Category: Book Talk

I’ve been reading so much, but I haven’t had a chance to talk about all of them. Here’s a quick recap though of what I covered in the past month or so…

This is such a nice little book. Joe and I each read it in a matter of hours. It covers some really interesting historical facts about Christmas, and then focuses on ways to bring joy to the holiday without making it all commercial. He explains that “hundred dollar” part of the title was really just because it sounded good with the word “holiday”, and you can use any amount that you pick. I really enjoyed his suggestions and ideas for different ways to celebrate Christmas.

This was another fast read. I really enjoyed it, though. Peggy Vincent and I clearly have a few philosophical differences when it comes to midwifery, but I found her story to be very relatable and encouraging. As I continue to consider a path to midwifery, this book gave me pause and helped me to really contemplate what kind of midwife I’d like to be. Good stuff.

I was really enthralled by Heart & Hands. I couldn’t put it down. The funniest part was that I was taking it EVERYWHERE with me, and I was getting the strangest glances, LOL. I was at a birthday party with my daughter and reading about suturing techniques if a woman tears during childbirth. The other moms around me kept scooting in closer and closer to read over my shoulder. They couldn’t figure out what it was. Finally, one of them asked, so I explained what kind of book I was reading, and then I got a good hour of hearing about other women’s birth stories. It made me laugh, because I remember a quote in _Pushed_ that talked about how a midwife’s life is pretty much the same whether they are in or out of jail: they just hear other women’s birth stories. I have found it so intriguing that everyone wants to share their birth story as soon as I mention anything about birth work. Funny.

I’m not quite done with this book yet, but I’m really enjoying reading about all of the different philosophies and paths that bring women to midwifery. It is really helping me to figure out where my passion lies.

OK, I’m going to have to do a few entries on The Ministry of Motherhood, because it really made me think. I love Sally Clarkson’s writings, and I could read her books all day. Joe and I were talking over the weekend about how there are times when you feel convicted to do something, but then your resolve starts to waiver… until you pick up a book that gives you a swift kick in the butt and reminds you of why you wanted to change in the first place. That’s exactly what her books do for me. I start to slack, and then she reminds me to keep running the race!

I just finished my first, official, group Beth Moore study. I bought Breaking Free years ago, and really liked it, but I had never done a group study with the videos and all that jazz. It was a great experience. I loved the daily workbook stuff, and her teachings really coincided with stuff that God has been teaching me elsewhere.

Sadly, this isn’t even all of the books that I’ve read, but lunch is ready, so I have to run! If you’ve been reading anything interesting recently, please comment and let me know! I’m always on the hunt for good books!

Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born

by Tina Cassidy

I just finished this book, and I was disappointed to recognize many sections of it from another book that I am currently reading, Milk, Money, and Madness. I don’t think the author exactly plagiarized, but its pretty close. For example, Cassidy says in Birth

At Dublin Foundling Hospital, of ten thousand hand-fed infants between 1775 and 1796, only forty-five survived infancy, an astounding mortality rate of 99.6 percent.

In Milk, Money, and Madness, it reads

At the Dublin Foundling Asylum during 1775-96, where dry nursing was in vogue, only 45 children survived out of 10,272-a horrendous 99.6% mortality rate.

Just a few paragraphs later Cassidy says

The ignorance and confusion surrounding bottle preparation spurred Nathan Straus, owner of Macy’s department store in New York, to give away pasteurized milk to poor children at philanthropic “stations,” a concept that had also taken hold in Europe…

Milk, Money, and Madness says

Milk stations were soon all the fashion. At the turn of the century, “milk depots” were established in France, Britain, and the United States… In New York, Nathan Strauss of Macy’s, working through health department clinics, organized milk stations where pasteurized, bottled milk was provided free for the needy and at low cost to others.

You get my point. I saw dozens of these kinds of passages, which was a real turn-off. Milk, Money, and Madness came out 11 years earlier, and apparently used fantastic sources since Cassidy lifted passages like the ones above.

My other complaint is that Cassidy swings back and forth throughout the text. First she talks about how its a miracle that any of us can survive childbirth and that we’ll soon all need C-sections because our kids keep getting bigger and bigger. Then she talks about how doctors are killing us all and homebirths with midwives are safer. Then she says she’d never homebirth.

I’m very glad that I read this after my latest pregnancy. Cassidy admits that she doesn’t trust her body, and it is evident in the text. I wouldn’t recommend this book to a pregnant woman.

Cassidy has some really cool pictures in here though. The chapter on C-sections was horrifying, but really interesting at the same time. I feel so many mixed emotions about this book. I’m glad that I read it, but I wonder if the sections that I liked could’ve been found in other books.