Marching with the Barren Bitches Book Brigade–Tour Twenty-One

Here is the master list for the 21st tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade. What is the Barren Bitches Book Brigade? It’s a book club from the comfort of your own living room. The book club is conducted entirely online and open to anyone (male or female) in the infertility/pregnancy loss/assisted conception/adoption/parenting-after-infertility world (as well as any other related category I inadvertently left off the list). It is called a book tour because everyone reads the same book and then poses a question to the group. Participants choose a few questions to answer and then post their response on their blog. Readers can jump from blog to blog, commenting along the way. We read both fiction and non-fiction.

This particular book is open to the larger, non-infertile community, though I ask that you write “children mentioned” at the top of your post on post day if you write about your children in the post.

Anyone can jump aboard–it’s a book club where you can drop in and out as you wish and all in the community are welcome.

Book: It Sucked, and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita
Author: Heather Armstrong (aka Dooce)
Start Date: August 18
Question Due: September 30th
Question List Sent Out: October 2nd
Post Date: October 5th

(need an explanation of how a book tour works? Click here to go to a list of posts on the past book tours as well as information about future tours.)
Something New: the participants on this tour will choose the next book.

About It Sucked, and Then I Cried…: Obviously not an IF book, but relates to blogging. I’ve seen so many people say they’re reading it that it made sense to read it together. If not sure if her m/c is mentioned in the book, but it is an interesting story AND postpartum depression affects IF women 4 times more than the general population. So an important topic too as it relates to PPD and post-adoption depression. And it’s in most libraries if you don’t want to buy the hardcover.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On October 5th, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on It Sucked, and Then I Cried…. I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on September 30th. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
The Road Less Travelled
Wild Women of the Universe
Infertility Instability
Slaying, Blogging, Whatever…
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
Sticky Feet
PCOS Blogger
Desperately Seeking Baby

Not on the list and want to join? Drop me an email at thetowncriers@gmail.com. You can add yourself up until 11 p.m. on September 30th.

How the book tour works:

(1) leave a comment or send me an email (thetowncriers@gmail.com) saying that you’re interested in participating. I need your blog name, blog url, and email address.

(2) read It Sucked, and Then I Cried… by September 30th (or at least enough of it in order to ask a question to the group).

(3) create a single question that would kick off a discussion (in other words, any question that leads to more than a “yes” or “no” answer where someone can express their opinion) and mail it to me on September 30th (or any time beforehand). I will send you a reminder email close to the date. Click here to see sample questions from tour #4.

(4) on October 2nd, I will send you a list of possible questions. Everyone will choose 3 questions off the list and answer them in a blog entry.

(5) on October 5th, people will begin to post their entry. I will post a linked list of all the people putting up their entry that day so people can go around and read the entries and comment (start a discussion back and forth in the comments section). Reading the entries and commenting on the posts is the best part of the tour–by the end of the week, you should have a comment from every participant (and maybe even a few new permanent blog readers).