All the Other Mothers Hate Me: A Review, and Some Other Bookish Potpourri

Clever, funny, and propulsive

Book Page, how I love thee. The cycle of how I read so many of my books goes like this: I go to the library, I check out a book or two, and I grab the latest Book Page. I peruse Book Page, and place holds for titles that sound interesting. If you’re not familiar, Book Page is a little magazine of reviews and blurbs about books coming out. You can usually pick it up, free of charge, at places where you find books. If memory serves, one John Green (the Mr. Rogers of the millennial generation, I would posit— but that’s a separate post) worked there many years ago.

The nature of libraries of course is that sometimes weeks or months go by before my library holds come in, and I think to myself, why did I put a hold on this? Oh, uh-huh. I probably read a review in Book Page. I’m 99.9% sure that’s how I heard about All the Other Mothers Hate Me, a book by Sarah Harman.

OK, here is my library confession: I don’t read probably even half of the books I check out of the library. I have read for years that checking books out, using Libby, using Hoopla helps the library because it shows usage/patron engagement. Those are part of the metrics libraries use to justify funding; now some libraries might work differently from one locality to another, but that’s generally how I understand all of that to work. (Librarians, correct me in the comments if I’m wrong.) But yeah, no one is checking to see if you read all those books. If you think they sound interesting and might get around to reading them during the checkout period for your specific library, check them out. If you start an audiobook on Libby or start to read a physical book from your library and it’s not your cup of tea, just return it. No biggie. And you likely helped out your library by circulating the book.

So I grabbed my holds the other day and thought to myself upon picking up this title, “Am I going to read this? Mmmm… probably not.” Nevertheless, I opened it up, read the first couple of pages and was hooked. It’s immediately funny, and you are really pulled in by the flaws of the characters and the situation at hand. The book follows a 30-something London woman who was once in a girls’ group (think Spice Girls) and had a son with her former manager. Now they’re no longer together but his family is wealthy, and although she is decidedly not, their kid goes to an elite private school. Given the WEALTH in London, she’s a bit of an outcast in the social scene, and when one of the kids at the school goes missing, things turn a bit more interesting.

I won’t spoil too much, but it’s just enough of that messy, gossipy domestic drama with a criminal mystery twist.

And lo and behold, it’s my favorite book I’ve read so far this year! Absolutely did not see that coming, but it was so fun. Sometimes people burn you out with towering expectations (*cough cough* All the Colors of the Dark) and given I’d barely heard a whisper about this one, it was such a refreshing find.

(Just work with me on the quality of the photo — the beautiful flat lay I would have loved to put here wasn’t happening before I needed to return it on a weeknight after work. Just imagine it’s there. Yes, close your eyes. It’s as good as there. Maybe a red velvet pump and a crumpled black lace dress and the most outrageous sunglasses I could find?)

Anyway, I can’t believe Memorial Day weekend is coming up so quickly. Summer is herrrre, y’all! What are you going to be reading over the long weekend? Do you curate your to be read (TBR) list in advance or are you a mood reader? I unfortunately am a massive mood reader, but when I have a favorite author with a new title out, I will often save those titles for particular events (summer vacation, long plane rides, etc.). Nothing is more annoying than having to slog on through daily work and life obligations when you desperately want to get back to your new Liane Moriarty or Sally Rooney.

I’m really hoping to start the new Hunger Games prequel (Sunrise on the Reaping).

Whatever you chooses to read this weekend, whether it’s a Pulitzer winner or the ragebait Facebook comments your third cousin made on a post about butter — have a relaxing time!