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True Stories of Semi-Competent Adults

favorite books

Hygge reads, kids edition: Children’s books for winter days

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By Leslie Kotzas

This past year, I’ve spent my days surrounded by the warmest images, the cutest creatures, and fluffiest monsters. Working in the children’s department of the public library in the company of beautiful picture books keeps me warm and cozy in the dark, gray winter. (Librarian plug: Stop by your local library and find a treasure to warm your heart!)

Before you jump to your feet and head out the door, let me share the ones that I’ve found delightful. They’ll make you laugh, make you weep, and make you snuggle under blankets!

Ada Twist, Scientist: This is a great rhyming book that promotes girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Ada gets into some interesting predicaments trying to prove her hypothesis. If you like this one, there are a few more that are just as good: Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer.

Ida Always: Grab your tissues, clutch your baby close, and let the tears flow. Two polar bears that live together in the zoo have to face the fact that Ida is dying. I could only read it once!

Cat Knit: Sometimes our friends change, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t friends. Get out your knitting needles and make a new friend for someone you love.

Nanette’s Baguette: This book rhymes the adventure of Nanette and her responsibility to bring home a baguette for her mother. Want to know what happens to that baguette?

The Messy Book: Do you have a little one that is a little messy? Want to show them that cleaning up isn’t so bad? Then this book is for you!

This is Not a Picture Book: Picture books are clearly the best. However, what about when books stop having pictures? Are they worth it? Check out this book and find out.

Gary: This books made me smile like a fool the whole way through. This pigeon who dreams of doing big things is given the chance despite his disability.

Ideas Are All Around: If the book above doesn’t pique your interest about writing, then follow the author through his books as he looks for ideas to write about.

A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting: Bears are all around in the woods. Do you know what to do if you spot one? Check this one out quick! You’ll be needing this advice!

Miss Moon: Wise Words From A Dog Governess. You’ve got a dog. Find out what advice Miss Moon has to share!

Have anymore picture books you can’t get enough of? Need more recommendations? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook!

 
 

Hygge reads: What to read that’s cozy and comforting

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By Hillary Copsey 

Nothing is cozier than a good book and a comfortable chair. I’d argue that’s all you really need for hygge, though sure, add in a blanket, a cup of tea, and an early twilight so you can flip pages in the warm glow of a reading lamp.

For maximum coziness, consider these books.

The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien:

Hobbits understand hygge, so consider the parts of this book set at Bag End in The Shire to be instructions for maximizing the comfort of your own home. Same for the interlude at Rivendell, though elves are a bit more ostentatious in their luxuries. And when Bilbo and the dwarves are adventuring, pull your blanket around you and be thankful you don’t have to face off with Gollum in a cold, dank cave.

The Bullet, Mary Louise Kelly:

A tense criminal mystery with the added intrigue of mistaken identity, this novel will keep your pulse pounding and show you, in comparison to the protagonist, who finds a bullet mysteriously lodged in her neck, just how snug and secure you really are.

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling:

Magic is real. Friendship saves the day. Humor drives away boggarts. Good defeats evil. Happy endings are very hygge.

Alif The Unseen, G. Willow Wilson:

Equal parts fairytale, sci-fi thriller, and love story, this is the kind of book that keeps you up all night. At the very least, you’ll want a second cup of tea so you can read just a few chapters more.

Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery:

What’s cozier than a childhood favorite? I’m assuming my childhood favorite is one of yours, too, but c’mon, who doesn’t love Anne Shirley? Who hasn’t wanted a bosom friend as loyal as Diana? Who didn’t dream about Gilbert Blythe? If you are the exception, pick one of your own beloved books to reread and remember what it felt like to be a child, completely transported to some other place, some other time, just through the magic of the written word.

Writer Hillary Copsey wants to #MakeAmericaReadAgain. Find her on Twitter @HillaryCopsey or sign up for her forthcoming newsletter about reading, books, and discovering new perspectives in the modern world. 

Photo via Unsplash

What to read (during maternity leave)

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Suzanne asked a few friends for recommendations to occupy her mind while she’s home with a newborn. Today, blogger (and mom of two) Hillary Copsey shares her recommendations for what to read. 

Reading is, in many ways, the perfect thing to do when you have a new baby to tend.

It’s quiet. It transports you from the tedium of diaper changes and the pleasant yet prickly trap of a nursing or sleeping baby. It can be done in fits and spurts, in any place and at any time – even in the dark of night, thanks to phones and tablets.

And reading aloud endlessly will quiet the screaming of a colicky child – at least for a bit. (May you never discover this for yourself.)

When Suzanne asked me to compile a maternity leave reading list, I dove into the search for recommendations with two big assumptions, based on hazy memories of my own reading habits after my sons were born. I read less when my boys, now 6 and 8, were wee, and the reading I did was short and light.

Both assumptions are false.

I’ve kept track of every book read, by month, for nine years, and because my boys’ birthdates are just two weeks apart, my maternity leaves fell in the same three-month period. Even as a first-time mom with a colicky newborn, my book count during that three-month period remained at the nine-year average. When my second son was born, I read two books above it.

I’m an omnivorous reader, and my maternity leave reading history reflects that, too. Just as in the years when I wasn’t rocking a newborn in the wee hours, my book lists from early 2008 and 2010 are a mix of genre and literary fiction, nonfiction, short stories, young adult, long-form journalism and favorite rereads.

All of this geekery to point out this essential fact: If reading is a vital part of your identity, a baby won’t change that. You will find time for it – and, if you have one, you should ask your partner to help you make the time. Reading was the thing I did to remain who I always was even as I became something new, a mother.

I have a list of recommendations, but here’s my best advice: Read what you enjoy.

Avoid parenting books. Skip the books you “should” read. Instead, turn to comfort reads, whatever that means to you. Take this time to wallow in what you love – baby and books.

Favorites from My Maternity Leaves

The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly – great particularly for boy moms

The Dexter books, Jeff Lindsay – quick, dark humor

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon

The Underland Chronicles, Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games author

The Good Soldiers, David Finkel – longform journalism

White Teeth and On Beauty, Zadie Smith – So, here’s the peril of maternity leave reading: These two very good books blur together, read as they were in fits and starts while my youngest son was tiny.

Short Stories 

I always say I don’t love short stories, but my book lists shows that to be false. These collections are great, delivering smart, often funny or poignant social commentary in manageable page counts.

Tenth of December, George Saunders

Some Possible Solutions, Helen Phillips – particularly “The Doppelgangers,” but on a good day when you can laugh at yourself

The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu

Drown, Junot Diaz

Where The God of Love Hangs Out, Amy Bloom

Vampires in The Lemon Grove, Karen Russell

Fiction 

This is a collection of books I still think about after reading in big, greedy gulps.

Lucky Us, Amy Bloom

The Royal We, Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper

Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson

Where’d You Go Bernadette, Maria Semple

The Flavia de Luce mysteries, Alan Bradley

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern

Mudbound, Hillary Jordan

Horns, Joe Hill

How to Tell Toledo from The Night Sky, Lydia Netzer

Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff

Summerland, Michael Chabon

The Likeness, Tana French

Finnikin of the Rock, Melina Marchetta

Speak, Louisa Hall

Old Favorites

These are the books I return to again and again. Even if you’re not usually a re-reader, you might find it comforting when your hormones are raging and you’re covered in bodily fluids.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Anne series, L.M. Montgomery – Go for the later books. I’m telling you, Anne Shirley Blythe is a feminist role model.

Grimm’s Fairytales – I particularly like this version, Fairy Tales from The Brothers Grimm, by Philip Pullman

Song of the Lioness series, Tamora Pierce

Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

Nonfiction

This list was compiled with the same criteria as the fiction list.

The Boys in The Boat, Daniel James Brown

Data-ism, Steve Lohr – Read this with Speak from the fiction list.

The 50-Year Silence, Miranda Richmond Mouillot

Being Mortal, Atul Gawande

Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward

Between The World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Online

We all have our corners of the internet that suck us in for hours, so I’ve kept this brief.

“The Midnight Zone,” Lauren Groff – my favorite line: “I taught them how to read, but they could make their own lunches.”

NextDraft – This daily newsletter from Dave Pell will keep you up-to-date with everything happening outside your house.

Tom and Lorenzo – Follow the celebrity fashion machine with witty commentary and lots of pictures of pretty dresses and pretty people.

Twitter is great for night-time feedings: Someone is always up, and you can pick and choose what you read further. Authors like G. Willow Wilson and Rainbow Rowell are great on Twitter. Following all your favorite news sources is never a bad idea. I also recommend @XplodingUnicorn for funny observations about parenthood.

Medium – The daily digest is a fairly decent round-up of interesting reads and/or the reads people are talking about.

After 10 years in Florida, Ohio native Hillary Copsey returned to the Buckeye State, where she works for a nonprofit arts agency, blogs at Not Raising Brats, and reads copiously. Find her on Twitter @HillaryCopsey. She and Suzanne would both like to #MakeAmericaReadAgain. 

Photos from the Library of Congress (1, 2, 3)