SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK

Sleep Is for the Weak: The Best of the Mommybloggers, edited by Rita Arens: A lot of the blogs I read nowadays seem to be mommyblogs; some of them were already that way when I discovered them, while others changed after I started reading them (not surprising, since as a thirtysomething woman I gravitate toward reading about the experiences of other thirtysomething women, and thirtysomething is when many women start having babies). While I admit part of my interest stems from vicarious curiosity about the experience of motherhood (a sort of periodic self-testing: “Self, are you interested in doing this?” “Hmm…still nope.”), mostly it just happens that these blogs feature some of the best Web writers around, fiercely funny and movingly expressive. Since this BlogHer anthology featured some of those writers (Fussy, Finslippy, Amalah), I checked it out. Obviously, as a non-mom (and current-non-wannabe-mom), I’m not the intended audience, so I alternated between feeling little left out of the club during the sweeter stories and being relieved to be child-free during some of the warts-and-all cautionary tales. I wouldn’t have read this if I wasn’t already a fan of some of the blogs, but it was a fun, quick, easy read and would probably be great for any new parent to dip into between naps and feedings.