What I Read: January 2023
An eclectic start to the year.
I am, once again, writing to you from the last hours of the month as I realize “oh shoot! January ends today — I need to write that newsletter.” Real A-student vibes over here, I’m telling you.
The new-ish year is in full swing. I gave Arthur (age 5.5) his first spelling “test” today (we spelled cat! dad! sad! sit!), which came at the perfect time — I was just starting to spiral yesterday about keeping him home this year for kindergarten and whether or not is was a good idea and worried about whether or not we were making any progress… and then I read a post from a mom in a Facebook group yesterday who said “don’t make any homeschool decisions in the dark days of January” and I thought that was extremely wise advice.
And it turns out, today was better.
Here’s What I Read in January:
Santa Claus: A Biography
The World Encyclopedia of Christmas (not pictured)
by Gerry Bowler
I wanted to read something Christmas-y in December and just didn’t do any searching or get my library request in soon enough. I did, however, remember Kate Bowler saying that her father was a historian of Christmas (coolest gig ever?), so I nabbed a couple of his books from the library late in December. The biography of Santa Claus was fascinating, demonstrating how the Santa we know today is fashioned from a hodge-podge of religious and non-religious precursors, but who really came into his own during — you guessed it — the onset of American advertising. Santa because the spokesperson for causes, a seller of Coca-Cola, and more, and that’s largely how he entered our American mainstream. A little more academic than I was looking for, but I enjoyed it.
The World Encyclopedia of Christmas was just that: a bulky encyclopedia with thousands of entries related to Christmas from “first-footing” to “Silent Night (hymn)” to how different countries around the world celebrate the holiday. I found it right up my alley as a total nerd, and would definitely flip through it again at Christmas next year. If you or someone you love delight in random and mostly-useless facts, this would make a great gift next Christmas.
Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood
by Jessica Grose
A NYT reporter, Grose wrote the bulk of this book during the pandemic, reflecting on the ways that American motherhood asks entirely too much of women. She gives a brief history of parenting in the beginning of the book, which is interesting, and then transitions into how modern parenting is an entirely unsustainable package of tasks and performances that we all wish didn’t exist. I didn’t learn anything new in reading this book, but I did feel seen and understood, and that felt good. At the end of the book, Grose’s argument is that we can’t change things individually, but that we are going to have to work toward a communal solution for better, affordable childcare and medical care, etc. — but ultimately, the book lacked a “next steps” section that I think could be beneficial. How do we build community-level solutions when we are all drowning as it is? I have yet to figure that out.
If you don’t want to pick up the whole book, this interview with Anne Helen Peterson on Culture Study is a good start.
Gentle Nutrition: A Non-Diet Approach to Healthy Eating
by Rachael Hartley
I did not read this cover to cover, but flipped through it to see if my nutritional mindset based on a decade-old decision to focus on carbs, protein, and fat at every meal holds up. To my own surprise, it does. This book is indeed gentle, as the title suggests — it focuses on intuitive eating and it’s written from a healthy-at-every-size (HAES) perspective, recognizing that comfort food is an important part of any person’s life. It reminds the reader that food is meant to nourish a body, not build it a prison. The thing that will stick with me most going forward is that Hartley calls out that food should be not only filling, but satisfying. It’s encouraged me to go out of my way to add some crunch to a salad, to toast a bun before adding pulled pork to it — to focus on the experience of food, and not just eating to fill up.
The Vanderbeekers #4: Lost & Found {audio}
by Karina Yan Glaser / narrated by Robin Miles
We continue to LOVE this series! This book is a little heavier than previous titles — the kids are getting older and they are dealing with older-kid problems. It is not at all a shock when it happens, but the family does experience the death of their elderly and loved upstairs neighbor, and the book covers his last moments and his memorial services. The book also touches on homelessness, specifically kids without a home, as a close friend of the family experiences this and they try to help out. The Vanderbeekers continue to navigate their lives with all the antics you’d expect of a family of five living in New York City, and I love sharing with Arthur how the family cares for each other and learns from one another as they go.
Otherwise, I am sooo close to finishing Attached to God by Krispin Mayfield — expect a review in February. I’m in the middle of a beta read for a friend’s Middle-Grade novel about her grandmother’s experience in WWII (a favorite genre over here!) — it’s SO good. And I haven’t even re-located Middlemarch to my nightstand (sorry, Lisa Hensley!).
What’s next? Maybe one of the books I got for Christmas? Ha!
What I’m Reading With the Kids:
We picked up our journey through the Tales from Deckawoo Drive by Kate DiCamillo, which we all love. We read Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem (maybe my favorite of all, but it’s too hard to chose!), and finished the series with Franklin Endicott and the Third Key.
My friend Marie found a like-new copy of Good Rosie! at a Little Free Library when we were at a park a couple of weeks ago, and that is also a Kate DiCamillo work worth reading. We only have a couple of picture books to go before we read everything she’s ever made. I’m thrilled and sad at the same time. Maybe we’ll tackle Amy Krause Rosenthal’s body of work next?
We wrapped up our unit on space and are starting one on penguins.
And Tennyson fell in love with the Maple & Willow books by Lori Nichols: Maple, Maple & Willow Together, Maple & Willow Apart, and Maple & Willow’s Christmas Tree. I can’t blame her — they are adorable.
That’s it! What do you have on deck for February? I’d love to hear about it.
Apologies for being extremely light on photos this month — there isn’t enough daylight hours right now!
“don’t make any homeschool decisions in the dark days of January” -- OOF. Yes. We are ending January and starting February with a massive sinus infection/bronchitis-y kind of deal over here and I am questioning alllll my educational decisions for my oldest--lol. This reminder was helpful. And I also can't wait to read Screaming on the Inside!! It's on hold at the library :)
I was so intrigued when I heard about Screaming on the Inside, but I was afraid it would just make me feel worse to have everything that's difficult about modern motherhood waved in front of my face. It sounds like I made the right decision to pass if there aren't actionable steps at the end.