Crib Notes #14: Books To Read When You Feel Tired and Cross
Succinct book reviews for new and busy mothers.
I considered a more elegant title for April’s Crib Notes, but ultimately ‘Books To Read When You Feel Tired and Cross’ felt apposite. Such was my mood when I began writing this issue. Inspired by a spectacularly bad week during which my three-year-old squeezed a tube of expensive moisturiser onto the floor and threw his shoes down the toilet (amongst other misdemeanours), I have chosen a selection of books which offer an escape hatch. These are stories to sweep you away and satisfy you during the most trying times.
How To Buy Your Books: I recommend purchasing your books from Storytellers Inc, a mother-daughter run independent bookshop. Click here to shop or email Katie and quote ‘cribnotes’ to receive free postage on singles orders and 10% off orders of more than two titles.
THE BACKLIST READ
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife has a special place in my heart: I was halfway through this absorbing novel on the day my youngest child was born. American Wife is about Alice Blackwell, The First Lady of the United States of America. Based loosely on Laura Bush, Alice is married to a man with whose politics she disagrees. When an anonymous source emerges with a secret about Alice’s past which could threaten the presidency, she begins to reflect on the decisions that brought her to the White House. She recounts her middle-class Wisconsin upbringing, a formative high-school crush and a devastating accident which echoes down the years, even as she meets charismatic playboy Charlie Blackwell and is thrust into his brashly wealthy Republican family. This is a thoughtful and emotionally compelling novel which reveals the complicated private life of a couple in the public eye.
When To Read: I started American Wife when I was 39 weeks pregnant and wanted to read something that I could sink into effortlessly. That I was able to come back to it in the immediate aftermath of giving birth is down to Sittenfeld’s gifts as author. Cocooned in bed with my new baby that night, I felt anchored by this engrossing narrative, finding reassurance and familiarity in Alice’s voice
How To Read: The audiobook is beautifully performed by Kimberley Farr. Otherwise, the paperback edition is published by Black Swan – buy it here.
What To Read Next: I loved Sittenfeld’s Rodham, which brilliantly imagines what might have happened had Hillary Rodham refused Bill Clinton. Rodham and American Wife were recommended to me by Katie Clapham at Storyteller’s Inc; Katie also recommends Sittenfeld's Prep. She says, ‘Prep was the first Curtis Sittenfeld I read and I distinctly remember taking it to my grandparents house when we went there for dinner because I could not be parted from it’.
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