"Light His Fire" by Ellen Kreidman

Well, Kreidman promised that doing the stuff in this book would make Tarver bring me flowers, candy, jewelry and even make him propose!

Boy was she wrong in the face!

I think I wasn't the intended audience. I'm pretty sure that even at 2 years, our relationship is too young for this book. BUT it did provide some excellent insight for my new career. Though Kreidman doesn't seem to believe in credentials (she even says that she thinks they should invent a new degree for people who've learned from experience) she has a lot to say about relationships that makes a lot of sense.

And some of it is crap. But some of it makes a lot of sense.

The parts that are crap, is that this book seems to think everyone has money. No, it is not possible for us to take a week-long vacation. Sorry. One date night a week? I think not, ma'am. This may sound harmless "maybe she just means have a romantic dinner at home!" No, she doesn't. She has a whole chapter about taking the vacations you want when you can still "enjoy" them. She describes 80-year-olds in Fiji and how some of them are nearly blind and some are in wheelchairs. She literally encourages you go to on vacation "on plastic."

However, she compares this to the cost of a divorce. In 1989, the year the book was written (Relationships have not changed in 20 years, kids, believe it.) she estimates that 5 years worth of "great" vacations is about as expensive as one divorce. Money-wise. Of course no credit-card bill is ever worth a divorce. I would make the argument that if there's something fundamentally wrong with your relationship-- a cruise ship isn't going to solve anything.

She does assert that women need to know who they are and love themselves before they can be in truly loving relationships, which I support. However, she's really sold on using materialistic ways to appreciate oneself. "Go shopping! Get a manicure!" she herself talks about how she got a spa installed in her backyard. Again, I think this book was meant for people who have $$$.

This was a short book, I finished it in about 2 hours. Now I can give it back to the 1/5 price bookstore-- right after I read the partner book "Light her fire." :)

"Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk

For all the hype people give dear Chuck, I have to say that I wasn't extremely impressed. It was a good read, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending. Maybe that's the point?

I really enjoyed the main character, and I might go around thinking to myself "what would Jesus NOT do?" just because it's kind of hilarious. It was a little bit of a letdown about the doctor character (not to give too much away) but I was glad that they sort of end up-- togetherish.

I read this book in a day because it was short and to-the-point. A page-turner. I liked it, it's not my new favorite book, but it did entertain me. I'm glad I know to run when I hear the Blue Danube Waltz, haha.

"I Don't Know How She Does It" by Allison Pearson

I really enjoyed this book. It's entirely possible that we will never have children, but I will be working in the field of Marriages families and children-- so I figure it's important for me to do some "fieldwork."

The protagonist of this book is a workaholic who wants the best of both worlds. I can see how having a high-power, high-pressure job and being a mother are incredibly incompatible. Pearson hits on a lot of the things that go on in homes and in the workplace that make me feel like sexism is far from dead.

What did I learn? Families all run differently and there is a particular challenge to being a female breadwinner.

The only disappointing part of this book was that in the end, she gives up her high-power job. Having a husband, a nanny and a cleaner, she still finds it impossible to be a mother and an executive at the same time. It seems like with better help, she could accomplish all of her tasks more successfully.

Another thing worth noting is how she almost has an affair with a client she's emailing with. They send one another "love" letters and have drinks when she's in New York. Where I am now I can't imagine wanting to have an affair at all, but given the relationship that Kate has with Richard, I can see why it was tempting.

All in all, an enjoyable read.

"Love's Executioner" by Irving Yalom.

As my first book on my very exciting book blog, Yalom's book of short stories about his life as a psychiatrist was meaningful and awesome. Tarver has asked me what exactly I learned from the book. Mostly, I gained entrance into a therapy room. Besides the few I've been in for my own mental pains, I haven't seen how therapists work besides in the movies. And sometimes (believe it or not) the therapy sessions in the movies aren't exactly accurate.

Yalom talks a lot about the role of the therapist and his process. Whether or not he refers people into group therapy, or continues their therapy schedule or works on it himself. I think it's a book I would read again and again and again.

It was like a nice tour of therapy. I'm pretty happy about it. :)