All Things Supercinski

12. Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein — I have been hearing some buzz about this book and decided to read it to see if I can learn anything and if I should recommend it to my Bradley students. I was impressed with this book and it seems to fill a great niche in the birthing book collection. The book’s primary focus is informing mothers-to-be about their choices in prenatal care and the importance of making an educated decision in your choice of care provider to help have the birth you are wanting. From the authors,

“We feel that the true mark of a “best birth” is when the mother is respected, informed, and treated as a participant in every decision about her pregnancy, labor and delivery. We have observed that when doctors and midwives treat mothers as active participants in their own childbirths, the mothers always feel empowered, no matter whether their births were natural or surgical. And when women feel safe and empowered around their births, they are able to bond with their babies and enter motherhood from a place of strength and security.”

My favorite part about this book are the checklists of questions to ask as you interview care providers and choose birth places. This is definitely not a labor preparation book, but one that could and should be read early in pregnancy. My least favorite part of the book was the final section on “Taking Back Your Birth.” It seemed a little rushed and like they added every sidebar section they couldn’t fit in the earlier part of the book, making it seem very disjointed and choppy. Something else that bugged me was that every time I read the title, I saw Joel Osteen’s face and I thought the book should be called, “Your Best Birth Now” with prayers to claim a pain-free birth where all you do is cough and out pops your baby, but I digress.

As a whole, this book was great–easy to read, entertaining and very informative. I highly recommend it to every pregnant woman, no matter what kind of birth you are envisioning.

13. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride — This moving book tells the story of Ruth Jordan, a Polish Jew who immigrated to America and turned from her Orthodox Jewish upbringing and married a black man, became a follower of Jesus, and raised 12 children in poverty. It was a remarkable tale, and I highly recommend it.

14. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson – I saw this book on John Piper’s blog at DGM. The last book I read that he had reviewed was excellent, so I gave this one a try. It was beautifully written, and I even had to look up a few words as I was reading it. The story gave me much to think about as well.

15. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake – Kathryn Stockett, the author of The Help (which is still my favorite book of 2010, read it!) recommended this book on Amazon and the book cover. While this book was not as wonderful as The Help, and I felt like I had to trudge through it at times.

16. Mastering the Zone – I read this after all the hype about the Zone diet and Paleo diets, just to get a little more insight. I liked what the author had to say, though not enough to follow it 100%. I’m already a firm believer in the importance of protein, but his block calculations were a bit much for me.

And with Josiah, a few more Happy Hollisters and Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (we loved this one!)