Book it

After I finally shoehorned the book collection back into the bookshelves, I did the thing I always do - try to cull the herd. It sounds like a good idea, but it never works out. First I decide that I can't get rid of the butt ugly books I got at a library sale for $.50 because I haven't read them yet. Then I decide that I can't get rid of some books that I have read and don't like because I like other books by the same author and obviously I can't separate them. I can't make myself get rid of the books I've already read and did like because I might want to read them again. And last of all, I feel like I need to keep them around for Evelyn when she gets older (which probably guarantees that she will be completely uninterested in them).

But I have implemented new rules for myself. I am going to try and read one unread book in the collection every month starting with the ones I think I will want to pitch afterward. I am not going to buy any new books unless the book in question is one I will revisit often - i.e. something of the instructable nature. Now that I am a block away from the main library, I do my book shopping there. This has already derailed my first attempt at finishing off some of the books I already own.

I just finished Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Loved it but for two things - too short and too many exclamation points(!). I'm pretty sure it's mostly just a transcript of her show which explains both the brevity and the punctuation. The font seems a bit large along with the spacing between sentences. It's like she (well, the publisher) was trying to turn in something for a freshman composition class. I'm surprised it wasn't also in courier font with 2 inch margins to make the book feel longer.

I also finished Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block. Having read many of her articles, I already knew she was a great writer. This book is no exception. Despite the fact that I know she is very passionate about the subject of natural childbirth, this is a very even-handed book. In the end the real "villains" (as such) seem to be hospital bureaucrats and malpractice lawyers moreso than OB/GYNs (who usually get all the blame for "medicalized" childbirth, at least on the message boards I read). She doesn't shy away from reporting what she sees while shadowing illegal lay midwives including a case where 911 is almost called too late to resuscitate a newborn. It's a wonderful book, both enlightening and infuriating. I didn't know of the cases where the law had gotten involved to force women to have repeat c-sections. All I can say is that I am glad to be living in a province where there is no animosity between midwives and OBs so that it's possible to both have a midwife and give birth in a hospital the way I want to. This is a good place for me to point out The Big Push for Midwives going on right now.