Mojo Mom Podcast: Lady of the Snakes author Rachel Pastan

I fell in love with Rachel Pastan's novel Lady of the Snakes, so I invited her on this week's Mojo Mom Podcast. Both podcast segments this week feature literary discussions for busy Moms. You can learn more about Rachel's work and find a Lady of the Snakes readers' guide at RachelPastan.com

To my delight, Rachel also shared a list of recommended books she created just for our Mojo Mom audience:

First, here are some of my favorite novels about the experience of living with
small children:

The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk. This is a smart, wonderfully written ensemble
piece about very different characters with various children in their lives, and how their lives are affected by that.

The Book Borrower by Alice Mattison. This book captures my experience as the
mother of an infant better than any I’ve read. The tenderness and the
ambivalence. It’s also a wonderful novel about friendship between women, and
it has a great historical element. This is the only novel I know in which a female protagonist is referred to by her last name.

The Brambles by Eliza Minot. The mother in this book is less ambivalent than
the ones in mine or Mattison’s. The texture of suburban life with children is gorgeously rendered.

Other books:

Possession by A.S. Byatt. The ultimate literary mystery story, and a fabulous Romance. Unputdownable.

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West. A British novel from the thirties that no one reads anymore and which deserves renewed attention. It’s about two musical twins growing up in an impoverished family in which their untalented older sister gets all the attention. It’s funny, charming, sometimes eerie,
and always compelling.

Enjoy!

Warmly,
Rachel

Books you need to know about!

I have so many book reviews backlogged in my brain. I hope to review all of these more fully, and individually on Amazon.com in the near future (to see all my Amazon.com reviews click this link) but I just wanted to get some very quick capsule recommendations out to you:

Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood by Karen Maezen Miller. Karen is a friend of the blog and has been a guest on The Mojo Mom Podcast (Oct.5.06 episode). She is also one of the kindest and wisest people I have had the pleasure to befriend before we've even met in person. Her book is a real treat -- a perfect New Year's gift to yourself. I have recommended Karen's book in the past and now that I myself need a mojo recharge, I am appreciating her work once again.

Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers by Nancy Amanda Redd. Body Drama takes a complete, honest look at body issues of all kinds. This is a brave and wonderful book. It's aimed at teens but I learned a lot by reading it. Written by an amazing young woman who competed in the Miss America pageant and also graduated from Harvard. You have to love Nancy Redd for using her platform to launch a discussion about real body issues. (On her blog she shares a very funny story about filling out her Miss America paperwork as Miss Virginia.)

The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World Without Losing Your Way by Hillary Rettig. I learned about this book from Cary Tennis' column on Salon.com a few months ago and it is a great tool for a Mojo Mom. Mothers are driven to create a life of meaning and we often end up on a life path that is similar to an activist or artist's, even if we don't officially identify ourselves that way. Rettig gives very practical advice about succeeding on this path without burning out. I could mentally substitute the word "Mom" for "Activist" throughout and the advice made a lot of sense. Her book has one of the best bibliographies I've ever come across, and it's led me to other good books, including....

The Soft-Addiction Solution by Judith Wright. I don't usually gravitate toward this kind of book but The Lifelong Activist had recommended it and it was a very valuable quick read. I skimmed over some of the case studies but the core message about putting aside the "soft addictions," seemingly harmless habits like TV, shopping and potato chips, was very valuable. Wright shows us how to choose deeper meaningful experiences over quick-fix, mindless rewards.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Several people I love and respect had enthusiastically recommended Eat, Pray, Love to me last year and I have to say I was disappointed when I finally read it. I found it rather shallow and narcissistic in an American-centric way. But a reader critique of that book steered me toward Three Cups of Tea, which chronicles the long journey of an American mountain climber who found a calling to promote peace by building schools in Pakistan. If you were intrigued by the search for meaning in Eat, Pray, Love but are interested in vocation rather than vacation, try Three Cups of Tea.

What's on your kids' reading list after Harry Potter?

I know the Harry Potter phenomenon has run through the news cycle by now, but in our house we are still really feeling the effects of Life After Harry. What can my ravenous 8-year-old reader turn to next? We still like to read books aloud together in addition to her independent reading, so I am on the lookout for good books we can both enjoy.

Common Sense Media put out a very helpful list on this topic, featuring fantasy recommendations, with age-appropriateness guidelines, for 8 to 12 year olds.

In our house, my daughter is grooving on:

Multiple reads through The Spiderwick Chronicles. These are good to get from the library because they are rather expensive in hardcover for such short books.

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first title is The Lightning Thief.

She also loves the trailer for the upcoming movie version of The Golden Compass. I think the film will be interesting for her. I read the His Dark Materials trilogy by myself this summer and recommend the first book for ages 10 and up, and the second and third books for ages 12 and up. Very theological, philosophical, intense. It reads as a grown up book to me that happens to feature kids as main characters.

We both really enjoyed The City of Ember, which from the cover I incorrectly thought was for an older audience. But it's very appropriate for 8 year olds, and is a simpler story and easier reading than Harry Potter. I give the Book of Ember 4 stars, The People of Sparks 3 stars, and The Prophet of Yonwood a big ????? I am halfway through it and not sure I'll even finish it. It is a very disappointing third volume "prequel" that doesn't do the series justice.

My daughter did read all the Harry Potter books but by the end I was really wishing she'd waited until she was 10 years old. The last couple were too intense. My comfort there is that I do believe that when reading, kids bring to it what they can understand.

Oldies but goodies: I have enjoyed reading the first two Little House on the Prairie books with her, but she's not that interested in more right now. The funny thing is that reading those books from a Mom's point of view you realize just how many times the Ingalls family narrowly avoids being maimed or killed. The prose is so matter of fact that it's not sensationalized, but the facts are there about how risky their pioneer lifestyle was.

I asked my daughter for her additional opinion on reading recommendations and she reminded me that she'd like to co-author a fantasy book with me. I got my start as a writer of young adult fiction with my book High Water so that's a distinct possibility. Stay tuned on that one!

What are the favorite books in your home? Books you enjoyed as a kid that you are sharing with your family? New books that you are surprised to like as much as your children do?