Category — Book Club

Here is the master list for the 22nd 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.

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: The Phantom Tollbooth (yes, the old middle grade classic)
Author: Norton Juster
Start Date: October 12
Question Due: December 2nd
Question List Sent Out: December 4th
Post Date: December 7th

(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 The Phantom Tollbooth: As we did for Harriet the Spy, we’ll be reading this middle grade fiction book through the eyes of an adult and applying Milo’s journey to our own lives.  Long before there was Harry Potter, there was Milo, the boy who saved Rhyme and Reason.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On December 7th, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on The Phantom Tollbooth. I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on December 2nd. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
The Road Less Travelled
Expecting to Expect
After Iris
Roadblocks and Roller Coasters
The Dragondreamer’s Lair
Into the Light Again
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
Desperately Seeking Baby
Life, Family and the Pursuit of Sanity
Wistfulgirl’s World

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 December 2nd.

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 The Phantom Tollbooth by December 2nd (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 December 2nd (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 December 4th, 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 December 7th, 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).

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).

Welcome to the twentieth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade–a book club from the comfort of your own living room. Grab a cup of coffee and start clicking away at the links below.

Just to explain, this book club is 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.

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: Moose
Author: Stephanie Klein
Start Date: June 30th
Post Dates: August 17
(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.)

About Moose: From Amazon: “Whether Klein is describing her life as a chubby adolescent camper–getting weighed on a meat scale, petting past curfew, and “chunky dunking” in the lake–or what it’s like now as a fit mother, having one-sided conversations with her newborn twins about the therapy they’ll one day need, this hilarious yet grippingly vulnerable book will remind you what it was like to feel like an outsider, to desperately seek the right outfit, the right slang, the best comeback, or whatever that unattainable something was that would finally make you fit in.” Not an infertility-related book, but it will be a great jumping board to a discussion on body as it relates to infertility.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. You’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Moose.)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters (below this post)
Weebles Wobblog
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
The Road Less Travelled
Baby Making Journey
All Things Deb
Trying for a Baby
The Dragondreamer’s Lair

Even if haven’t read Moose, you can still add your own thoughts on the blog tour or react to someone else’s critique.

Like the idea of being in a book club without leaving your living room? The current group chooses the next book. The 21st tour will be It Sucked, and Then I Cried… by Heather Armstrong (aka Dooce). 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.

The Details: Tour #21 will start August 18. Participants will read It Sucked, and Then I Cried… by Heather Armstrong. On or before September 30th, everyone will send one question based on the book (to get a sense of questions, click here to see the questions sent for book tour #2) to me. I will compile the questions into lists that will be emailed out to you by October 2nd. Everyone will choose 3 questions from the list and answer them on their own blog on October 5th. I’ll also post a master list and people can jump from blog to blog, reading and commenting on the book tour.

Though the book club is usually closed to those in the ALI community, I think that postpartum depression is a topic that needs wider discussion. Therefore, I’m opening this book to the larger community with sensitivity in posting. If you have a friend who wishes to join along for this book, they can join along too.

If you would like to sign up to participate in book tour #21, leave a comment below or send me an email. I need the title and a link to your blog as well as an email address where you’d like the two or three book club emails sent. If a spouse wants to participate too and he/she doesn’t have their own blog, have them set up a blog solely for book tours (as we did with the Annex) and send me a link to that blog. And if you’re a reader without a blog, now is a great time to set up a space for yourself on Blogger. People will be able to find brand-spanking-new blogs because they will be on the book tour’s participant list. The participants on the It Sucked, And Then I Cried… book tour will choose the book for tour #22.

Happy reading.

Here is the master list for the twentieth 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.

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: Moose* (with author participation)
Author: Stephanie Klein
Start Date: June 30
Question Due: August 12
Question List Sent Out: August 14
Post Date: August 17

(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 Moose: Described as a “grown up version of Judy Blume’s Blubber, Moose is a memoir written by the ever-funny Stephanie Klein (of Greek Tragedy fame). It chronicles her stay at a fat camp, and while this book is not infertility-related, it is body-related and I think it will lend itself to a very interesting discussion on how we find the motivation for the next cycle as well as how we view our bodies. It is literally the perfect book for the beach–funny, sweet, sometimes sad, and very very readable.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. On August 17, you’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Moose. I will keep adding to this list until 11 p.m. on August 12th. The list is currently open)

Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters
Weebles Wobblog
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
The Road Less Travelled
Hello, My Name is M…and I’m Infertile
The Dragondreamer’s Lair
Baby Making Journey
All Things Deb
Trying for a 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 August 12th.

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 Moose by August 12 (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 August 12 (or any time beforehand). I will send you a reminder email close to the date. Click here to see sample questions from tour #4. This is also the time to send a question if you have one for Stephanie because she is participating and open to answering our questions. I will compile them and forward them to her on the 14th.

(4) on August 14, 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 August 17, 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).

Welcome to the nineteenth tour of the Barren Bitches Book Brigade–a book club from the comfort of your own living room. Grab a cup of coffee and start clicking away at the links below.

Just to explain, this book club is 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.

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: Navigating the Land of If
Author: Melissa Ford (that’s me!)
Start Date: May 26th
Post Dates: June 29th
(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.)

About Navigating the Land of If: a guide for navigating the complex world of infertility. It will help you understand the lingo, learn the details doctors tend to leave out, and keep your emotional sanity despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Navigating the Land of If gives the nitty-gritty on injections, rejections, biting your tongue during happy parent-to-be conversations, and trying not to cry over baby shower invitations.

Barren Bitches Book Brigade List (The blogs below are participating on this current book tour. You’ll be able to jump from post to post to read a plethora of opinions and thoughts on Navigating the Land of If.)

The Road Less Travelled
Baby Smiling in Back Seat
Weebles Wobblog
Baby Steps to Baby Shoes
Secrets of an Infertile Mom
Weber’s in Action
The Dragondreamer’s Lair
Clio
Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed
Baby Shmaybe?
Baby Making Journey
Sticky Feet
Here We Go Again
Tears are for Babies
Hello, My Name is M…and I’m Infertile

Even if haven’t read Navigating the Land of If, you can still add your own thoughts on the blog tour or react to someone else’s critique.

Like the idea of being in a book club without leaving your living room? The current group chooses the next book. The 20th tour will be Moose by Stephanie Klein (with author participation). From Amazon: “Whether Klein is describing her life as a chubby adolescent camper–getting weighed on a meat scale, petting past curfew, and “chunky dunking” in the lake–or what it’s like now as a fit mother, having one-sided conversations with her newborn twins about the therapy they’ll one day need, this hilarious yet grippingly vulnerable book will remind you what it was like to feel like an outsider, to desperately seek the right outfit, the right slang, the best comeback, or whatever that unattainable something was that would finally make you fit in.” Not an infertility-related book, but it will be a great jumping board to a discussion on body as it relates to infertility.

The Details: Tour #20 will start June 30. Participants will read Moose by Stephanie Klein. On or before August 12th, everyone will send one question based on the book (to get a sense of questions, click here to see the questions sent for book tour #2) to me. I will compile the questions into lists that will be emailed out to you by August 14th. Everyone will choose 3 questions from the list and answer them on their own blog on August 17th. I’ll also post a master list and people can jump from blog to blog, reading and commenting on the book tour.

If you would like to sign up to participate in book tour #20, leave a comment below or send me an email. I need the title and a link to your blog as well as an email address where you’d like the two or three book club emails sent. If a spouse wants to participate too and he/she doesn’t have their own blog, have them set up a blog solely for book tours (as we did with the Annex) and send me a link to that blog. And if you’re a reader without a blog, now is a great time to set up a space for yourself on Blogger. People will be able to find brand-spanking-new blogs because they will be on the book tour’s participant list. The participants on the Moose book tour will choose the book for tour #21.

Happy reading.