Margaret Sanger: A Life of Passion by Jean H. Baker

from goodreads

2 stars

Christmas is coming soon! Every year that I am a parent I feel less excited and geared up for Christmas. It's not that I don't like Christmas, I do. I think it is the fact that I am doing everything now. My parents gave me a lovely Christmas experience every year. My mom would bake, we would have delicious food with all the trimmings. We had nice gifts. Not overly extravagant or plentiful, but nice. We would all sing Christmas Carols together as mom played the piano. We would go tobogganing. It would be a fun time of love, friendship and memories.

Flash forward to now and I am the person who is supposed to be presenting this Christmas magic and honestly I don't have the inclination. I don't feel like baking for hours on end. I don't feel like making a turkey with all the trimmings. I don't feel like getting anyone any presents (though I am not heartless and I do). And I don't prioritise practice time so I am not as good as my mom so their is rarely Carol singing. Tobaganning is fun but it sucks when you have to drive to a snow hill instead of having it right outside your front door (like my childhood home.) But, I guess this is when I can think, what is my energy level and what little bit of magic can I sprinkle into my kids experiences.

Hopefully in a few years when I don't have a crazy baby that constantly puts things in his mouth and when I feel like I am more put together I will feel more excited for the Christmas season and put more effort into making it super special for my family. Until then, well, at least we have a tree!

Synopsis

This is a biography on the woman who was the face of the early birth control movement in the United States.

My Thoughts

This book was weird. I loved it, I loathed it, I became apathetic to it.

The first few chapters that dealt with Sanger's early life I found really interesting. I liked learning about the events that caused her to pick up the crusade of birth control. I am profoundly grateful for the women who did. I am definitely a woman who has taken advantage of the ability to choose when to have children and how many. It is such a foreign concept to me, living now, that birth control could ever been seen as something not normal. But the obstacles men put up against birth control was crazy. Their arguments didn't even make sense! It was heartbreaking hearing about the women who were told by their doctors not to have any more children but where denied the tools and knowledge on how to prevent further pregnancies.

This book did a good job and delving into these contrary policies and showing how commonsense birth control was and how birth control was really a class thing.

If Baker had just left the book at this, the beginnings of the birth control movement, this would have been a fantastic read. Unfortunately she continued into the rest of Sanger's life. The writing was good. The subject I found boring. Perhaps if I was more inline with some of Sanger's other views such as open marriage and eugenics I would have found more interest. But since both those practices are abhorrent to me I just kept flicking the pages waiting for the book to end. I just didn't care about her private life. I think she was egocentric and catty. So perhaps the rating I gave should be higher, because you can't fault the author on the life of their subject. I just didn't care for it and the book just dragged on and on and on. Like I never thought it was going to end.

While it lost the passion it had at the beginning this was a quasi worth while read. If you are going to read it just read the first few chapters. They are full of interest and vitality. Otherwise it might be worth getting a different title if you want to learn about the birth control movement as a whole.

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

from goodreads

4 stars

I am so glad that I do not live in the public eye, constantly under scrutiny and judged over the most trivial thing, like what length your hair is, or what colour of dress you wear. I think that their is enough judgement that comes from your own self that anyone else's efforts are needless repetitions. 

Comparing ourselves to others is the universal way of measuring our success in life, to see how we are doing and if we need to make adjustments. Comparison, in itself is not bad, when we use it to buoy ourselves up, push ourselves to go farther and to become our best selves. But when we use it to put ourselves and others down, it is not a good thing. We need to help each other reach our greatest potential. We do not need to be pulling others down to make ourselves feel good. It is a lesson I am trying to instill in my girls. Hopefully it is working. They are kind to others which is good, but they do still keep on asking for an ipod so they can be like their friends. Hmm... I think we still have a ways to go.

Synopsis

This book was written shortly after the Clinton's left the White House. It begins with her early childhood in the suburbs of Chicago and covers her courtship with Bill, their time in Arkansas, the presidential run and the eight years in office. It ends with her senatorial campaign. It gives a behind the scenes look at government and family life. You also get to understand Hillary and her passions and interests.

My Thoughts

To start with, I love the title. It is simple, yet clever, and perfectly describes their life in the White House. 

I read this for my book club. Going into it I didn't know much about Hillary at all, other than she was a former first lady, senator and Secretary of State. I didn't know much about her personally. Whenever I thought of her I guess I saw her as a strong feminist who thought that if women weren't in the workforce and were at home instead they would be a failure to the female part of the species. 

After reading this I realize that is not true, yes she is a feminist, but not in the crazy must be like a man in every way type of feminism, but in a way that shows we are capable and that we can make choices about our lives and not have it dictated. That women are of important value in societies no matter what role they decide to play. She seems a lot more mellow and grounded, then what I might have previously thought.

I loved how she talked about her struggle to figure out what her role was going to be as first lady. I loved hearing about the international meetings she had in promoting women's and human's rights. I was surprised to learn about her strong faith. I didn't realize how important it was to her and it was interesting to learn about that. I also thought it was interesting that she was a republican until the end of university.

I found her writing to be easy to read and approachable. Being Canadian it was interesting to see how the political system in the States work, how big money can skew what is really best for people (insurance companies and health care) and how much scandal there seems to be about everything. In Canada it might not be much better, but it doesn't seem to be as negative but maybe that's just me.

One part of the book I did not find interesting, so I always glossed over it, was when she was writing about the white water scandal. I don't even know all the ins and out about it but it seems pretty stupid and a waste of money and in turn a waste of paper in the book. I guess she felt the need to tell her side of the story about it, but, it was boring and may have made others not want to read the other interesting and enlightening details in the book.

Whatever your political views, this is a great book to read. It sheds light on important issues such as healthcare, women's rights, and a welfare system that encourages entry into the workforce. It gives food for thought, as some really neat pictures, and lets you peek inside an interesting time when the Clinton's were living history.