About a year ago, I posted here about the articles club my friend Stephanie and I were starting. I’m happy to say that our experiment has been a success! We’ve met almost every month since, and the discussion (and snacks, and company) has been great. I thought I’d share a few tips we’ve learned since October, as well as a few of the articles we’ve read! They’re worth looking into whether or not you’re part of a club.

— Find a co-host. It’s nice to share the responsibility of finding articles, sending out details, and starting discussion!

— Have snacks. We meet at 7:30, so we ask everyone to bring a savory snack, a dessert, or a drink. Since we usually meet at my house, I try to make a warm and more substantial offering, like a hot dip, pigs in a blanket (my favorite!), or samosas. It’s the perfect excuse to try out new Pinterest recipes :)

— Gather a group. We’ve met with as few as four ladies and as many as fifteen, but I’d say the ideal number is between six and eight.

— Choose your articles. Stephanie and I have each picked the articles a few times, and a number of other gals have shared favorites, too. We choose 2-3 articles on a particular subject for each meeting, and the leader usually comes prepared with a few questions or thought-provoking lines from the articles to start us off. Here are a few of the topics we’ve covered:

Family
The Myth of Quality Time
The Family Stories That Bind Us
Motherhood, Screened Off

Friendship
Friends of a Certain Age
Why It’s Smart to Court Your Friends
How Friendships Change in Adulthood

Food
A High Price for Healthy Food
What Food Says About Class in America
Why are Millenials so Obsessed with Food?

Relationships
The Questions that Will Save Your Relationships
Those Aren’t Fighting Words, Dear
Love Languages

Kids and Tech
Don’t Post About Me on Social Media, Kids Say
How I Protect My Family on Instagram

Stuff
Downsizing the American Dream
Stuffocation
How Far Can Amazon Go?

Etiquette
A Last Bastion of Civility, the South, Sees Manners Decline
27 Etiquette Rules for Our Times
How to Be Polite

Sound like fun? We’re always happy to welcome new gals, so if you’re into snacking, chatting, and reading and live in the Triangle, we’d love to meet you! Just send me an email :)

I’ve had many requests over the last year or so to share the books I read while pregnant, and today I’m ready to deliver! I always intended to share, but I thought it would be most helpful to post after I’d, well, delivered (ha!) so that I could give you a comprehensive review. I love reading and I love learning, so it’s not surprising that I dove headfirst into books on babies, but even if you’re not a big reader, you might find a few of these interesting…

BOOKS TO READ BEFORE GETTING PREGNANT:
Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Funnily enough, they don’t teach you much about how to GET pregnant in health class. Or maybe they do, but I was very busy pretending not to hear. Anyway, this book filled in the gaps, taught me lots about timing, and helped me get my body in tip-top shape before we started trying. [Buy]
All Joy and No Fun. This book “analyzes the many ways in which children reshape their parents’ lives, whether it’s their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies, their friendships, or their internal senses of self.” I found this book honest and EXTREMELY fascinating, and have wanted to talk about it with everyone ever since finishing it! Both the author’s research and the family portraits she weaves throughout are thought-provoking, and should help spur great conversation for anyone moving toward parenthood. [Buy]

BOOKS TO READ WHILE PREGNANT:
Expecting Better. The Amazon reviews for this book are pretty hilarious – about half of them say “this is the worst book ever!” and the other half say “this is the best book ever!” As long as you understand what this book is and is not, I think you’ll love it. The author is an economist, not a doctor. She writes from this perspective, using her training to synthesize tons of studies on all sorts of pregnancy things (Is it okay to drink caffeine? Should you get an epidural?), then inviting the reader to make her own decisions based on the information available. I found it refreshing and empowering, and it is my number one pregnancy book recommendation. [Buy]
What to Expect When You’re Expecting. This is like the dictionary of pregnancy books – it’s the exhaustive explanation of every symptom, every possible scenario, every risk. If it will stress you out to read about all the bad things that can happen, skip it, but I looked forward to checking in every month to read a new chapter (but I did skim a lot of it!). [Borrow]
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. This book is split into two parts: the first is straight-up narrative birth stories, and the second is more informational, with suggestions for labor techniques, information about labor procedures, etc. Most people say they love the birth stories (warning: they can be pretty intense). I found them interesting, though also a little discouraging at times since I knew I would be giving birth in a hospital and this book definitely has a bias toward natural, home birth. I thought the second section was very helpful, though. Specifically, it gave me several questions to ask my doctor that elicited eye-opening answers, and it helped me craft my birth plan. In the end: interesting and empowering, even if you plan to give birth in a hospital and/or with pain relief. [Borrow]

BOOKS FOR THE FIRST YEAR:
Jo Frost’s Confident Baby Care. Quick read. This book is very practical, and I loved its confident, no-nonsense, encouraging tone. It’s split up into four sections (0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months) and covers everything you need to know about taking care of a new baby (baths, diapers, dressing, all the day-to-day stuff). Some of the information is so specific that it was a bit overwhelming (how am I going to remember the exact temperature a bottle is supposed to be??), but that’s the reason why I bought this book instead of borrowing it — I know I will want to refer back to it over the first year when all of that specific information will likely come in handy. [Buy]
On Becoming Babywise. This book is super controversial! And that cracks me up, because I’m not really sure what people find so shocking about it. Maybe we’re not following their advice correctly (ha!), but it all seems pretty common sense to me, and really helped June get in a great rhythm with eating, sleeping, and playing from the start. There are definitely gaps where I’d love more information (such as what the recommendation wake times are for certain ages), but it’s still been very helpful for us. [Buy]
The Nursing Mother’s Companion. This is another book that was sometimes very overwhelming as I was reading it (while still pregnant), and actually left me feeling more discouraged about breastfeeding than before I read it. It seemed so complicated! There were so many things that could go wrong! But, now being on the other side, I’m so glad I read it, and think it really helped to set me up for success with a really solid foundation. So, I would definitely recommend it, but just remember that much of what she talks about will never happen to you! :) [Buy]

ONE PICK FOR OLDER KIDS:
Simplicity Parenting. I found that I already agreed with and intrinsically knew the premise of this book — “the power of less” to raise calmer, happier, and more secure kids — but it was still a worthwhile read. I skimmed a lot of this book (it’s a little repetitive), but was still happy for the reminder and encouragement! [Borrow]

There you have it! I’d love to hear what books on pregnancy or littles y’all would recommend, or any thoughts on the ones I’ve listed here! I’m looking forward to reading Bringing Up Bebe and Last Child in the Woods next :)

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This week’s posts have reminded me how much I adore reading, and how big a part of my life it’s been since… forever. As the author Zadie Smith has said, “Books are my experiences. I’m made of them.” The books we read affect the person we are becoming. I’ve loved what I’ve learned and experienced via the 20 books I’ve read so far this year, and I can’t wait to hear if there’s anything on our reading list in common!

The Millionaire Next Door: An in-depth look at who the rich really are in this country and what we can learn from them. Depending on your preconceptions about rich people, it might be surprising! I particularly liked the section on buying cars.

Wool: If you’re generally interested in the publishing industry, Wool is a must-read, simply because of its story to publication. I can see why it’s so popular!

Allegiant: Book three in the Divergent series was a big disappointment for me. While I didn’t love the ending, my dislike was more about the writing – I thought it was sloppy, and left me wondering why I’d liked the first two books!

Red Rising: One of the best books I’ve read this year. Pierce Brown creates an entirely new world that completely sucked me in. If you liked The Hunger Games you will love this book.

Love Does: Bob Goff shares my love for a “secretly incredible” life full of love and adventure. I had heard so much about this book before I read it that not much of it was new to me – but I still enjoyed it. If you haven’t read it or heard of it, I’d highly recommend it!

The Well’s End: My brother-in-law’s book! A young adult thriller that kept me going the whole way through – I’m ready for the sequel!

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A FASCINATING book that I think everyone should read – one of my favorites this year! I read so many sections and interesting facts out loud to John. It was a little bit slow in the beginning, but I loved the section about Joel Salatin’s farm. I really appreciated Pollan’s calm, reasoned, and often beautiful writing.

The Last Days of California: Eh. Probably my least favorite book from this year. I didn’t find the characters that likeable and wasn’t in love with the writing. I’m surprised it got such good reviews!

Sense and Sensibility: I picked this one up off my own self while waiting for another book to come in at the library. I’m always happy to check another classic off my list, and this one was easy and enjoyable.

In a Sunburned Country: As laugh-out-loud funny and strangely informative as you’d expect from Bill Bryson. I learned a bunch about Australia (and so did John – read lots of this book out loud to him, too!).

The Goldfinch: Hoo boy, there are 16,000 reviews for this Pulitzer Prize-winning book on Amazon, so apparently everyone has an opinion about it! I enjoyed it – in fact, I marked it as one of my favorites from the year. Even in the Las Vegas section, which I thought was slow, I couldn’t stop reading because I needed to know what happened next.

Astonish Me: Another one I marked as a favorite. Well written, satisfying, and fun for a former ballerina like me – I didn’t see the twist coming, though I’m sure some of you smart people will :)

Boy, Snow, Bird: A modern fairytale that’s imaginative and lyrical, but also a little unsettling and frustrating. Reminded me of Edwidge Danticat’s writing.

The Best of Roald Dahl: Eh. Though I love the story of Henry Sugar, I think his children’s stories are better than his short stories.

All Joy and No Fun: One of my favorites from this year! I found it honest and endlessly fascinating, and have brought it up in discussion so many times since finishing it. One of the only books on this list I feel a need to buy so I can refer to it in the future.

The Silver Star: This story about courageous sisters was not as good as The Glass Castle, which was one of my top picks from 2013, but a good (quick) read nonetheless.

The Interestings: While I could appreciate that this book was very well-written, I found the characters a bit annoying, even the ones who were supposed to be sympathetic. I know that’s kind of the point, but it kept me from loving the book. However, I couldn’t put it down, so…

Simplicity Parenting: I found that I already agreed with and intrinsically knew the premise of this book — “the power of less” to raise calmer, happier, and more secure kids — but it was still a worthwhile read. If it does not at all match the parenting path you’re on, I’m guessing it would be challenging and fascinating!

The Maid’s Version: A short but riveting read by the author of Winter’s Bone. Really, really beautifully written – almost poetic.

Me Before You: This is probably the “lightest” book I read this year (not necessarily lightest in subject matter – it made me cry! – but literary weight). A great read for the beach.

The Light Between Oceans: Just digging into this one after many recommendations and it is great so far!

Have you read any of these? Did you agree with my thoughts? What’s the best book you’ve read lately?

P.S. Come back tomorrow – I’ll have a giveaway!! Hint: it’s an item from my home tour! :)

The next set I’m picking favorites for are chapter books. These would be just right for the age in between picture books and books for teens – roughly ages 9-14. Fair warning: I was OB-SESSED with horses when I fell into this age group, something that will become readily apparent when you peruse the list below…

In alphabetical order, my top 25 favorite chapter books or series:

The Anne of Green Gables series
Bloomability
The Boxcar Children series
Catherine, Called Birdy
Charlotte’s Web

The Chronicles of Narnia
Ella Enchanted
Fantastic Mr. Fox
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Harry Potter series

The Little Ballerina and Her Dancing Horse
The Little House series
A Little Princess
The Littles
Mandy

Matilda
Misty of Chincoteague
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
My Side of the Mountain
Number the Stars

The Oz series
The Saddle Club series
The Song of the Lionness series
The Thoroughbred series
The View from Saturday

Oh my word, I must have read some of these books a hundred times… so many completely beloved books on here!! What are your favorites that fall into this group? Any favorites from the ones I listed? (For reference, here is NPR’s list of their top 100! They included To Kill a Mockingbird, but even though it’s my favorite book of all time I kept it off mine because I think it transcends age groups!)

P.S. Top 25 favorite picture books