Over the last two days I read “The Rebel Housewife Rules / To Heck With Domestic Bliss” by Sherri Caldwell and Vicki Todd. I am hesitant to give it my full review, because it was a very thoughtful gift from Tina, along with a ceramic guardian angel of inner peace that hangs by my office space. However, in the interest of full disclosure I will give my honest opinion.
I’m not sure what I expected from this book. Humor, light reading, maybe a few good ideas about running a household. It certainly tries to provide that. After the first few chapters when I found myself still waiting for it to really start, I read about the authors. They have a website. Oh, a blogger’s book!
That shed some light on why I was feeling frustrated and kept skipping over paragraphs. Not that I’ve tried, but I imagine that it’s really hard to turn a blog into a book. People always tell me that I should write a book, but I have no idea what I’d write about. Blogging is easy. There’s no deadline and if people don’t like it, screw them. Plus your posts can be as short or long as you want. You’re not disappointing a publishing company if nobody reads or comments.
Well, I was disappointed by this book. The subject matter is stereotypical old hat. Been there done that read that one, thanks ladies. And I found myself continually frustrated when the writers switched voices and didn’t identify who was speaking. They referenced their children and families quite often, but never reminded the reader who they were talking about. Also, they seemed to underestimate their demographics. No, ladies, I as a busy mother did not emerge from college assuming I would get a good job and hoping to marry someone rich. I worked pretty hard and I wasn’t dumb about it.
So many of these parenting books advertise a mark that I desperately want them to hit. I recently read “Peeing in Peace” by another pair of working mother authors. It’s designed to ease your fear, with humor and frankess, of transitioning back into the workplace after having children. But everything I read in that book is something I’ve read before. Trite and simple, it was not intelligent reading. Lo and behold, the authors have a blog.
I will say that “Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay” is one book by a blogger that actually works, but I think it’s because the author didn’t try to turn her blog into a book – she actually started from scratch. And I’m not writing about this because I know her – it’s just the first example that came to mind. If you know any other books by bloggers that are worth reading, please tell me.
Thanks again for the book, Tina! Sorry I didn’t like it. But I read it!
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