Top Ten Tuesday: Infertility Books

Whoa, here I am, combining my two most common blogging topics. Has your head exploded yet? This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic (at the Broke and the Bookish) is a freebie. I thought long and hard about this... Umm, okay, no, I left it to the last minute and then went with something that I already had a list on GoodReads about. :) I chose to talk about infertility books, not the non-fiction books that try to tell you how to survive, or what step comes next and all that jazz, but novels and memoirs that touch in the infertility experience. I've read most of these by "accident", in that I was not actively looking for an infertility book, so I would say they are definitely not geared only towards those of us in the trenches.

1. All Good Things by Sarah Turnbull: A memoir of the author's time in Tahiti, but it also goes through her IVF experience. I found it very moving. It's also probably a good read for those of us in the northern hemisphere wishing we could hit the beach.

2. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman: I actually found this a bit hard to read because I didn't agree with some of the choices made, but the portrayal of Isabel's isolation and repeated miscarriages was so heartbreaking and real.

3. Eden by Yael Hedaya: This wasn't a book focused on infertility, as it looked at a wide range of characters with intersecting stories, but the first paragraph hit me across the face with its discussion of Dafna's IVF experience, and I found myself drawn into her story.

4. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Clayton Whyte: A good portrayal of what it means to be supported by one's friends through the trenches of infertility, and also the isolation and shame that some women feel. I can't imagine how hard it would be to go through this decades ago, when there was no internet to find community and women had few career options outside of home.

5. I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits: I had mixed feelings about this book because the second part seemed so rushed, but it really showed the strain that infertility puts on a marriage and on your mental state.

6. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty: The main focus of the novel is on Alice and her marriage, but the sub-plot with her sister Elisabeth showcased the difficulty of navigating relationships when one side is infertile and the other is not.

7. Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda: It's been a while since I read this, but I recall being moved by Somer's plight and how even though she was a highly educated and driven woman, her career and marriage could not fill the hole left in her life when she could not have a child. It strikes a nerve for me.

8. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: I love this book so much. I'm guessing I can't blame my own infertility on my husband's time traveling genes though?

That's all I can think of for now. There are a few that I've heard good things about like Ben Elton's Inconceivable and Peggy Orenstein's Waiting for Daisy. What about you? Any books come to mind?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read in 2014... But Didn't

This week's Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and the Bookish is about 2014 releases that we meant to read, but didn't. However, if you've been around here for a while, you'll notice that I don't really read based on release year. There are a few writers whom I follow and try to read their work brand new, but for the most part, I don't anticipate books coming out. For this reason, I'm re-jigging the topic a little and writing about books that I meant to read last year, but didn't get around to.

1. The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis: This is one of the few writers whom I do follow. I meant to buy this as soon as it came out, but money was tight as I'd just started school, and I've only just ordered it now. (Yay!) It'll definitely be a 2015 read for me.

2. Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas: This has been on my to-read list for almost five years. I even own two copies. *Hangs head in shame*

3. He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope: One of my Classics Club picks. (I chose a list but don't actually blog link, so it's just a personal challenge. I had this ready at the end of the fall and ended up picking up a couple of heavy biographies instead.

4. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton: Started, but got caught up in something else. It might be a summer read.

5. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp: I've heard this is great and have a copy, so it'll definitely be something I read ASAP.

6. Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler: I read the first book and meant to pick this one up too.

7. Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung: You know, I have just been too busy to get around to it, hahaha.