Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

Two weeks into the Spring Reading Thing, and I’ve completed two of the books on my goal list. I know my pace will slow when Boo arrives, but so far I’m off to a good start.

The first book, The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth, was quite informative but exclusively about childbirth and the technology associated with it. I won’t review it here because it probably isn’t of interest to anyone else.

Yesterday I finished reading A Midwife’s Tale. This book chronicles the training and career of co-author Penny Armstrong through a series of short stories (each one is a chapter) that come together to give the reader a picture of her life, her struggles, and her clients.

A Midwife’s Tale traces the situations and personal development of Mrs. Armstrong that transform her from a hospital midwife, with all of the technology and interventions associated with that setting, to a midwife with her own practice doing only home births. As someone with a science background (I was pre-med in college), I found this part of the story quite interesting.

However, the thing that made this book fascinating to me was Mrs. Armstrong’s clientele. Upon the completion of her midwifery training, she chose to move to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to serve the Amish community there. The book paints a picture of the Amish and their lifestyle from the perspective of an outsider who became intimately acquainted with these people.  It details her encounters with their customs and culture in ways that I haven’t read before.

Although the story teller is a midwife, the book is not laden with medical jargon and technical information about childbirth. Most of the stories are, obviously, about childbirth, but there is nothing presented that would be offensive or beyond the experience of anyone who has given birth (or even seen one of those birth videos they show in school). If you have any interest in midwifery or the Amish people and their lifestyle, I really think you would enjoy this book.

Today is a good day because it is:

a) the first official day of Spring
b) my birthday
c) the beginning of the Spring Reading Thing
d) time for a Sidetrack’d giveaway (check it out here)
e) all of the above

If you picked “e”, congratulations and happy March 20th!

I’m having a bit of a tough time with my reading list this Spring.  In fact, I wasn’t sure I was going to participate in SRT at all, but since I know I’ll be reading anyway, I might as well set a few goals.  My reading will be complicated by a few things: first, Boo’s arrival in a few weeks will definitely impact the time and energy I have to devote to reading; second, my local library is changing locations and is closed for the next couple of weeks (this could make it a bit more difficult to get some of my books); and third, I’m having trouble deciding what I want to read.  As always, I reserve the right to add to, subtract from, or alter this list as I see fit.

And with all my excuses out of the way, here is my list…

Non-fiction:
John Adams by David McCullough
Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss
A Midwife’s Story by Penny Armstrong
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
The Complete Book of Sewing by DK Publishing (won’t finish this one by June)

Fiction:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Austenland by Shannon Hale
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
Mater Biscuit by Julie Cannon

Bible Study:
Until the baby arrives, I’ll be continuing my study of the gospel of Matthew through Bible Study Fellowship International; after that, I haven’t yet decided what I will do.

The books listed here will be added to my bookshelf in the sidebar and will remain there until the challenge is completed (or I get them read if I don’t finish by June).

For more information on the Spring Reading Thing or to view the other participants lists, click on the button at the top of this post.

Happy Reading!

To celebrate Spring and the Spring Reading Thing, Sidetrack’d is hosting a book giveaway!

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

This was a light and fun read that left me with much the same feeling as the books in Jan Karon’s Mitford series.  Living in the small, rural Irish town of Ballybucklebo during the mid-twentieth century, the two main characters endear themselves to you with their quirks, faults, and the way they interact with each other and the interesting clients of their medical practice.  If you are looking for a warm and happy read, I would recommend you check this one out.

From the back of the book:

Barry Laverty, M.B. can barely find the Northern Ireland village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there.  But Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice.

At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly.

The older physician has his own way of doing things.  At first, Barry can’t decide if the pugnacious O’Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met or the best teacher he could ever hope for.  Through O’Reilly, Barry soon gets to know all of the village’s colorful and endearing residents and a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor.

Ballybucklebo is a long way from Belfast, and Barry is quick to discover that he still has a lot to learn about country life.  But with pluck and compassion, and only the slightest touch of blarney, he will find out more about life – and love – than he ever imagined back in medical school.

If you would like to be entered in the drawing for this book, leave a comment on this post; you don’t have to be a blogger to win, just be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you comment.  I will close the contest around noon on Friday, March 28, and determine a winner using the random number generator at random.org.  The winner will be announced here at Sidetrack’d and notified by e-mail and/or a comment on their personal blog.  This is my personal copy of this book, so it has been gently read.  I will be happy to ship to US addresses via USPS parcel post or media mail.

I hope to have a couple more giveaways during the Spring Reading Thing, so check back over the next several weeks.

We are a little over a month into the Fall Into Reading challenge and so far things are going pretty well with my reading list. As it stands now, I have five books to finish and just under two months to accomplish my goal. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly to date:

The good – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, et al.

I began reading this book back in the summer but had to set it aside when morning sickness set in and I could no longer handle reading about food. I was anxious to pick it back up as I really enjoyed what I had read and was not disappointed by the remainder of the book.

This non-fiction book records the efforts of Kingsolver’s family to eat locally for a full year. They accomplished the task by gardening, raising poultry (they live on a farm in Appalachia), visiting the local farmers’ market, and dealing with other farmers in their area to procure the food they needed. I found her stories about small-scale farming, canning, dealing with animals, and working with her neighbors to be both good reading and food for thought.

If you are interested in learning more about eating locally (either through growing your own or using local resources), eating organically, or just have an interest in how the modern American food business works I would recommend this book. It is well written, easy to read, and prompted many discussions between Matt and myself.

The bad – The Butterfly Effect by James Swallow

I don’t know that this book is bad per se, but it has been removed from my list. I’m not sure exactly how or when this book was added to my master reading list, but as I looked more closely at the book I decided it didn’t really interest me. I will probably add a book in place of this one; I just haven’t decided on one yet.

The ugly – Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Have you ever looked at a book numerous times over several months, been excited about reading it when you finally get to it, and then been disappointed when you started reading? That is how I felt with this book. I’ve wanted to read it for a couple of years now, so for a while I tried to trudge through it. When I realized that I had only read about 40 pages in almost two weeks and really had no interest in picking it back up, I knew it was time to let it go. Disappointing, yes, but there are too many books to read to get caught up on one I don’t enjoy.

Well, not recently, but that’s supposedly what goes on around here. It seems like every time I come back to blog it’s been a week (or more) since I was here last. And believe me, it’s not that I don’t want to spend time with all of you who stop by; it’s just that the time keeps slipping away.

Anyway, on to a bit of this and a bit of that…

~Last Monday I visited the doctor for my first prenatal appointment. I was able to hear the baby’s heartbeat, which is always fun. Everything is going well, and the due date is set for mid-April. I thought it might be a little less awe-inspiring this time since I’ve been here before, but I was wrong. I can’t wait until my next visit and the opportunity to hear that sweet sound again. (as an aside: the baby is currently known as Baby Boo and will be referred to as such for the foreseeable future)

~The morning sickness seems to be letting up. I still have my moments, but overall I’m feeling better. I’m very glad at this turn of events.

~Little and I contracted a head-cold last week. I hate having a stuffy nose. Little didn’t sleep well at all on Saturday night because she couldn’t suck her thumb and breath at the same time, which means none of us slept well. Needless to say, we didn’t do much this weekend.

~I finished Memoirs of a Geisha, the first book from my Fall Into Reading list. I really enjoyed the book and found myself caught up in the narrative of the peasant-girl-turned-kept-woman to the point that I didn’t want to quit reading. Arthur Golden does a great job of story-telling and presenting exotic places and people in a such a way that I could picture them in my mind. If you haven’t read this one yet, I would recommend it (but be warned that there are a few parts that are quite risque).

~The “Bookshelf” portion of my sidebar is being updated to contain the books I’ve chosen to read this fall. If I add anything to my list, I will also add it to the bookshelf.

~I love to read on recommendation. If you have a favorite book, or a book you’ve read recently that you really enjoyed, I would love to hear about it. Please leave me a note in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully I’ll meet you here again soon!