For this anthology, Avital wanted to create a space where women could debunk the myth of the “good mother.” You know the one: every aspect of her life is perfect, and she does it all while raising perfect kids. She never has a meltdown, or goes a few days without showering, and her kids will probably grow up to be geniuses.
Well, guess what? That mom actually doesn’t exist. Read more ›
Playing House: Notes of a Reluctant Mother by Lauren Slater My rating: 2 of 5 stars In Playing House: Notes of a Reluctant Mother, Lauren Slater tackles the tough stuff of life from deciding whether or not to have a… Read more ›
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz My rating: 3 of 5 stars Many of you have asked for my review of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, so here it is. I hope to hear… Read more ›
Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster My rating: 3 of 5 stars I checked out Jen Lancaster’s… Read more ›
I just started teaching Fahrenheit 451 with my honors English classes, and I’m so excited to be rereading talking about it. There are so many themes that are incredibly pertinent to our time. It never ceases to amaze me that this… Read more ›
If you are even remotely close to my age (i.e. pushing 30), you probably know a little bit about the Gilmore Girls. If you know even a little about the Gilmore Girls, you know that Rory – my teenage idol… Read more ›
I was 20 years old and in undergrad when I first picked up Stephen Chbosky’s 1999 novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The book had been making the rounds among my friends for five years before I finally got… Read more ›
I’m on the Ms. Magazine Blog today, reviewing Julia Alvarez’s A Wedding in Haiti for your reading pleasure: Feminist novelist Julia Alvarez (How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies), known for her clear, unaffected… Read more ›
Hey Chifems! Remember, we are meeting on 4/1 to talk about As Always, Julia! Hope to see you there! 1. These women are both pioneers in a feminist sense. Are they considered feminist icons? Why/not? 2. In the introduction, we… Read more ›
The first show I ever directed was Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. I was living in a small community, much different than the suburban sprawl where I grew up and the urban pulse of the city I frequented, so I found… Read more ›
He Said What?: Women Write About Moments When Everything Changed edited by Victoria Zackheim (Click on the image to buy the book from Powells.com or the text to buy from BarnesandNoble.com and I will receive a sliver of the profits… Read more ›
The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate My rating: 5 of 5 stars My friend, Amanda, gave me an advance copy of The Tast of Salt a little while back, and I picked it up shortly thereafter because the cover… Read more ›
The following is a guest post by Becky Beaupre Gillespie and Hollee Schwartz Temple, authors of Good Enough Is the New Perfect: Finding Happiness and Success in Modern Motherhood, which I reviewed here. Hollee and her husband, John, started regular… Read more ›
Day After Night by Anita Diamant My rating: 5 of 5 stars Instead of a review, I’m going to post my discussion questions for the Chifems Book Club (meeting on May 1! Come join us!!). There are spoilers in the questions,… Read more ›
The Magicians by Lev Grossman My rating: 3 of 5 stars Well. I read this book because Jillian recommended it to me and loaned me the book. And I am absolutely not sad I did. However, I do think the… Read more ›
On Sunday, I had the good fortune to hear Jenn Pozner read from Reality Bites Back at Women & Children First Bookstore. I was very excited to hear her read, and to hang out with some Chifems, especially since this… Read more ›
Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart by Nina Simons My rating: 4 of 5 stars A review copy of this book has been on my desk since the end of December, and I feel terrible that I’m… Read more ›
The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez My rating: 2 of 5 stars I really, really wanted to like this book. I really, really wanted to finish this book. The fact of the matter is, though, that I’ve never… Read more ›
The cameras missed the outside murders and could not follow Eric and Dylan inside. The fundamental experience for most of America was almost witnessing mass murder. It was the panic and frustration of not knowing, the mounting terror of horror… Read more ›
I started reading Columbine by Dave Cullen (book #4 in my 30 Before 30 challengeyesterday and made it through a third of the book in a nonstop reading session. At that point, I physically had plenty of time to read more,… Read more ›