Just Let Me Lie Down By Kristen van Ogtrop and Lift by Kelly Corrigan

I bought these books as a Mother’s Day present to myself. Having two daughters close in age, I could relate to the many tales that Kelly Corrigan shares. Having two good friends with all boys, I could also relate to Kristen van Ogtrop, who is the only female in her house too.

As a working mom, I appreciated the format of these books – Corrigan’s, a letter I could read in chapters or devour in one sitting; and van Ogtrop’s, which is set-up in bite-size pieces that I could put down and return to later. Just Let Me Lie Down (subtitled Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom), has an interesting structure, set up as a lexicon for the working mom. As described by the author, it is “an alphabetically arranged dictionary of terms, observations, lists, complaints, questions, musings and the occasional diatribe about the little joys and major nonsense that define life for me, and untold women like me, on a daily basis." The term “working mom” refers to women working in and out of the home; because face it, we are all working, some days just to get out of bed and get them off to school. Her anecdotes do what I had hoped from the title – confirm that I am not crazy, and, if I am, I’m not alone. Some of the stories are hysterical, some had me just nodding my head in agreement, and some had me smug thinking that maybe my kids weren’t as bad as hers (ok, not often, but at least once). This is not high art, or literary fiction, this is just a fun read that you will give to your girlfriend the next time she needs a good, “it’ll all work out" present. The only criticism I would have is that the author frequently refers to other parts of the book in parentheses, as in (see blah, blah, blah, pg 38), which I found annoying and a wee bit egotistical, sort of like quoting yourself. Kristen van Ogtrop is the editor of Real Simple magazine, which is especially interesting because, when she talks about her job, we know exactly what she means. Her essay “Attila the Honey I’m Home” appeared in the New York Times bestseller The Bitch in the House. She also, of course, writes a blog on the Real Simple website.

I don’t have anything new to add about the Kelly Corrigan book Lift. I’m starting to think I am just a ridiculous fan, since everything she writes, no matter how mundane, seems to make me smile or cry. This one made me want to write a letter to my own daughters, but I’m going to wait on that until the impulse to plagiarize her wears off.