Recently in my spare time I have been reading books on childcare- babies in particular. I have found many of them to be common sense. Most seem to take a single idea and repeat it over and over again in different ways. The best baby book I have read thus far is "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It was given to us a friend who said the book was helpful- and they were right. Here again the book is very repetitve; it could be condenced into about 30 pages without losing any of the concepts, but it is well worth the read. For other books and reviews, click here.

Two weeks ago I gave birth to my first child. While things went well, the birth, breastfeeding and bringing the baby home was nothing like I expected. I read all the books, but nothing prepared me for the experience. The hardest thing so far has been learning to breastfeed. Most books give the impression that it is a completely natural and a great bonding experience for you and your baby. My experience has been different. It is very frustrating and painful. The 10 minutes you spend with the lactation consultant in the hospital is not enough. While things are getting better and I am determined to breastfeed, I feel misled because I believed the hype. Many new moms that I have talked to seem to feel the same way. I would love to link to a list with books that tell the real story of breastfeeding, but I have yet to find those books. If know of any, please comment and let me know.

Yesterday, June 3rd, David Sedaris appeared on Comedy Central's Daily Show to promote his new book. It reminded me how much I enjoy the writings of David Sedaris. I especially love his essays about growing up in North Carolina and his rather eccentric family. His new book will definitely be in my reading list. For a list of his works, click here.

Have you ever had a book you want to read but are nervous about reading it for fear of disappointment? That is how I feel about Junot Diaz. His book and short stories have won a great deal of critical acclaim- The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao won the 2008 Pulitzer, the Sargent First Novel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Novel of 2007. Time and New York Magazine called it as the best novel of 2007. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, Christian Science Monitor, New Statesman, Washington Post and Publishers Weekly listed it as the one of the best novels of 2007.

There is just one thing that prevents me from reading his novels- a comparison of him by many critics to David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest. I dislike David Foster Wallace and find his writing incredibly pretentious. Some people say that readers who dislike David Foster Wallace dislike him because they have “limited vocabulary”. Naturally, I disagree. I don’t mind having to look up words in the dictionary; actually it can be quite enlightening. What I mind is unnecessary use of arcane language coupled with the lack of a good story.

My theory is that often authors get chosen as “the next big thing” and are given press by people who have never read their books. The idea of the writer’s genus gets perpetuated by others who read the articles and award lists without reading the books. It spirals out of control and those authors get all the attention while more deserving authors get ignored. How a writer gets chosen to be the next big thing is beyond me. Maybe it is luck, or maybe they just have good agents.

Anyway despite my hesitations, Junot Diaz is next on my reading list. I hope his writing lives up to the glowing reviews. Works of Junot Diaz can be found here.

Before I got pregnant and quit my job, I worked as a project manager in information technology where I focused on deployments, integration and software development. In my role, I was continually surprised by the number of people interested in project management practices and certifications. Often people were looking for ways to develop their leadership skills, while others were looking for how to become certified as a project manager.

To become certified as a project manager you must have a certain amount of training and experience, as well as pass a certification exam. All of the requirements for taking the exam and acquiring the certification are located at www.pmi.org. If you are looking for a book to help in studying for the certification exam, I highly recommend publications by Mulcahy. Her study guides will give you a good understanding of what type of questions will be asked. Make sure you use the most updated versions of her guides as the test changed significantly about 2 years ago.

Unfortunately most project management books focus on the exam rather than practices and techniques for project management. I have listed the few good ones I have found and will be updating the list as I find more. My list of helpful project management books can be found here.