Book Review: From Beer to Maternity

I recently read the very funny book, From Beer to Maternity by Maggie Lamond Simone. The book is a collection of columns and essays that cover everything from dating, marriage, pregnancy, motherhood, and menopause.

As some of us do, the author really struggled with the idea of becoming an adult. Throughout the book, she provides comical and detailed lists of warning signs that indicate you’re growing up. Some of these include:

• You change the oil in your car before the engine blows up.
• You find yourself dusting and vacuuming when no one is coming over.
• You find yourself singing to the Muzak in the elevator.
• You’re the one glaring at the people speeding down your residential street, instead of the one being glared at.

While I found myself laughing throughout the book, the essays I related to the most were the ones relating to pregnancy and parenting.

In one of the funniest essays, the author argues with her mother that having a baby can’t be as difficult as having a dog. She says, ” He’s been up all night!…As soon as I fall asleep, he’s crying to go out again. I know he doesn’t feel good, but, darn it, every time he has to go I have to get dressed and go out in the cold. You can’t tell me that having a baby is harder than having a dog…How hard can babies be? They wear diapers. They wake up, you go four feet and change them. You don’t even need slippers, for Pete’s sake.”

In another hilarious essay she offers some observations about raising children. So of which include:

• Don’t introduce the concept of monsters to a toddler until you’re good and ready to sleep on half of a twin bed for several months.
• Babies are like crocodiles. They may appear slow and cumbersome, but the minute your head is turned their teeth are clamped onto your leg.
• Children have no fear…I know the books say this is healthy but…I have my doubts. Remember, these same books also said labor was “uncomfortable.”

If you’re looking for a good laugh about love, life, and parenthood From Beer to Maternity is the book for you. The essays and columns make for easy reading. They’re short enough to read one or two when you catch a spare 5 minutes and they’re smart and funny enough to keep you thinking and smiling the rest of the day.

If you’d like to read more reviews about the book click this Amazon link.

Thanks to Maggie Lamond Simone for providing the book for review. No compensation was provided for this review.