Quick Reading Notes

Christina Hardyment's Dream Babies: Childcare Advice from John Locke to Gina Ford is as interesting as I'd hoped it would be. Every pregnant woman should read it before she delves into the currently fashionable childcare experts -- in my opinion, nothing helps a new mother more than understanding that no one has completely figured babies out just yet and no one is likely to any time soon. I never cease to be amazed by this:

Rousseau's Emile was probably the most widely read child-rearing manual of its age, and was qualitatively different from the medical handbooks. Although it included a good deal of advice on the minutiae of baby-care, it was the fruit of theory, not of dispassionate observation. Rousseau's mother died shortly after his birth, and his father deserted him. He returned the compliment by leaving his own five illegitimate children to the tender mercies of a foundling hospital.

CAAF over at About Last Night pointed me to Zadie Smith on a new biography of Kafka in the NYRB.

And, in a rare case of advertising actually working, the ad on that page pointed me to the NYRB's collection of children's books -- I've got a few of these already and mean to make a collection of all of them for Luke.

And I must remember to keep checking back here to watch the interview with Remainder author Tom McCarthy, in which McCarthy responds to these questions (via Maud). Remainder's one of those books that stays with me -- it was well-written, had a fascinating premise and a lot of narrative drive -- but unfortunately the ending just didn't satisfy, or even seem to fit. Endings are tough.