reading matter

Today I swore off a much appreciated blog, Habeas Brulee. For those of you not trying to subsist on rice and corn, I recommend the blog as a haven for those who truly love food. Perhaps a bit too much, but who's measuring? Instead, allow me to tell you about what I have been reading:

With (sort of) the Partner:
at the recommendation of my therapist, Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Sleep Solution. My dear LB was shocked when she heard that the baby is sleeping in 30 minute to 3 hr chunks, and recommended immediate effort to aid the situation. And, she pointed out, to relieve some stress. Unable to argue, I agreed - but secretly wondered if the partner and I could stay awake long enough to actually have any effect. Still, it's an easy assessment: a tired Mama is a scary Mama...

With the Eldest:
Mr. Bear's New Baby, by Debi Gliori. It's a book made for the co-sleeping, pile into loving heaps kind of family that we are. It is also, alas, a library book - and I'm sternly resisting peeking at half.com to see if I can buy it. This week, my bibliomania must take back seat to my desire to have overhead lighting some day. It's been a great book for a four year old, wondering if parents truly know everything - and what happens when the parents are at a loss?

Does God Have A Big Toe? by Marc Gellman. I especially liked the first story, about being a partner with God to "finish the world." And the second story, about Adam naming the animals struck a familiar chord.

Just For Me:
I'm wading through Neal Stephenson's The Confusion. And yes, I am a bit. I've enjoyed a lot of Stephenson, but I'm starting to feel like he's become caught up in his own gift for detail. It's really unfortunate, as the detail is now clogging up the plot. So, slow going, but lacking anything else interesting (no, Pantley doesn't quite qualify), onwards I go. Although I'm tempted to take a short detour to the now out of print wet-your-pants Sleeping Through the Night...and other lies, by Sandi Kahn Shelton. She speaketh to me.

Been peeking at other blogs, like the currently silent Rabot Machshavot, who temporarily is not so? Orthomom, on the other hand, had something rather gripping to report, while the Soferet combined chemistry and Judaism. At the beach, no less! Meanwhile, the RenReb is battling an overinvolvement with Harry Potter (I'd totally forgotten that #7 is coming!) and a fetish for extremely odd shoes, which I trust she won't actually wear. Melinda is burgeoning with plans to direct her child's neural growth away from Smashmouth (I assume) and towards the Dixie Chicks (yay!)....and as always, Jennifer Mattern makes me wish that I had written that.

So with all of this to read, perhaps that's why the book is unread and the baby not so happily sleeping?