Pre-order New Mom Comics Today!

Have you been online in the last year? Then you may have seen these comics on Huffington Post, Upworthy, or shared on my facebook page! In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, we have a giveaway for you!

New Mom Comics are spot-on depictions of life with a baby from breastfeeding and pumping, to diaper blowouts, babyproofing, phantom cries, and all the other hurdles of Mom Life. Without exception, when artist Alison Wong posted her weekly comic on her facebook page, my response was "Ha ha! Yup!" Now she is self-publishing a compilation of the comics from her first year as a mom into a book, which is available for presale to ship in time for Christmas. The perfect gift for a new or expecting mom

Alison Wong is a friend I love to name drop (Have you used the Heinz Dip and Squeeze packets or the Orville Redenbacher pop-up popcorn bowl? Thank Alison. Remember that show The Big Brain Theory, hosted by Kal Penn? Then you saw Alison.). A decade and a half ago she was drawing comics for The Tech, MIT's campus Newspaper, and I was her editor. Now we are both moms and may or may not be wearing clean pants! Time flies, so does food off a high chair! For this reason, I am so excited for the opportunity to give out copies of her book.

New Mom Comics: The First Year

The book is compilation of a year of comics drawn by Alison Wong about the adventures of being a new mom.  It’s a humorous guide on what to expect as a new parent.  “I created this series because it’s what I wished I had during the first year – like a friend to tell you how it really is, with humor and love.  My husband and I always try to look for the humor in each day, even in tough parenting moments, as it helps us laugh and remember them so fondly.”

Perfect if you are an expecting, new or experienced parent, or love kids. They make great gifts too! 100+ pages paperback, 55+ comics, with some color. Currently taking pre-orders, $15 plus s&h.  Delivery in Dec before the holidays. 

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Inspirational Memoirs

I have been reading memoirs over the last few months in part to be personally inspired by other people's stories, but also to learn how a successful memoir is written in the hopes of one day having mine published. I will list here the ones I have read, along with a few words about each.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Read: July 2008
Source: Linked off Margaret's blog
Review: I haven't actually read this book, but I watched the video of the lecture itself. It was really inspirational, and the one thing that really resonated with me was an insight he shared. The professor broke the world down in to two kinds of people: Tiggers and Eeyores. This struck me as so profound at a time when I was trying to figure out why my marriage had failed. In the end, perhaps it came down to the fact that I am a Tigger, and the guy who had just walked out on me was an Eeyore. This is a really poignant lecture, and if the book reflects that, it has earned a well-deserved spot on the best-sellers list.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Read: December 2008
Source: Picked up at the airport bookstore on the way to China.
Review: This book had been recommended to me by a few people and was on the NYT best-seller list. I figured reading a book about a thirty-something woman travelling the world after her divorce would be apropos as I travelled to China months after mine. I enjoyed the book well enough, although the author seemed to lack introspection in many sections and often seemed a bit too whiny for someone so privileged to be travelling the world on a book advance. I found out later than many reviewers felt the same way, and the book even spawned a parody. The portion set in Italy was just okay. I almost felt like I'd had more revelations while living in that country as a nineteen year old than she did as a thirty-something. The Indian portion inspired me to pursue yoga and meditation. And the Indonesian portion, when she falls in love again was hopeful but closed the book with many unanswered questions rather than tying up her story with any meaningful conclusions. It spoke to me at a time I needed to know I was not the only one who felt lost and alone, but I wouldn't describe it as "life-altering"

People Are Unappealing: Even Me by Sarah Barron
Read: March 2009
Source: A gift given from Ian, with the intent to go to a reading together
Review: This was a funny memoir of a girl my age from the Chicago suburbs who became a waitress in New York City while pursuing her real dreams. Her anecdotes about her childhood were very humorous - every other sentence read like a punch line. While the book follows her life from childhood to womanhood, it does not read as a coming-of-age story but rather hits touch points in her life that shaped who she is today. Again this book ends abruptly. For someone so enamored by Jerry Springer, I would have hoped that she would have at least included a "final thought" to sum up her hilarious existence.

When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror by Carol Leifer
Read: April 2009
Source: A birthday gift from Ramon
Review: Ramon knew this was the book for me when he saw that Chapter 2 consisted entirely of a list (and I love me some lists). The narrator is a woman who reflects on her life as a fifty year old woman. She is a divorcee-turned-lesbian, animal hater-turned-dog rescuer, and later-in-life mother. The moral of her story, told through anecdotes and observations, is that old dogs can learn new tricks and leopards can change their spots. While the narrator of this novel may have superficially had the least in common with me, her book was so charming, insightful and funny that I think it may have resonated with me the most.

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Tucker Max
Read: May 2009
Source: From Ramon who found it so funny, I had to know why
Review: My brother had recommended the book to me years ago, and recently the man I am dating was laughing so hard he was crying while reading this book. I kept asking him to relay the anecdotes that had him cracking up, so eventually he just bought me the book. I have to admit, the author's tales of drunken debauchery were funny (I even laughed out loud at a few anecdotes). However, I think you have to be a guy to fully appreciate the extent of the pleasure and pain this guy was privy to.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Read: Started in January 2009, but have not picked it up in awhile
Source: Airport bookstore on the way to China
Review: I am not finished with this book yet, but I enjoy that it is both narrative and educational. The author describes a year of eating locally, with food sourced from their own land or neighboring farms and green markets. The fact that all of the family members contribute to the book gives it a chorus of voices that tell a bigger picture than a regular memoir. I wish I could follow in their footsteps, but it's not that easy to raise a goat in a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.

Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica
Read: online for years
Source: the internet
Review: I read this anonymous blog starting when I was a waitress, and when it became a book the author revealed himself. I attended a reading at the Barnes & Noble at Columbus Circle to satiate my curiousity of who this guy was. I enjoy his anecdotes and insights, both about life as a waiter and just life in general.

The Plastic Addictive Brain

I joined a new online book club started by a college sorority friend. The first book chosen by the club is The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books) The book discusses brain plasticity, or the ability of the brain to change and adapt.

Part of my discomfort with my current self has been a general feeling of ennui, lack of motivation and wonder, and decreased desire to learn and seek out new experiences. Drive and curiosity were traits that defined the younger me, and I was worried that something had taken them away from me.

I was worried, going into this project, that any habits or addictions I have formed in my life would be impossible to break. When I was young my mother was both a smoker and a nail-biter. To cover her short nails, she began using press-on nails. Since she could not bite these off, she inadvertantly cured her nail biting habit. When one of the fake nails would fall off, she found that the real nail underneath was long and healthy and that she did not have the urge to put her fingers in her mouth. She now enjoys regular manicures and upon occasion can be heard bemoaning a broken nail.

The smoking, on the other hand, in not a habit but a powerful addiction joined to ritual and habit. As teenagers my brother and I would try to get our parents to stop smoking. Hiding the cigarettes, flushing them down the toilet, and even one year giving them the nicotine patch for Christmas. Our mother's response? "I am too old to change now. It's just who I am. "

Reading the book, and even seeing my mother disprove herself by breaking one of her two nasty habits, has given me confidence that this assertion of hers is not a forgone conclusion. My book club book shows countless examples of people who beat not only deeply set addictions, but the ability to change attitudes and perceptions and improve memory.

In the shadows of this newfound optimism is one dark note concerning addiction. Doidge mentions that there is a trigger in the brain that when switched on activates an addictive personality. Once on, it can never be turned off and the person is forevermore susceptible to addiction. Even furtive forays into addictive elements can be enough to flip this switch. Addiction is also a trait passed on genetically. It is my greatest concern that my addiction trigger has been activating, making the process of change that much more difficult. Time will tell!