In My Shopping Bag 2011/05/08

I'd like to share with you some books I bought today:

Multiple copies for gifting to friends

McSweeney's Quarterly Review

My husband loves to watch television shows about food, and enjoys sandwiches... and I love reading cookbooks

Another cookbook to add to our collection

Tiger Mom

I'm just getting over a week of non-stop coughing, and should be going to bed early, but instead I started reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother at midnight and finished it in one sitting, without leaving my spot in the corner of our sofa, from cover to cover (including acknowledgements and notes).




In a nutshell: I get Amy Chua! I get her because I'm a fraction of her: unsympathetic Chinese parents, but mine are liberal and loving; first-born, but never any pressure from parents for me to be first or carry the flag; Type-A personality, but I love sleep too much to ever achieve anything. (In college, I had read that US presidents and other great leaders all needed less than 6 hours of sleep.)

So, my immediate reaction after finishing this book was to get my 3 year-old started on piano (and so easy, I thought to myself, because the piano I've had since 1977 is now in our home in Hong Kong, though for the past 10 years it has been more a decorative item than musical instrument), to be followed in a couple of years by violin lessons for my 5 month-old.

And now, after two days to really think about the book, and a full-night's rest in between (for me, that's 9 hours), I still agree with and want to follow her parenting style, but perhaps just a fraction of it.

Actually, the book is more memoir than instructional guide. And Amy Chua is right, the humor is more relate-able if you were raised the Chinese way. Highly recommend!

A Mommy Book

I had been looking for something to read ever since my baby daughter came home from the hospital just before Christmas, and I had trolled through my bookshelves but nothing really jumped out at me. In those early weeks, I was consumed by the festivities of the holiday season and adjusting to our new life as a family of four.

In January, I brushed up on newborn care by re-reading What To Expect in the First Year, the dog-eared bible at on my bedside table. Again I searched for a title to inspire me, without success. I didn't have long stretches of time to curl up with a book, so I caught up on the October, November, December and January issues of Vanity Fair magazine.

And now I have my new book, not really by choice because it's a gift from a friend (who is single and male!), but I'm excited. I always make a point of reading books that are given to me; it would be rude not to.




How pertinent: I was raised "the Chinese way" and now, having enrolled my pre-schooler daughter in a local pre-school that teaches "the Chinese way" -- in Chinese only, no less -- I am well on the way to raising my own children this way.

My thoughts before I begin: I like Amy Chua! Like many of my friends, I received many forwarded emails and commentaries about this Tiger Mom, and had even read her own daughter's defense of her mother in an article published in the New York Times. I agree with Amy Chua in principle and am delighted that her daughter sounds like the bright, humorous future contributor-to-society person I hope my own daughters will become. And what really drew me to Amy Chua's camp was seeing her on The Joy Behar Show (I love Joy!) -- this Tiger Mom is articulate, charming, beautiful and youthful.

I'll let you know what I think after I finish the book.