Book 68: Escape

I have this morbid fascination with polygamy--I often have dreams (nightmares?) about polygamy, and yet I am still interested in learning more about it.



This book was more disturbing than I expected. The brutality toward women and children in the community is very upsetting. I was also honestly surprised at how different the FLDS doctrine seems to be from LDS teachings. I definitely knew the two groups were different, but I had no idea just how different we were.

Some have criticized Carolyn Jessop, saying that her experience was not the norm and her family was more violent and disfunctional than the rest of the community. This probably means I'll have to read more about the FLDS to be able to get a more complete picture.

Book 67: The Good Life Lab

I thought this would be so interesting: a book about a couple who went off-grid and learned to make stuff out of the waste stream. I was hoping for something like No Impact Man, and the author does mention Colin Beavan's book, but her reading of it was so different from mine that I was frustrated and puzzled.



Unfortunately, The Good Life Lab was just kind of weird and nonspecific. For instance, the author describes how her partner desulfates dead batteries so that they can still be used. But what kind of batteries does this work for? (My in-house engineer tells me it only works for lead-acid batteries, not your average household rechargeable battery.)

There were some aspects of the book that I liked, and the illustrations were nifty (though not that easy to appreciate in ebook format). But overall, I felt kind of "huh?" about the whole thing.

Book 66: Chains

This was a book club pick, and I actually read it!



It's a young adult title, and I liked it quite a lot--for a young adult book. It moved quickly, it didn't have too much annoyingly obvious exposition, and the characters and story were interesting.

Book 65: Orange is the New Black

I decided to try this book out, even though I was a little put off by the fact that there is a Netflix series by the same name (and somewhat based on the book).



I found it a really interesting examination of how our actions affect others, how people change and grow (or don't), how very different women build a community, and how the penal system sometimes makes no sense at all. There's some deep thought in the book, as well as interesting characters of all types.

After reading, I gave the Netflix series a couple of minutes to see if it was as good. Um, no. Definitely not my kind of viewing. A memoir cannot easily be made into a popular TV show--at least not one that I would want to watch.

Book 64: Alignment Matters

You might have heard me talk about minimal shoes or body alignment. If you know me in person, you have probably noticed my footwear over the last year and a half!

This is the "why" of it all:




This book is taken from Katy's blog, Katy Says. I have read most of Katy's blog before, but reading it in all in a few sittings, organized by topic, made a lot of things clearer than they had been before, and motivated me to keep working on my body. There is much, much more I should be doing, but what I have been doing has kept me feeling really great during this unusual pregnancy I'm having. My back and hips feel better than I did throughout my last pregnancy, which is a small miracle, considering that I am 3 years older and am carrying two babies instead of one. Yes, that's right: I am pregnant with twins.

I really think almost everyone I know could benefit from Katy's work. There's a bad alignment epidemic out there, folks: people thrusting their ribs, tucking their pelves, lumbering instead of walking, and suffering from foot, hip, knee, back, neck, and shoulder pain.

Book 63: Full Catastrophe Living

This book is revised edition of the 1990 book by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It is a thorough description and explanation of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program started at the University of Massachusetts.



The program was originally developed for patients with chronic pain and other physical illnesses and conditions, but it can easily be applied to almost every stressful situation, whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual.

There is also an iPhone app of the guided meditations and mindful yoga that is only $3.99, so you can very easily get started on the meditation.

Confession: I loved the book and bought the app, but I have yet to complete an entire session of meditation. That's on my list of things to do as soon as possible!

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley.

Book 62: Expecting Better

I read something about this book somewhere, and there's also been a bit of a kerfuffle about some of the information in it (is alcohol ok to consume in pregnancy? If so, how much?), so I was intrigued to read it.



While many of these types of decisions don't really apply to me (I don't drink alcohol, coffee, or tea; I don't eat deli meat), it was still intriguing to read about.  (Reliable and valid) data is good! Oster does not make recommendations, but presents the data so that you can make the decision that suits your situation the best.

I would love to see a follow-up that gives data about baby care choices.