Reseñas y comentarios

La idea de este libro es muy interesante. 
El libro se compone de tres historias, con tamaños en aumento, siguiendo a varios habitantes de un silo subterráneo.
La cadencia de la historia se hace pesada a ratos, y aun con todo consigue mantener nuestro interés por entender qué está pasando.

A recount of the pursuite of motherhood, first biological and then adoptive motherhood. All the steps towards an open adoption of two half siblings, 1 and 4 years old, until the eldest finishes primary school. The horror stories of abuse and neglect from the birth family and the imprint of these on the two kids. Sally Donovan describes the tiredness, the frustration, the lack of proper support from both feiends and professionals, without sugar coating the "dark side" of adoption, as she calls it.

Quotes on raising adopted children:
“These children need approaching differently […], they need to feel safe and valued and only then might they start to learn.”

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Don’t deny their feelings, explore them.

Usual methods (threats, rewards, sanctions) do not work. The adoptees see themselves as bad and nothing we tell them will make them feel worse than they already do. Punishment …

Jessica Hepburn is 43 and making sense of motherhood when you cannot become a biological mother. She decides to do something big with her life: swimming the Channel. During her year of training, she meets with women of different backgrounds to enquire about motherhood.

Quotes: 
"you find happiness through the people you choose and the people you love"

"Connection is vital to human happiness, and if you can’t get it ready-made by having your own children you need to create it in different ways." But "people are most fulfilled when they have a passion." 

"nature is not a feminist. Like many women of my generation, I didn’t ever consider that I would have a baby before my thirties."

About feeling sad and jelouse: "echoes of love I had for my children. You only grieve what you have loved. I loved my children, I just didn’t meet them" 

"reasons being a …

Funny but also slightly depressing to read so many complaints.

This book contains the 3 love stories of friends from a STEM PhD programme. The STEM parts are pretty great. The stories are different in the details, although the same in essence: girl meets the boy that turns out to be the love of her live.  This reinforces the, very toxic, romantic love narrative, times three. The 3 partners are basically the same big man with different colour of hair. I feel that having STEM women as main characters is not enough, as all the stories from the author are in essence the same.

This book is amazing. It handles terrible events with respect and humor, without belittleing and without making such events life defining. Science, parenting and companionship define the story of Elizabeth Zott.

Some quotes:
"Scientists expect mistakes, and because of it, we embrace failure."

"[...] Don't you think it's possible to believe in both God and science?"
"Sure [...] It's called intellectual dishonesty".

Families required constant maintenance.

[...] the reduction of women to something less than men [...] is not biological: it's cultural.

"Religion is based on faith."
"But you realize, [...] that faith isn't based on religion. Right?"

<spoiler>
[...] he'd felt completely nonpulsed. [...] Amanda was his daughter and he was her father. He loved her with all his heart. Biology was overrrated.</spoiler>

Disturbing retelling of Snow White. Very detailed art work.

A trip to Paris and a continuous coming out.

The first half of this book is slow and filled up with clichés. However, the second half becomes interesting, thrilling and surprising.

Some very interesting ideas: a mindful society that has converted sustanibility into a religion.  Long descriptions with interesting comparissons with nature.

Some quotes:
"Grief never leaves, but life layers itself on top of the pain, time forming fresh scabs over bleeding wounds"

"idealists, to see the light in all things"

After a silly and slow start, I got to feel the butterflies in the stomach for Lina. The story also got more and more interesting.

Las transiciones son únicas y esta es la memoria de una pareja que pasa por una.

Sweet and comforting. Lovely art.