Author: Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader

Review: The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 14 Comments

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Publisher: Hyperion Books
United States Publication Date: September 2012

Description:

A reluctant centenarian much like Forrest Gump (if Gump were an explosives expert with a fondness for vodka) decides it’s not too late to start over…

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them. Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle. Quirky and utterly unique, ” The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” has charmed readers across the world.

My Thoughts:

Crazy, silly, sweet, quirky, hilarious. Every page in this book is action packed and you’ll have no idea what is going to happen next. Go ahead and guess, you’ll never be able to predict a damn thing. This was an absolute joy to read…it was like listening to your funny drunken uncle trying to give a history lesson. Delightful! 

FYI, the book was originally rejected by firms in the U.K. and in the U.S. (Fools! Fools, I tell you!)

Read this book. If you have to beg, borrow, or steal it…do so!

I’m serious…what are you waiting for? 
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Review: Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti

~ Jennifer @ The Relentless Reader ~ 16 Comments
Why Have Kids? By Jessica Valenti
Publisher: New Harvest
Publication Date: September 2012
Categories: Sociology, Parenting
Source: Library

Description:

If parenting is making Americans unhappy, if it’s impossible to “have it all,” if people don’t have the economic, social, or political structures needed to support parenting, then why do it? 

In Why Have Kids? Jessica Valenti asks this the controversial–but necessary–question. Through on-the-ground reporting, new scientific studies, and her own burgeoning motherhood, Valenti offers an in-depth expose into the world of having (and not having) children. She cites shocking statistics about parental happiness and child care, new science that’s shaking up the parent-advice industry, and stories from a generation of parents who are finding out that having kids isn’t all they thought it would be.
Why Have Kids? presents startling, new material that will change the way you think about the age-old questions of children, parenting, and happiness.
My Thoughts:

If there’s one thing I love it’s a book that makes me think. This one certainly did that. I didn’t have to think about if I wanted kids…as my librarian pointed out when I checked this book out, “Isn’t it a little late for you Jen?” (I already have 3 children.)

This book did make me wonder about the reasons why I had kids. It made me think about the expectations women face, about our seemingly limited options. 
I’m especially fascinated by woman who decide not have children. Here is where I’m supposed to say that I’d do it all over again, I’d have my 3 kids and live my life exactly the way I have. But who knows? If I knew then what I know now? Who knows.

“Given the reality of unintended parenthood and parental unhappiness, one would think that women and men who make the decision not to have children – who are deliberate and thoughtful about the choice to bring another person into the world – would be seen as less selfish than those who unthinkingly have children. Yet the stigma remains.”
In Why Have Kids? Jessica Valenti talks about the reality of motherhood. Is it really the hardest job in the world? Is it really the most rewarding and joyful thing that a person can do? These questions may shake up your view of parenthood…and that’s a good thing.
Why Have Kids? is one of the most thought provoking books I’ve read. 
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