"I Just had a baby" Easy Reads

Books for when your brain is doing other things

My post-partum experiences have so far both included lots of math and questions I may never have answers for- how long have you been eating? When did you go to sleep? When are you supposed to sleep next? Is this normal?? So these books are a nice brain break. They are also great if you need a break from the general malaise of the world.

Morality for Beautiful Girls, Alexander McCall Smith

#3 from The #1 Ladies Detective Agency

This series is a dependable go-to for lovers of cozy mysteries. I love these because they are less predictable and rely less heavily on puns than many others in this category, and they have a little sarcastic zing. The books are set in Botswana, so they are also more unique than other cozy mysteries. The author is a white British ex-pat, who was born and grew up in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

The culture in Botswana (I gather from these books) has a much different view of body image than we do here in North America. There, a larger framed, or what the main character describes herself as “a traditionally built,” woman is seen as healthy, and rich enough to eat meat everyday. Compare this with the views of morality- “beautiful girls” and habits such as wearing makeup and being conscious of one’s outfits are seen as synonymous with “bad girls” who don’t take anything in life seriously. It was very much a black and white view of morality.

In a New York Minute, Kate Spencer

from a co-host of my favourite podcast, Forever35

This romance novel is so cute, funny, and surprisingly emotional. I was crying so much at the end- not at the romance plotline, but at the side plot of the main character’s family life.

Whispers Underground, Ben Aaronovitch

#3 from The Rivers of London

Another one of my favourite paperback series, these mysteries are more gritty than the cozies because there are actual descriptions of dead bodies, but definitely nowhere close to thriller novel territory.

“Turtles All the Way Down,” John Green

An enjoyable Young Adult read, with an interesting exploration of what it’s like inside the brain of a person with fairly extreme anxiety. I found this educational, to say the least.

I last read a John Green novel when his most popular book The Fault in our Stars was *everywhere* and the movie was in the theatre. I forgot about John Green since then, until I recently learned that he is a pretty cool guy and talks on youtube about current events that I also care about.

For me, the downside of his writing is that they feel possibly emotionally manipulative. The characters feel very unreal to me, especially the male teenagers, and this bothers me because I think it sets up young female readers for disappointment. I suppose this is just what romance books are…but it annoys me. This is why romance is not my favourite genre!