Stack of Spines

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In the last year, I’ve branched out by hopping onto the blog scene and literally managed to double my internet reading overnight.  I used to just read friend’s blogs and enjoy their cute baby pictures, but lately I’ve been perusing a few more well-known sites and enjoying them very much.

I started reading Heather Armstrong’s site Dooce and Christine Coppa’s Storked! after I heard they had books out.  Go ahead and tell me I’m the most backwards person on earth especially since I, you know, have a blog of my own and all.  Who reads the book first?

After my interest was piqued, and rather than thumbing through the archives, I took a blog pause to read their books and catch up on backstory.  And I liked them.  Their friendly styles were like catching up with old friends; I finished both back to back in a weekend.   Although I didn’t set out to read them together and compare, they both happened to come in at the library at the same time.  On some level I couldn’t help it — they both got book deals from having their respective well-loved blogs first.

Armstrong had many more laugh-out-loud moments, and Coppa had a touching and sincerely poignant ending to her account of her changed life with her new son.  Both provided an important message.  Dooce recounted her postpartum depression matter-of-factly and without shame.  She got the help she needed and is an inspiration to other struggling new moms – enough changes when you have a baby, and you don’t have to lose yourself as well.  Coppa illustrated the nervous 40 weeks of knowing you’ll be on your own beautifully while showing how single moms out there sacrifice every day and against all odds.

After I read both, I checked out some other reviews and most seemed to complain of the repeat material.  Since I didn’t read the blogs extensively beforehand, I can’t speak to that, but honestly I don’t know how this could be avoided.  You’re reading a memoir based on a blog which is based on current life events.  I did some basic poking and prodding after the fact, and I’d venture to guess Dooce is slightly more guilty of stealing material than Storked!.  Both are wildly popular because people can relate to them; I’m not a mom, not single, and not depressed (I don’t think) and I had no trouble.

If the truth must be known, I like Dooce better than It Sucked and then I Cried, and I liked Rattled! much better than I enjoy reading Storked!.  Storked! didn’t last long on my blogroll, somewhat because of the format and mostly because of the content.  Coppa would make a great novelist, but Dooce is hands-down the better blogger.

The book I’m dying to read already is Matt’s — it’s going to be a long two years.