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Book Review: This Mother’s Life

May13

This Mother’s Life
by Nina Mohadjer
Paperback, 178 pages, $12.95
Infinity Publishing, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0741467102
http://www.ninamohadjer.com/This-Mother-s-Life.html

Reviewed by Molly Remer, Talk Birth

This Mother’s Life is a novel in diary format about a woman, the mother of two teenage girls,  who is going through a separation from her husband as well as through job changes. We follow her experiences with dating some other men and seeking a new job as well as her musings about motherhood, marriage, women’s rights, and life caught between two cultures (she and her husband are originally from Iran).

There is a higher than average number of minor errors in word choice and writing mechanics in the book and I stumbled over things such as a continued use of the word “loosing” instead of “losing.” The overall tone of the book is lightweight, casual, and surface, while at the same time feeling somewhat depressing. The narrator’s voice is often extremely plaintive.

This Mother’s Life is also bitingly funny in places–a favorite section, with regard to her mother-in-law’s questions: “Amir’s mom asks me constantly whether I take care of her son! I mean, hello, I should be responsible for my girls and not for wrapping your son’s penis in blue silk, right? Did I get a lifetime companion or a forty-year-old baby?”

Women looking for a quick read that touches lightly on some of the challenges of modern motherhood, will probably recognize something of themselves and their own struggles in This Mother’s Life.

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.

Book Review: To Err is Common

May7

To Err is Common
by Margot Terrence
Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: Prisyon Publishing (November 21, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0983872207
http://www.toerriscommon.com

Reviewed by Molly Remer, Talk Birth

Written by a hospital Risk Manager, To Err is Common is a “truvel” that explores the ins and outs in the lives of the nurses at a large hospital and the various mistakes and medically negligent events that occur therein. Deemed a “truvel” because it is a novelization of true events, To Err is Common brings to startling and distressing life the reality that almost 200,000 patients die in American hospitals every year due to medical mistakes and hospital-acquired infections.

While overall a compelling narrative, the dialogue is somewhat stilted and feels wooden in its delivery and the characters do not feel particularly well-developed.

While the truvel definitely has a moral about the laziness or apathy of some medical care practitioners, there is also a recognition of the human nature of mistakes. While some mistakes are due to negligence and involve unethical cover-ups, many are simply “honest” accidents with profoundly awful consequences.

To Err is Common confirmed some of my fears, perceptions, and lack of trust in the decision-making capacities, skills, and motivations of many in the medical profession. It is interesting and valuable reading for nursing school students or for anyone interested in process and practice of medical care.

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.

Book Review: Into These Hands

Apr2

Into These Hands: Wisdom from Midwives
Geradine Simkins
Paperback, 300 pages
Published by Spirituality & Health Publisher, 2011
ISBN: 9780981870854
Wisdom from Midwives

Reviewed by Molly Remer, Talk Birth

Into These Hands is an amazing anthology of midwives’ retrospectives about their careers and midwifery journey. You won’t find birth stories here–this is book about women’s lives and journeys to midwifery. A book of midwife stories–how women are birthed as midwives, rather than about births they attended–Into These Hands is great reading for aspiring midwives or for currently practicing midwives who wish to feel a sense of solidarity with their sisters. There are many paths, many lessons, many voices and each midwife clearly loves women and has a passion for birth.

From the press release:

We are eager for you to meet some modern-day wise women, healers, revolutionaries, and reformers. Into These Hands, Wisdom from Midwives© is a comprehensive anthology of the life stories of 25 remarkable women who have dedicated their lives and careers to the path of social change through midwifery. These exemplary midwives are all over 50 years of age with 25-40 years in the field. Collectively, they have over 800 years of experience and have assisted in over 35,000 births.

The midwives whose voices are included in the anthology come from diverse backgrounds, training, experiences, and range of practice settings. Quite a few of the stories are from “bridge club” members–women who began as direct entry midwives and later became CNMs. These midwives have a foot in both worlds and insight into the politics of the profession. In general, Into These Hands is a good look at the politics of midwifery both past and present. Almost all of the midwives in the book have homebirth roots or orientation.

Since there are lots of voices represented, the tone or style of some stories is more compelling than others. Some within-story chronology jumps were a little confusing and there were a couple of stories in which I had to do some re-reading for clarity.

Into These Hands is likely to be of particular interest to midwifery activists, aspiring midwives, or current/retired midwives and may hold less appeal for general birth enthusiasts, doulas, or childbirth educators. The stories are rich, insightful, thought-provoking, and diverse and they brought tears to my eyes several times. This book is a treasury of women’s wisdom and a powerful legacy for the generations of women to follow.

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An indicator of how much I like a book is how many page corners I turn down in order to come back to re-read those sections and write blog posts based on them/share quotes/etc. This is Into These Hands last night as I was finishing it...;-D

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Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes.

Book Review: More Than a Midwife

Mar21

More Than a Midwife: Stories of Grace, Glory, and Motherhood [Paperback]
by Mary Sommers
MavenMark Books (HenschelHAUS Publishing) (October 1, 2011), 148 pages
ISBN-13:978-1595981066

Reviewed by Molly Remer, Talk Birth

More Than a Midwife is a thoroughly delightful little volume by experienced and resourceful midwife, Mary Sommers. One of the things that makes the book particularly distinctive is the impressive diversity of Mary’s work experience. The book includes stories from her work as a midwife in urban Chicago as well as in Africa and Mexico. As always, glimpsing the dire situations facing birthing women cross-culturally is a sobering reminder of the immense challenges international midwives face with few physical resources—they accomplish an amazing level of care with only their heads, hands, and hearts.

Each story shared in the book is selected with care and has an important message to share. The stories are about unique women and their unique births and what Mary (and the reader) can learn from them. From empowering and exhilarating, to difficult and heartbreaking, particularly notable are the stories that remind us all to treat every woman with dignity and respect, regardless of her life’s circumstances or choices. Mary is clearly a midwife who loves women and birth and practices with sensitivity, respect, and positive regard.

More Than a Midwife is a slim paperback. It is nice size to hold easily and the stories are short and easy to read in small chunks of free time. It is occasionally erratic in the organization/flow of a story and in a few of them I had to re-read segments to understand chronology. However, this  was a negligible issue in the context of this thoroughly enjoyable small book.

Mary Sommers has written a true gem of a book. I feel honored to have read More Than a Midwife and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in birth, homebirth, midwifery, or women’s health. Most excellent!

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Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes.

Book Review: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading & to Self-Sufficient Living

Feb13

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading
Sundari Elizabeth Kraft
Paperback, 352 pages
Published by Penguin Group (USA)
ISBN: 9781615641048

And

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Self-Sufficient Living
Jerome Belanger
Paperback, 400 pages
Published by Penguin Group (USA)
ISBN: 9781592579457

Reviewed by Molly Remer

Written in clear, straightforward language and covering an impressive array of topics, Urban Homesteading and Self-Sufficient Living, are excellent resources to those on a sustainable living path. At first I expected them to be “too basic,” but discovered useful information and resources applicable to people at various stages and experience levels. Because they are so comprehensive, the books both serve primarily as a broad overview of relevant topics, rather than as in-depth how-to guides. They serve to whet your appetite for further resources for a sustainable lifestyle.

I’m not a fan of the title Complete Idiot’s Guide in general, finding it unnecessarily insulting rather than amusing, but that is a minor drawback to these thorough, useful guides.

Of the two tomes, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading really shines. The focus is on micro-farming and self-sufficiency for the city dweller. It covers gardening (including options for those without yards), chickens and other small livestock, food preservation and preparation (including cheesemaking and various recipes for food prep), soapmaking, composting, foraging, and off-grid living. It also includes information about zoning laws and working with landlords. As someone who has homesteaded in a rural area for a number of years, I still found the Urban Homesteading book quite useful and informative.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Self-Sufficient Living focuses on living a self-reliant lifestyle and on sustainable living. It covers topics such as gardening, kitchen coordination, raising animals, and self-sufficient housing.

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Disclosure: I received complimentary copies of these books for review purposes.

Book Review: Passionate Journey: My Unexpected Life

Jan14

Passionate Journey: My Unexpected LifePassionate Journey: My Unexpected Life
By Marian Leonard Tompson, Melissa Clark Vickers
Paperback, 176 pages
Published June 19th 2011 by Hale Publishing

Reviewed by Molly Remer

Passionate Journey by La Leche League International co-founder Marian Tompson is the story of a young mother who became known worldwide and was even referred to as “The High Priestess of Breastfeeding Mothers.” Written in a light and casual tone, many of Marian’s stories are familiar if you’ve read The LLL Love Story, Seven Voices, One Dream, or The Revolutionaries Wore Pearls. While theoretically a personal memoir from one Founder, rather than a history of LLL, because Marian’s personal history is intimately entwined with the organization’s history, the end result is very similar to existing books about LLLI.

The writing style is simplistic and ironically often fairly dispassionate in tone, perhaps due to having a co-writer for a first person memoir. Chronology jumps are occasionally confusing.

Several anecdotes made me laugh aloud and read them to my husband–such as a medical intern rushing to the physician after witnessing one of Marian’s three natural hospital births and exclaiming, “oh, doctor! How did you do it?” As a birth activist and feminist, I’m fascinated by the radical courage required at the time to support and promote home birth and breastfeeding. While LLLI has always been a “single purpose” organization, it has also always recognized something that seems to escape the notice of many professionals and consumers: that normal, undisturbed breastfeeding begins with normal, undisturbed birth. Tompson notes: “…having a baby at home is at least as safe as a hospital birth, and in most situations home birth is safer. New sciences and new research are helping us understand why giving birth in your own bed, surrounded by people who care for you, where you feel supported and can celebrate the birth, rather than just endure it, changes both the experience and the outcome.” Tompson had her first home birth in 1955 and went on to have three more children at home. Her daughters carried on her legacy, one of them returning to the family home to give birth to her own daughter. The Tompson family home was also the site of multiple family weddings as well as the almost unheard of home funeral for husband Tom in 1981. In a nice touch, reflective paragraphs from each of Marian’s seven children close the book.

An inspirational story of the twists and turns of an ordinary life with an extraordinary global impact, Passionate Journey reminded me of the deep importance and transformative influence of providing support and encouragement to women who wish to breastfeed.

via Goodreads | Passionate Journey: My Unexpected Life by Marian Leonard Tompson – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists.

Giveaway: Arms Wide Open: A Midwife’s Journey

Dec11

Cover imageGiveaway is now closed! Jen Chendea is the winner!
I’m happy to host a holiday giveaway of Patsy Harman’s book, Arms Wide Open. To enter, just leave a comment sharing what giving birth taught you about yourself! I will draw the winner randomly on January 1.

An excerpt from my review of the book:

Harman’s writing style is lyrical and engaging as well as candid. The book is based on personal journals and reading it feels like eavesdropping on someone’s very private thoughts and feelings. The book is much more of a look at a woman’s feelings about her life, than it is a “manifesto” about birth or about the practice of midwifery. In this manner, I feel like you receive a much more complete picture of a midwife’s life and journey, rather than reading a sequence of birth stories. Patsy has a lot of life in addition to birth. While definitely not a “feel good” book, Arms Wide Open is a deeply touching and very honest exploration of one woman’s personal journey in life, love, motherhood, and midwifery.

via Book Review: Arms Wide Open: A Midwife’s Journey « Talk Birth.

Guest Post: More Business of Being Born Mini-Review

Nov9

In conjunction with the More Business of Being Born giveaway I’m currently hosting, I’m also pleased to share this mini-review of the first installment (Down on the Farm) guest posted by my friend and colleague, doula Summer:

More Business of Being Born

Down on the Farm: Conversations with Legendary Midwife Ina May

Reviewed by Summer Thorp-Lancaster

http://peacefulbeginnings.wordpress.com
http://summerdoula.wordpress.com

The first installation of More Business of Being Born, Down on the Farm: Conversations with Legendary Midwife Ina May, is infused with loving scenes of midwifery care, loads of vital information and even a few jokes (such as a gift referencing Ina May’s infamous “sphincter law”).  We are given an up close view of the well-known Farm in Tennessee, whose Midwives boast an exemplary track record of Midwife attended, out-of-hospital births. This record includes a less than 2% cesarean section rate in over 2500 births. Throughout the interviews, Ina May’s (and the other Midwives featured) reverence and respect for the Midwifery Model of Care is ever-present. Her passion for the safety and overall well-being of the motherbaby is palpable and stirring.

It would be impossible to cover the many aspects of birth, or even just Midwife attended out-of-hospital birth, in a full length film, let alone an episode, but this piece successfully touches on many topics and will (hopefully) lead to further discussion amongst viewers. As an activist, I found myself left with a renewed sense of action or purpose, a desire to do more and help more so that all mamas and babies have the opportunity to experience birth as the positive, loving and intimate experience it was meant to be as well as a deeper understanding of the crisis surrounding our medical model of birth. I would recommend this film to everyone, as the state of maternity care affects us all.

Review & Recipe: The Artisanal Kitchen Balsamic Vinegar & Olive Oil

Sep13

I am a long-time fan of balsamic vinegar and so I was excited to try a sample size bottle of the “Full Bodied Authentic Modena Aged Balsamic” offered by The Artisanal Kitchen. It arrived in a super cute little bottle (I’ve also been a sucker for mini-sized versions of things!) along with its companion product, “Extra Virgin Three Olives Olive Oil,” another indispensable part of my kitchen supplies. I decided to make my favorite salad dressing using both samples. I do not follow a specific recipe for the dressing, just make it to taste using:

Ample quantities of balsamic vinegar

Roughly equal portion of olive oil

Splash of lemon juice

Dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper

I then serve myself a generous portion over organic baby mixed greens, home grown sprouts (thanks, Mom!), and some french fried onions (bad!). Sometimes I add some pieces of steak to make it a full meal 🙂

Not all vinegars are created equal, so I was pleased to discover The Artisanal Kitchen Balsamic vinegar was light and fruity in taste. While still possessing the sharp tang that makes a balsamic vinegar SO tasty, the flavor of this one was lighter and sweeter in taste than many others and was delicious. The Three Olives olive oil was also high quality and light in flavor and feel. I heartily enjoyed my salad and will be making more dressing using these products soon.

I also received the following chicken recipe to share:

BBQ chicken topped with caramelized red onions made with The Artisanal Kitchen Aceto Balsamico di Modena

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  1. Put the olive oil and salt in a medium-size frying pan and heat on low. When oil is heated, add sliced red onion to the pan and cook over a low flame for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are caramelized. Next, add The Artisanal Kitchen Balsamico di Modena to the onions and continue to cook on a very low flame, stirring frequently, until the onions have turned a dark brown color. Scrape the balsamic residue off the bottom of the pan, mix with the onions and cook for a few more minutes to allow the remaining balsamic to be absorbed into the onion mixture.
  2. Cook chicken breast on the barbeque and, once done, lightly salt and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top. Place a few tablespoons of onion mixture on each chicken breast, garnish with a parsley leaf and serve.

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Disclosure: I received complimentary samples of these products for review purposes.

Book Review: Evolve…a woman’s journey

Sep5

Book Review: Evolve…a woman’s journey
by Patrick Stull
Stull Visual Arts, 2011
Hardcover, 164 pages, $44.95
Also available as an iPad app and as an iBook in Itunes for $9.99.
http://www.patrickstull.com/books/

Reviewed by Molly Remer

A combination of stirring photography celebrating the creative journey of pregnancy and lyrical ode to women, Evolve is a unique book presented by artist Patrick Stull. The author-photographer’s love, respect, and honor for women shines through on every page. The photographs are arresting and dramatic and the prose is poetic and beautiful. The book is part of a multimedia exhibit taking place in 2012. I would love to see the full exhibit, which involves full body casts as well as images and voice recordings.

Why would a man prepare a project such as this? According to his introduction, due to “this insatiable desire to be part of something that excludes me…I have found something within me that one might call love, though I think it is more a sense of attachment to something that makes me whole. I have fallen in love with this creature and she has left her imprint on my being, casting me out to share the love—the humanity I have found.” Later he also shares that: “I have discovered nothing more stunning, nothing more emotionally stirring, nothing more intriguing than a woman as she creates life.” He also has an activist purpose behind his work, asserting that one mission of the Evolve project is to help people recognize the strength and value that all women possess. Stull states, “I also want people to consider the daily injustices to women and children all over the world, and how often they suffer the greatest costs of conflict. Why are women treated so cruelly?”

The early photographs shared are the faces of the women we follow throughout the rest of the book. A short snippet of information about the woman’s life accompanies each portrait. One woman is a midwife and several mothers had homebirths and/or hired doulas or midwives for their births. Evolve is a high quality hardback book that would be a great addition to a birth center waiting room or midwife’s office. If the price for the hardback book is out of your budget, luckily there is an affordable iBook version available.

The overwhelming message received through Evolve is of pregnancy as an active process. The pictures are very active and dynamic in feel, celebrating form and motion. Evolve is not a book of “belly pictures,” it is a book about women and their lives in the act of creation.

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.