Q: What can I read to stop my brain turning to mush on maternity leave?
Teacher, 39
A: Journalist and comedian Viv Groskop, author of How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking (Bantam, £12.99), writes:
First, an important corrective. I don’t want to berate you, dearest new parent and teacher, but I must challenge you on the premise of your question. Who told you your brain turns to mush on maternity leave? Why is it necessary to buy that myth? In my experience, becoming a parent sharpens your instincts, gives you laser-like focus and makes you use whatever time you can find for reading – and for yourself – far more efficiently than you ever dreamed possible.
Let’s rephrase this question, then. What’s a useful read for keeping up to speed with current affairs when time is at a premium? I would suggest anything by Michael Lewis (such as The Fifth Risk or Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity, an edited essay collection) or, closer to home, How Britain Really Works by Stig Abell and In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law by Sarah Langford.
Rewarding fiction relevant to your life-stage? Meg Wolitzer’s The Ten-Year Nap. A blast of poetry? Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. Most pertinent nonfiction read for your situation? Philippa Perry’s The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, which will remind you that (a) most of what you’re doing as a parent is right and (b) you’re human, mush or no mush.
Submit your question for book clinic below or email bookclinic@observer.co.uk
