February 25, 2011: Cinderella Ate My Daughter

PAGES READ on Tuesday: 32
PAGES READ on Wednesday: 24
PAGES READ on Thursday: 5
YEAR TO DATE: 1,581
CURRENTLY READING: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
BOOKS COMPLETED: 3
-1179 PAGES

I’m heading off on a cruise next week – a mother-daughter Disney cruise to be precise – and I’m having trouble deciding what to bring for reading material. I’ve grown to love the Russian (bottleneck to my project that she is), but I think we can all agree she does not belong on a Disney cruise. The weight in my carry-on bag is reason enough to leave her behind, but I also think it would offend Anna’s sensibilities to be introduced into that environment.

I’m bringing The Finkler Question but hope to be finished with that before you can say Mickey Mouse. So what’s next? I recently read a New York Times review of Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein and while it sounds like an interesting read, I don’t think it would be considered getting into the Disney spirit to bring it along. I already have mixed feelings about the commerciality of the cruise and the princess-ification of little girls and I don’t think I need to add any more fuel to that particular fire. The idea of the trip is to have fun and bond with my daughter, not to flex my feminist muscle and rise up against the gender stereotypes that the Disney princesses reinforce. Where are the Disney female superheroes and the Disney women-who-choose-to-have-children-and-a-career? Of course, if those characters existed they would have a tough time competing with the appeal of a princess dress…

I digress. So what else is on my list? Superdad, the memoir of a crack-addicted father in WASPy Toronto? Kind of creepy for the surroundings. Likewise Life, Keith Richards’ blurry biography. I guess I’ll have to keep scanning my shelves for the perfect book to read on the Jasmine deck. Suggestions?