine. I didn’t find anything profound about it. I took a few tidbits that I’m applying in my own life: like encouraging a bite of each thing that is served at a meal before extras are offered of the favorites of the meal. But I didn’t find it particularly profound or a great deal of “nuggets,” in my opinion.
I thought some of the observations between American parenting and French parenting were interesting just from an observational standpoint. But that’s about it. Needless to say, I didn’t feel the need to tell all my girlfriends with young kids that it’s a must read.
I followed up a mediocre book with…
The Guest List. A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times best-selling author of The Hunting Party.
The bride – the plus one – the best man – the wedding planner – the bridesmaid – the body.
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
Where I wasn’t so keen on book #1 of the month, this one had me gripped from the very beginning. It moved quickly, and was an easy “listen.” I found myself intrigued by the storyline, the characters and what they were hiding, and everything in between. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Previous book reviews:
I have The Guest List on my “want to read” list but I just have not gotten around to it yet!
It’s a good one and goes pretty quickly!
I enjoyed The Guest List too.