Have you ever fallen in love with a book? So in love that you just couldn't stop reading it. Or, if you had to stop, you'd be thinking about it and rushing to get things done so you could get back to it? That was me with Catherine Newman's Waiting for Birdy last weekend. (In fact, my husband was getting annoyed that I was talking more about Catherine's son, Ben, than our own son!)
Taken from Catherine's Babycentre blog, it's the story of gorgeous 3-year-old Ben and Catherine's mixed feelings about being pregnant with her second child, Birdy (don't worry, they didn't christen her that). Nothing dramatic or tragic (thankfully) happens, it's just the story of a family or, as the cover puts it "a year of frantic tedium, neurotic angst, and the wild magic of growing a family".
It's just a gorgeous book. It made me cry (repeatedly). It made me laugh (a lot). And sometimes it made me laugh until I cried.
Later that evening, we were all in the car together and a Cole Porter song came on. After we told him that it was called " 'S Wonderful" and that it was Ella Fitzgerald singing, Ben was silent for a while. "Like at the zoo?" he finally ventured, and Michael shot me a questioning look. "Like what?" I asked. "Like at the zoo. Like Elephants Gerald?"
Catherine articulates every single thing I've ever felt about motherhood. How joyful it is. How painful it is. How everything - everything - is bittersweet.
And the best thing is that, now I've finished the book, I've still got years' worth of blog posts to read! Highly, highly, recommended.
Rating: 5/5
Like this? Try Mama Lama Ding Dong by Ayun Halliday
