August Book Reviews

I felt like I didn't read as much this month, but I suppose I could be wrong. I guess cause parenting books just don't feel like real reading ...

Lovely Bones - I enjoyed this book - a creative take on a murder. The narrative dies near the beginning of the book and then follows the lives of her friends and families from heaven. But, I did not like the ending - it seemed out of character to the rest of the book. Some sexuality. Overall, 3.5 / 4, mostly because I loved the POV. Very fresh.

Positive Discipline - I am having a really hard time getting through this book on discipline. Maybe I've just been reading too many lately? I like the idea that most discipline methods per-se do not work long term and that encourage of positive behavior is best. But I find the book, a little too deep in psychological theory and much more geared towards teachers than parents, IMO. Probably would be more interesting to me if my kid was a bit older. Also, I found the birth order affecting personality a little too heavily treated for me. I don't know if I read enough to rate it, but so far 2/4.

Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited - The fact that they separated twins out for adoption and then did studies on them afterwards without informing the parents or twins is a bit appalling. Even more so, when it is strongly implied that they chose twins with parents with a strong history of psychological disorders (schizophrenia, for example) and did not share those case-histories, is also very very troubling. Very eugenistic to me (is that a word?). That, to me, was the most fascinating part of the story, but was somewhat sparse because all the studies are closed for like the next 50-100 years. I found the sisters themselves kind of obnoxious and tired of reading their thoughts (so needy ... so aloof - what a pair) by halfway through. 2/4.

Last Child in the Woods - Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder - My cousin recommended this book and it promptly went on my reading list. I enjoyed the book, though some chapters were definitely less interesting to me (some of the urban planning for example). I also thought that some of the psych theory he used was a little over the top (attachment theory to analyze our relationship with nature), but it definitely gave me things to think about. I especially loved how it made me tune in to how I feel about nature - the kind of quiet, sacredness you feel when you are alone in nature. I definitely want Andrew to experience that. I feel very lucky that Ann Arbor, especially where we live seems just bursting with nature. And Andrew is lucky enough to spend HOURS and hours outside each day. 3 / 4.

Parenting Children with Love and Logic - I really expected to enjoy this book. From what I'd heard about it, it really seemed to be the almost standard reference on children and discipline. And I really liked the idea of logical consequences. But I have to say - I did not like this book AT ALL. While I agreed with the ideas, I hated reading the book. I found the authors to be narcisstic (along the lines of "wow - my kid has a PhD and made all these great choices because I taught him so well), pedantic, and totally over-the-top. I found their application of logical consequences to be extreme and definitely not age-appropriate in some instances (living a 10 year old downtown alone (a new foster child no-less) for HOURS by themselves because they weren't on time?) and quite often uncaring and obnoxious. They irritated me just by reading what they wrote. And I actually agreed with their principles. Perhaps most telling they commented about how so many people mis-applied their principles and they said you had to apply their program "perfectly". Hmmm ... But, to some extent, I like the idea of logical conquences and want to utilize it some, but hopefully with a bit more compassion and logic. 1.5/4


Some kids books I have really enjoyed:
One child, one seed: A South African counting book
You and Me together: Moms, Dads, and kids around the world