What I'm Reading

Okay, so us Mums don't get a great deal of time to curl up with a nice novel. Actually I got tons of reading done just after Heike was born, because I was either feeding or holding her while sleeping a LOT of the time and the Kindle app on my phone saved my sanity (just). But these days I have one very active little girl on my hands, and the time I do get to myself during the day is usually used for washing, cooking, eating or showering. Don't even get me started on trying to read at night in be-zzzzzzz.....

Still, I think it's important to take the time to read, firstly because I am a MASSIVE fan of reading in general and life just wouldn't be the same without it, and secondly because it is a stimulating activity that gets your mind ticking over. Unlike, say, peek-a-boo. So perhaps reading is even more essential for us stay at home Mums who get very little mental stimulation!

At the moment I'm reading 2.5 books - finishing one, part way through another and just purchased the third. I always seem to be reading more than one book at a time, which accurately reflects my inability to focus on any one thing for longer than ten minutes. The two I'm reading are REALLY GOOD and the third I'm REALLY EXCITED ABOUT so I thought I'd give y'all the lowdown.

1) Hope: A Tragedy - Shalom Auslander

So I'm reading this book for a book club I'm meant to attend but have only been to once, almost a year ago. The book club for this book has actually already taken place and I missed it - d'oh. But I do try to read the books despite my fledgling attendance because my mates involved with the book club have FABULOUS taste.

This book is so awesome. Basically it's about a neurotic, depressing and probably insane Jewish man who finds a rather famous Holocaust victim/survivor living in his attic. This doesn't sound very hilarious (or does it?) but it is. I have scoffed and chortled (the most accurate words to describe the sounds I made) frequently while reading it. It's really well written and easy to read - and the two don't always go together. I won't spoil it by banging on about it but I will recommend it - go forth and purchase thee a copy. (Preferably from Oscar & Friends in Surry Hills or Double Bay).

Hope: A Tragedy

2) We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver


You've probably all heard about this one but I'll go there anyway. Not long after I had Heiks I entered a competition to win tickets to the movie of the same name - We Need To Talk About Kevin. I'd actually never heard of it but entered anyway and won, so decided to take my sister for a girls night.

Oh what a barrel of fun and laughs the evening turned out to be! Such a lovely, jovial time was had! Sarcasm noted.

This story is seriously disturbing. Essentially it explores the idea that children can be born "evil". Such a nice thing to have in the back of your mind when your own child is up screaming at 2am! I didn't even see the ending to this one coming, and not to big note myself (I'm awesome) I can almost always tell how a movie is going to end. Hecticcccc.

Anyway some friends have since told me how the book is way better than the movie and goes into a lot more detail, and despite the grim nature of the story I simply can't not read a book I've been told is better than the movie. (Side note: What kind of sick human beings would refuse to read the Harry Potter books even though they like the movies and every person who has read the books will tell them how much better the books are? I think these people are born evil).

So, so far so good on the "better than the movie" count, I'm really enjoying the details in the book as much as I'm not enjoying reading about a sociopathic murderous eight year old.

If only they had talked about Kevin...

3) The Little Book of Anxiety - Kerry Sackville

I read Kerry Sackville's blog and she is flipping hilarious. She isn't afraid to take the piss out of herself and she writes about motherhood in such an open, honest way. Check it out here and prepare to be converted.

Anyway, when her latest book was released I got a little bit excited, not only because she had written it but because it was about anxiety, which I mildly suffer from myself. (MILDLY!). I knew that Kerry's talent for making light of big issues would immediately make me feel better about my own tendency to uh, stress. I'd also read she is actually super anxious, so I would thus feel better about myself by reading her stories, shaking my head and saying "Wow, girl, you loco!".

Silly me had forgotten all about the book until Kerry's face popped up on one of the morning programs this morning, and I promptly purchased myself a copy - that's the beauty of a Kindle, peeps.

Am really looking forward to sinking my head into this one!

Anxiety, Shmanxmiety

What have you read lately that I simply must read?

Z xx