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miz_annelieseFirst up, books:
Esquire Presents: What It Feels Like: edited by A.J. Jacobs
Very short and very riveting. It's a series of quick, 1-2 page personal stories from people that have experienced extraordinary things - including undergoing an exorcism, getting struck by lightning, performing an execution, and winning a Nobel Prize. The stories are not heavily edited for voice (not sure on content or grammar), which is nice, as you get the tiniest feel for the actual author. All of the experiences are things I've never gone through, and the writers did a really wonderful job on description. This is definitely up for a re-read.
It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong (more commonly known by her web moniker, Dooce)
I love Dooce. She has a delightful sarcastic tone that has, at times, made me laugh until I cry. Most of her online updates these days revolve around her children, and despite the fact that child-centric updates don't (and likely never will) resonate with me, I still read everything she posts. That being said, I can't say that I enjoyed the book. It's a rehash and a slight re-edit of her posts just prior to and just post the birth of her first daughter, Leta. When I read them as she posted them, they were extremely heartfelt and meaningful; she wound up in a psychiatric hospital due to Post-Partum Depression. But through all of her public struggles, dealing both with the pitfalls in her own mind and with the trials and tribulations of a brand new daughter, it was always evident how much she loved Leta, and how much work she would do to be the best mother she could. In the book, the articles are juggled a little bit, and the timeframe is a bit confusing. Also, and this may be a product of reading them all at once instead of one post every few days, I didn't get that same sense of love. It felt so much more negative than I think it actually was. And I do appreciate mothers who don't sugarcoat the process; it's HARD, and I think that women who want to have children should know and understand what they're getting themselves into. But that undercurrent of love is what ultimately should make it all worth it, and I just didn't get that impression, exactly, from the book.
Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation by Charles Barber
A "smart" book, if you will (ie, not a zippy cute fantasy novel ;-) ). I highly recommend this. Barber tracks a ton of statistics, as well as offering up some insightful and valid opinions on the future of psychology. He discusses the use of psychiatric medications, including how much that use has jumped over the past few decades, he offers some numbers on Big Pharma and what role the FDA plays in releasing new medications, how mental illness has been treated throughout the ages, and what is, in fact, actually working. The United States guzzles a TON of Prozac and Xanax and Valium, all for (little-d)depression, which in many cases (and I do speak from experience) is nothing more than a little life dissatisfaction. He makes the case for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and how it has worked and continues to work so much better than popping a SSRI daily, but therapy takes a lot more WORK than taking a pill.
As someone who was prescribed Prozac (under its female-friendly name Sarafem) after a nasty breakup, and who did just fine after a little intensive therapy withOUT Prozac, this book fits in line with what I've experienced and what I've seen. As Barber says and as I of course know, there is (big-d)Depression (and OCD and schizophrenia etc etc), and these disorders do require medication and supervision. But I also think that there are a lot of people who have some general life dissatisfaction about something or other, that need to learn life skills to cope with it. Because that's life. Sometimes you do just have to suck it up :)
I've read more books this year than I have in probably the past 3 years combined!
Maine coming up soon - it is going to be a loooooooooong entry (I have it 3/4 typed up and my fingers are tired!)
Esquire Presents: What It Feels Like: edited by A.J. Jacobs
Very short and very riveting. It's a series of quick, 1-2 page personal stories from people that have experienced extraordinary things - including undergoing an exorcism, getting struck by lightning, performing an execution, and winning a Nobel Prize. The stories are not heavily edited for voice (not sure on content or grammar), which is nice, as you get the tiniest feel for the actual author. All of the experiences are things I've never gone through, and the writers did a really wonderful job on description. This is definitely up for a re-read.
It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong (more commonly known by her web moniker, Dooce)
I love Dooce. She has a delightful sarcastic tone that has, at times, made me laugh until I cry. Most of her online updates these days revolve around her children, and despite the fact that child-centric updates don't (and likely never will) resonate with me, I still read everything she posts. That being said, I can't say that I enjoyed the book. It's a rehash and a slight re-edit of her posts just prior to and just post the birth of her first daughter, Leta. When I read them as she posted them, they were extremely heartfelt and meaningful; she wound up in a psychiatric hospital due to Post-Partum Depression. But through all of her public struggles, dealing both with the pitfalls in her own mind and with the trials and tribulations of a brand new daughter, it was always evident how much she loved Leta, and how much work she would do to be the best mother she could. In the book, the articles are juggled a little bit, and the timeframe is a bit confusing. Also, and this may be a product of reading them all at once instead of one post every few days, I didn't get that same sense of love. It felt so much more negative than I think it actually was. And I do appreciate mothers who don't sugarcoat the process; it's HARD, and I think that women who want to have children should know and understand what they're getting themselves into. But that undercurrent of love is what ultimately should make it all worth it, and I just didn't get that impression, exactly, from the book.
Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation by Charles Barber
A "smart" book, if you will (ie, not a zippy cute fantasy novel ;-) ). I highly recommend this. Barber tracks a ton of statistics, as well as offering up some insightful and valid opinions on the future of psychology. He discusses the use of psychiatric medications, including how much that use has jumped over the past few decades, he offers some numbers on Big Pharma and what role the FDA plays in releasing new medications, how mental illness has been treated throughout the ages, and what is, in fact, actually working. The United States guzzles a TON of Prozac and Xanax and Valium, all for (little-d)depression, which in many cases (and I do speak from experience) is nothing more than a little life dissatisfaction. He makes the case for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and how it has worked and continues to work so much better than popping a SSRI daily, but therapy takes a lot more WORK than taking a pill.
As someone who was prescribed Prozac (under its female-friendly name Sarafem) after a nasty breakup, and who did just fine after a little intensive therapy withOUT Prozac, this book fits in line with what I've experienced and what I've seen. As Barber says and as I of course know, there is (big-d)Depression (and OCD and schizophrenia etc etc), and these disorders do require medication and supervision. But I also think that there are a lot of people who have some general life dissatisfaction about something or other, that need to learn life skills to cope with it. Because that's life. Sometimes you do just have to suck it up :)
I've read more books this year than I have in probably the past 3 years combined!
Maine coming up soon - it is going to be a loooooooooong entry (I have it 3/4 typed up and my fingers are tired!)
