I read three books this past week and i thought i'd just share them with everyone!!

The first book i'm going to recommend is "the starter wife" by gigi levangie. wonderful, gossipy, female-oriented book. it's about a rich hollywood wife who gets 'cruise'ed' when her husband divorces her 9 years, 11 months into the marriage for someone younger, thinner, blonder. her personal journey about learning to love herself afterwards is awesome. anyone who loves gossip would LOVE this.

the second book i recommend is 'the feminine mistake' by leslie bennetts. the title is a play on words, i don't know if anyone here liked 'the feminine mystique by betty friedan but that was the author's inspiration. although the book appears to just be more fuel to the 'mommy wars', it's really not. ms bennetts recommends that women work when they are able to keep their networks open and warns the reader that 'a man is not a forever financial plan'. she reminds the reader of all that can go wrong, divorce, death, disability, unemployment of the main breadwinner (lay-offs happen). although death and disability insurance exist, it's not enough to sustain a family forever and it is REALLY difficult to get a job if you have no current work experience. you wouldn't ride in a car without a seatbelt (even though you don't plan on crashing), so why would you go through life without a protection plan, asks the author.
i really, really liked that the author didn't make any judgements about women who chose a lifestyle different to hers, i mean everybody's family is different. she seemed genuinely concerned at times, alimony laws are changing and if a woman who hasn't worked outside of the home were to be divorced, she would be screwed.
it's a good read, i recommend it. the only thing that bugged me about this book is how the author got a little snotty sometimes, someone should really tell her that you get more flies with honey. i mean, if you want people to listen to you, why would you be a snot-face about it?? other than that, excellent read.

the third book i read this week was 'to hell with all that' by caitlin flanagan. it was an amusing read, her writing style is pretty witty but like ms bennetts, she can be pretty snotty (mean too, sometimes~there is no need to make fun of fat women, especially stressed out mommies). most of the book is about the return to traditional gender roles, she strongly believes that all mommies should be stay at home mommies and allow the man to be the head of the household. she had some good recipies in some chapters that i'd like to try out.
the book was a little on the 1950s side for me but i know other women might like it. i mean, it is a good read.
the main thing i didn't care for about this book was how judgemental she was of career moms or moms that work outside the home. that might be because my gram worked and i went to daycare and i don't think it hurt me any. i always got picked up at 5:30 and we went home and had dinner, life was good. it was stable, i would have never thought that she loved me any less just because she worked.

anyways, i hope you guys get a chance to check out these books, they're all pretty good! happy wednesday!