"Raising My Rainbow" by Lori Duron

Last weekend, Pete and I went out for our normal post-date night Barnes & Noble trip.  While I was browsing, I picked up "Raising My Rainbow: Adventures in Raising a Fabulous, Gender Creative Son" by Lori Duron.  I've never seen a book of it's kind before and thought it would be so interesting to see how parents learn to accept and handle raising a gender non-confirming child.

I thought that Duron wrote a great book.  I can't imagine all of the struggles that she goes through, but it seems like her family has adjusted well and are a beacon of acceptance and unconditional love in their family and community.  It brought my awareness to her blog and I've been periodically checking it out.

I'd recommend this book to anyone raising a kid.  If your child is not gender non-conforming, it gives you an opening into the world of parents who are dealing with it.  It allows you to see that these parents are loving their child and supporting him in the best way that they can.  And I would like to think that most parents would do the same, but that's not always true.  I believe parents should read this and teach their kids not to hate, not to ridicule, and to stand up against those that do.

Synopsis from the Barnes & Noble website:

Raising My Rainbow is Lori Duron’s frank, heartfelt, and brutally funny account of her and her family's adventures of distress and happiness raising a gender-creative son. Whereas her older son, Chase, is a Lego-loving, sports-playing boy's boy, her younger son, C.J., would much rather twirl around in a pink sparkly tutu, with a Disney Princess in each hand while singing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi."
   C.J. is gender variant or gender nonconforming, whichever you prefer. Whatever the term, Lori has a boy who likes girl stuff—really likes girl stuff. He floats on the gender-variation spectrum from super-macho-masculine on the left all the way to super-girly-feminine on the right. He's not all pink and not all blue. He's a muddled mess or a rainbow creation. Lori and her family choose to see the rainbow.
   Written in Lori's uniquely witty and warm voice and launched by her incredibly popular blog of the same name,Raising My Rainbow is the unforgettable story of her wonderful family as they navigate the often challenging but never dull privilege of raising a slightly effeminate, possibly gay, totally fabulous son.

"The Men On My Couch" by Dr. Brandy Engler

I went to Barnes & Noble about about two weeks ago because I had a gift card burning a whole in my purse.  B&N gift cards don't last very long with me.  While I was walking around, I picked up The Men on My Couch:  True Stories of Sex, Love, and Psychotherapy by Dr. Brandy Engler.  It looked pretty interesting.  She interspersed different clients (each one a chapter) with tales of her own love issues.  I will admit, I wasn't that crazy about this book.  It was a very quick read, but not as fascinating as I thought it would be.  If you want to read it, it's definitely one of those "pick up at the library" books rather than a "must buy" book.

Here is the overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

WHAT MEN WANT. WHAT MEN FEEL. WHAT WOMEN NEED TO KNOW.

When Dr. Brandy Engler opened her sex therapy practice for women in Manhattan, she got a big surprise. Most of the calls were from men. They wanted to talk about womanizing, porn addiction, impotence, prostitutes—and most of all, love.

Her patients were everyday guys from all walks of life. Among them were David, the Wall Street hotshot and compulsive womanizer; Charles, an introvert who kept pushing away the fiancée he thought was too beautiful for him; Paul, the self-made man who visited massage parlors despite his sexy wife; and the men’s group whose stark revelations about male anger and their search for the right woman will open your eyes. In The Men on My Couch, Dr. Engler allows readers inside those private sessions to witness her exciting and evocative encounters with what men desire and fear.

Dr. Engler tells her own story, too. At first her patients’ revelations are painful and disconcerting, especially against the backdrop of her own difficult love affair. Yet Dr. Engler lets readers experience how she evolves both professionally and personally, from chagrin to compassion, and reconciles her idealized notions of love and sex with the unexpected and raw truths she hears in the office.

The Men on My Couch is unlike books you’ve read before. There are no tired facile conclusions or pejorative generalizations. Here are fresh insights into modern sexual maladies, gleaned from real people having real struggles and experiencing real epiphanies—in the real world.

This book will change how both women and men think about love, sex, and desire.