Nightstand (May 2015)

It’s been another very long month, made up of very short periods of sleep (Although – Tirzah Mae slept a 6 hour stretch last night, at least double as long as she’s slept since Easter. Praise God!) So this is another skeleton post.

Fiction read this month:

• The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer
  A little hard to get into at first, but I ended up liking this Regency romance quite well.
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
  Read (for the third time) with my real-life bookclub.
• Christy by Catherine Marshall
  Read with the Reading to Know Classics Bookclub.
• 3 board books by Sandra Boynton

Nonfiction read this month:

Books about health:

• Lose that Baby Fat! by La Reine Chabut
  A month-by-month selection of exercises for the post-pregnancy year. The exercises are generally good if you already have the equipment (or were already intending to get it). You have to be proactive about setting up your own schedule and making sure you don’t lose gains you’ve made during previous months working on different body parts. See my full review for more information.
• Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs
  The author of The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It All embarks on another giant project – this time, to be the healthiest man alive. Jacobs makes a ginormous list of possibly healthy practices and works his way through them in an entertaining couple of years. As a project memoir (which is what it is), this is fun – as health journalism, this is pretty poor. Since I enjoy project memoirs, I enjoyed this – but since I generally have a hard time with health journalism that tries, I had an even harder time with Jacobs’ lack of even trying to learn whether the health practices he was partaking in were actually legit.

Other nonfiction:

• The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
  Interesting to compare and contrast with the 70s-style “back to the land” tomes I read as a teen.
• And Baby Makes Three by John Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman
  Developing the skills to preserve your marriage as your couple becomes a family. The bulk of the book is on managing conflict well – and it has lots of good recommendations (even couple activities to help you practice good communication and effective argument). Even as I agreed with the value of the things the authors mentioned, I didn’t learn a lot – Daniel and I have been blessed with good communication in our marriage and we naturally (or perhaps I should say more accurately, by the grace of God) do many of the things that make for constructive conflict (instead of marriage-breaking conflict.) The addition of Tirzah Mae has certainly affected our marriage and made time and energy more precious – but it hasn’t brought up all sorts of conflict that drives us apart. Even while I didn’t personally find this useful, I do think it has lots of wisdom for those couples who struggle with constructive conflict (and since most every couple I’ve talked to has mentioned how strange it is that Daniel and I still haven’t fought, I’m guessing we’re in the minority here.) ***Also, please be aware: just because Daniel and I don’t fight and have constructive conflict when we do disagree, this does NOT mean that we’re perfect – by no means. Our struggles are just different than many couples’, not necessarily less than others.***
• 97 Things to Do Before You Finish High School by Stephen Jenkins
  If it weren’t for the few items encouraging kids to dabble in the occult, this would be a decent list for any high schooler. Like many books targeted at high schoolers, though, this suffers from an overwhelming supply of already-dated cultural references (a lot changes in 8 years if you’re talking social media sites, cool music, and fashion trends.)
• Create an Oasis with Greywater by Art Ludwig
  The definitive book on greywater systems – read my notes here.
• Cut, Stapled, and Mended by Roanna Rosewood
  A birth memoir about VBAC. An interesting story, a few good points. A lot of raunch and pagan spirituality. I won’t be recommending it.
• Prairie Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  I absolutely devoured this.
• A Builder’s Guide to Wells and Septic Systems by R. Dodge Woodson
  Understandably focused on builders, this book gives a basic overview of systems and how to reduce costs while ensuring quality work. Disappointing lack of information about advanced septic systems such as the one we’ll be installing.

Now that the mobile home is empty and Tirzah Mae is (maybe) starting to sleep again, I have high hopes for reviewing many of these in greater depth. For now, I’d encourage you to check out the review I hadn’t posted as of my last nightstand: Stephanie Fast’s She is Mine. It was a tremendously compelling read – and I think you should read it.

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!