Newsweek's Fifty Books of Our Times, also a Bad Mother book review

I have loved books and reading for a very long time. Which is why I took great interest in Newsweek magazine's recent list of "50 Books for Our Times." I love these kinds of lists. Mostly I love to look at them and make plans in my head about reading them all from start the finish, in numerical order. But it never happens. I think once I tried and started reading Virginia Wolff's To The Lighthouse and had to re-consider the erudition of such list-makers.

But this list was a bit different. It's not a "Fifty Best Books Ever" list, it's a list of books we should read TODAY. Not because some professor told us to 20 years ago, but because they are relevant, they apply and are interesting.

So naturally I tore it out and made immediate plans to read every single one. In numerical order. But something caught my eye in the mid-20's, and it was a book called Bad Mother by Ayelet Waldman.

I had heard rumblings about this book in another mag and also was intrigued by the cover and quote that talked something about how none of us can live up to the "Good Mother" moniker. So I quickly scratched my plans to go in numerical order and decided this one was first.

And I must say, I am extremely pleased that I did so. I am not sure that it's a book that everyone should read, though. I think it's great for mothers, and great for mothers with a sense of humor, and great for mothers who appreciate honesty and a search for becoming a better self.

First off I had no idea that Ayelet Waldman was married to Michael Chabon, one of my favorite authors. Points for Ayelet! And I had no idea she was the one who became infamous for a NY Times piece where she defiantly announced that she loved her husband more than her kids.

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a quick read about motherhood and one woman's choices and foibles. It's not quite like the dry humor of Dooce, or the anger of Crabmommy, or the poignancy of Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions, but it's relevant and real. There is a chapter on making a choice to keep or abort a potential Down Syndrome baby that is crazy-as-all-get-out honest. I have no doubt she sucked readers in through the first few chapters and lost a whole bunch when she started talking about killing her baby. I admire her courage, I really do. There are funny parts and parts where I do and don't see myself in her. But as I move through this process of motherhood and search for ways to improve, it was a nice side-trip into someone else's world. We are not in this alone, my good mothers.

I recommend picking it up if you get the chance. And if you live in Boulder, let me know, I can lend it to you.

Now I should really start to think about getting back to #1 on the list.