Book picks similar to
Sad Mum Lady by Ashe Davenport


memoir
parenting
non-fiction
motherhood

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding


La Leche League International - 1958
    What's the secret of successful breastfeeding? For almost fifty years mothers who have been in touch with La Leche League have found the kind of information and support they needed to breastfeed their babies. In this newly revised edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, you will learn: ? How human milk offers lifetime benefits for your baby ? How to prepare for breastfeeding during pregnancy ? How to exercise and lose weight safely while nursing ? How to find time for yourself while meeting baby's needs ? How to increase your milk supply by using herbs and medications ? How to be sure your baby is getting enough to eat The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding was the first book of its kind, written for mothers by mothers. Over the years, more than two million mothers have turned to it for information and inspiration.

If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing in the Pits?


Erma Bombeck - 1971
    She gets anxious about running out of ball bearings; about snakes sneaking in through the pipes; about making meaningful conversation on New Year’s Eve. Married life, she realizes, is an unpredictable saga even when you know exactly how loud your husband snores every night—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. In this crisp collection of essays, Bombeck shows off the irresistible style that made her one of America’s favorite humorists for more than three decades. When she sharpens her wit, no family member is sacred and no self-help fad is safe.

Crawling: A Father's First Year


Elisha Cooper - 2006
    But that, like everything else, is about to change. Luckily, Cooper recorded it all: from playing Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” as he changes his daughter's diaper, to having a romantic dinner at Chez Panisse with his wife–and baby. Cooper’s disarmingly beautiful essays about the perils and pleasures of parenthood will appeal to any reader, and especially all parents, no matter how old their children. He has done what every new parent is too busy, or too tired, to do—captured with grace the joys, fears, and stumbles of learning to raise a child for the first time.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Body Full of Stars: Female Rage and My Passage into Motherhood


Molly Caro May - 2018
    . . It is healing, illuminated." ―Laura Munson, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Not The Story You Think It Is... What if labor does not end with pregnancy but continues into a mother's postpartum life? How can the fiercest love for your child and the deepest wells of grief coexist in the same moment? How has society neglected honest conversation around the significant physical changes new mothers experience? Could real healing occur if generations of women were fluent in the language of their bodies? Molly Caro May grapples with these questions as she undergoes several unexpected health issues after the birth of her first child Eula: pelvic floor dysfunction, incontinence, hormonal imbalance. As she and her husband navigate new parenthood, May also moves between shock, sadness, and anger over her body’s betrayal. She finally identifies the roots of her anguish as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and what she calls female rage. The process leads May to a long-desired conversation with her body in an attempt to balance the physical changes she experiences with the emotional landscape opening up before her. Body Full of Stars is one woman's story―dark and tender, honest and corporeal― that reveals deeper truths about how disconnected many modern women are from their bodies. It is her "postpartum awakening." It is also a joyful and tenderhearted celebration of the greatest story of all time: mothers and daughters, partners and co-parents, and the feminine power surging beneath it all.

Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth


Robert A. Bradley - 1974
    Now this new, updated edition of the groundbreaking work by Robert A. Bradley, M.D., has all the information you need to approach a natural childbirth safely, confidently, and wisely. From the reasons to choose the Bradley Method to the steps you will take as your birth day approaches—and after the birth of your baby—this book is designed to help couples share completely in the birthing experience. •Build better, deeper, and more trusting communication skills with your partner in preparation for a drug-free childbirth•Learn the physical, emotional, and mental relaxation techniques essential to a natural childbirth•Discover how you and your doctor can work together toward your natural delivery •Monitor your weight, nutrition, and your overall well-being during pregnancy•Use natural prevention methods for the most common pregnancy problems•Get the most out of the bonding experience you will share with your baby and your partnerWith its time-tested wisdom, medical soundness, and reassuring first-person accounts of natural childbirth, this book is the “gold standard” of childbirth books. The Bradley Method is an essential guide for anyone considering childbirth without unnecessary medications or medical intervention and to share fully in your child’s arrival into the world.

People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and Other Suburban Scourges


Jen Mann - 2014
    Known for her hilariously acerbic observations on her blog, People I Want to Punch in the Throat, Mann now brings her sharp wit to bear on suburban life, marriage, and motherhood in this laugh-out-loud collection of essays. From the politics of joining a play group, to the thrill of mothers’ night out at the gun range, to the rewards of your most meaningful relationship (the one you have with your cleaning lady), nothing is sacred or off-limits. So the next time you find yourself wearing fuzzy bunny pajamas in the school carpool line or accidentally stuck at a co-worker’s swingers party, just think, What would Jen Mann do? Or better yet, buy her book.

Into The Rip


Damien Cave - 2021
    Having covered the war in Iraq and moved to Mexico City with two babies in nappies, he and his wife Diana thought they understood something about the subject.But when they arrived in Sydney so that Cave could establish The New York Times's Australia Bureau, life near the ocean confronted them with new ideas and questions, at odds with their American mindset that risk was a matter of individual choices. Surf-lifesaving and Nippers showed that perhaps it could be managed together, by communities. And instead of being either eliminated or romanticised, it might instead be respected and even embraced.And so Cave set out to understand how our current attitude to risk developed - and why it's not necessarily good for us.Into the Rip is partly the story of this New York family learning to live better by living with the sea and it is partly the story of how humans manage the idea of risk. Interviewing experts and everyday heroes, Cave asks critical questions like: Is safety overrated? Why do we miscalculate risk so often and how can we improve? Is it selfish to take risks or can more exposure make for stronger families, citizens and nations? And how do we factor in legitimate fears and major disasters like Cave has covered in his time here: the Black Summer fires; the Christchurch massacre; and, of course, Covid?The result is Grit meets Phosphorescence and Any Ordinary Day - a book that will change the way you and your family think about facing the world's hazards.

Moms Who Drink and Swear: True Tales of Loving My Kids While Losing My Mind


Nicole Knepper - 2013
    Any bad thought you’ve had about your kids, Nicole Knepper has had worse. Much worse. It’s not that she doesn’t love her kids. It’s that she understands what a mind-f*?% it can be to try to civilize those wild little beasts.Based on her hugely popular Facebook page, “Moms Who Drink and Swear,” this book reveals why family dinners are like herpes, how to avoid smashing toys that are being fought over, and the joy of hearing that your son has murdered his imaginary friend. As Nicole rants and raves about caring for children (without crushing their souls), family togetherness (without too many tears), the saving grace of girlfriends (and vodka), and love and marriage (and all the baggage that goes with them), she gets to the heart of what every exasperated mom is thinking, just much funnier.

Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss


Hope Edelman - 1994
    First published a decade ago, it is still the book that motherless daughters of all ages look to for understanding and comfort and that they press into each other's hands. Building on interviews with hundreds of mother-loss survivors, this life-affirming book is now newly expanded to reflect the author's personal experience with the continued legacy of mother loss; now married and a mother of young children herself, Edelman better understands how the effects of mother loss change over time and in light of new relationships. A work of stunning courage and honesty, Motherless Daughters is a must read for the millions of women whose mothers have gone, but whose need for healing, mourning, and mothering remains. It is a timeless classic.

Missing Christopher: A mother's story of tragedy, grief and love


Jayne Newling - 2014
    Powerfully written, it's an eloquent reminder that our hold on life is tenuous, and communication, love and togetherness are the key to surviving such a tragedy.Christopher was 17 and he had everything to live for. He was smart, charismatic, loving and deeply loved, and a champion rugby player. Yet behind the veneer of a popular and confident athlete he was struggling. Diagnosed a year earlier with depression and severe anxiety, he hid his fears from family and friends. Finally, Christopher chose to stop fighting. This is the story of Christopher's shocking death and its tragic aftermath for the family. It is also the story of a mother and father's love, and their determination not to lose another son to the temptation of taking his own life. Honest, raw, and deeply moving, Jayne's account brings to life the visceral experience of grief and the long, painful journey towards finding meaning in life again. This is compelling and inspirational reading for anyone affected by the death of a young person.

The Conception Chronicles: The Uncensored Truth about Sex, Love & Marriage When You're Trying to Get Pregnant


Patty Doyle Debano - 2005
    We'd just toss out our birth control pills and before we knew it, we'd be rocking our little one to sleep. Little did we know what was in store for us, or the energy it would take to face all of the crazy, unpredictable and (sometimes) irrational emotions we felt along the way. Neither did our husbands. Sound familiar?If your idea of foreplay is screaming, "I'm ovulating; it's time!!!" to your oblivious husband... If your ovulation schedule is ruling your life and every trip to the drug store includes a bulk purchase of pregnancy sticks... If you're running out of answers to the chronic questioning from the pregnancy paparazzi about your plans for parenthood ... Then this is the book for you. Whether it's been three months or three years since you've been trying, the more complicated and overwhelming the process becomes.The Conception Chronicles shares candid humor, hold-nothing-back banter and practical advice on everything that goes along with trying to start a family: from dealing with your fertile friends to the battery of tests you may have to face; from surviving "sex on demand" to navigating the ins and outs of high-tech fertility treatments. This book will guide you through the emotional journey to motherhood, offering compassion and laughter like only your best girlfriends can. And we promise you'll never hear us say, "Relax and you'll be pregnant in no time."

Hooked


Samantha X. - 2014
    She's the wrong side of 35, has two kids and counts a wild night out dining at her local pizzeria. Career-wise, she had it all; writing for Australia's top selling woman's magazines; appearing as a media expert on television and travelling the world for the sake of a good story. Yet, after her marriage break down and two kids later, she turned her back on the media, and decided to dust off her stilettos and work at Sydney's most infamous brothel, where she soon became one of their best and most in-demand girls. Not only was she making great cash, but she was privy to the real life stories of her clients - irresistible to the journalist in her. How could she not keep a record of their salacious stories? Hooked is a fly-on-the-wall sexy, juicy, page-turner of what really goes on behind the walls of a brothel; from police raids to tearful married men confessing their secrets; lesbian threesomes and having to service the odd married couple trying to reignite their relationship. But while whoring can be lucrative and fun, it also comes with a hefty price, as Samantha soon finds out. The only problem is, can Samantha kick her addiction to what she believes to be the best job in the world?

Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood


Hollie McNish - 2016
    How her family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu; how quickly ice can melt on a stomach. These were on top of the many other things she didn't know about babies: how to stand while holding one; how to do a poetry gig with your baby as a member of the audience; how drum'n'bass can make a great lullaby. And that's before you even start on toddlers: how to answer a question like 'is the world a jigsaw?'; dealing with a ten-hour train ride together; and how children can be caregivers too.But Hollie learned.And she's still learning, slowly. Nobody Told Me is a collection of poems and stories taken from Hollie's diaries, one person's thoughts on raising a child in modern Britain, of trying to become a parent in modern Britain, of sex, commercialism, feeding, gender and of finding secret places to scream once in a while.

One Hundred Years of Dirt


Rick Morton - 2018
    A horrific accident thrusts his mother and siblings into a world impossible for them to navigate, a life of poverty and drug addictionOne Hundred Years of Dirt is an unflinching memoir in which the mother is a hero who is never rewarded. It is a meditation on the anger, fear of others and an obsession with real and imagined borders. Yet it is also a testimony to the strength of familial love and endurance.

Some Things I Did for Money


Stephanie Georgopulos - 2015
    Equal parts comical and cringe-inducing, Some Things I Did for Money is an honest reflection on the way we define work and what it means to be rich.Most of Stephanie Georgopulos's odd jobs now fall under the umbrella of writing and editing. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, Glamour, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and more. She edits the Human Parts collection on Medium.com and delivers weekly vignettes about growing up on the internet to people's inboxes, like magic! Find her on Twitter at @omgstephlol.Cover design by Hannah Perrine Mode.Spot illustrations by Alex Cannon.