The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

As my maternity leave winds down, I find myself impatient with long fiction and more compelled to seek out books that might help me navigate this new aspect of my life. Here’s the Plan: Your Practical, Tactical Guide to Advancing Your Career During Pregnancy and Motherhood Allyson Downey, 2016 Even though I read this book late, and thus skimmed through chapters that no longer applied to me, I’m glad I found this one. From information about planning to take leave and being pregnant at work to discussing the division of household chores and balancing work and childcare, this book is full of concrete advice delivered with good humor. It covers the bases without getting too far into the weeds in a style that’s breezy enough to read when somewhat sleep-deprived. The narration is peppered with personal anecdotes, examples, and quotes. It’s definitely targeted to white-collar office workers, but that works for me. My favorite part of this book might be a brief section about resea...

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know Emily Oster, 2013, 2016 Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy Angela Garbes, 2018 So, as you can probably guess, I have a good reason for letting this blog go semi-dark. We’ll see how much content I post going forward, especially once the new little one is due in June. In the meantime, I didn’t mean to completely stop posting, I just fell out of the habit. I’ve (naturally) been reading up on my current state, and here are the two books I liked the most so far. Expecting Better is a great book that risks being dated rather quickly. It’s by a journalist who took it upon herself to understand as much of the current research around getting and being pregnant as she could. Interspersed with anecdotes from her own pregnancy, she provides grounded recommendations. More than that, the book shares rational advice based on the actual science...