Actually, Rebecca, the last book I couldn't put down was yours. :) For those of you who haven't read it, I highly recommend Rockabye by Rebecca Woolf. I'm not a mother myself, but I am a full-time grad student who is also working full-time (uuuggghhh) and after studying for hours and hours the last thing I want to do is read for pleasure, which is unfortunate because I completely and utterly love books. One of my absolute favorite books of all time is Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. It actually occurred to me while I was watching this that I might feel differently about it if I were a parent. (NOT condoning the behavior of the main character in the book, I'm sure many of you are familiar with the story, I just like how it's written). Great topic! Looking forward to reading for pleasure again someday.

Man this episode makes me read. Perhaps the half of Pillars of the Earth I didn't finish, or the half of the Divinci Code, or the half of the Devil in the White City... Unfortunately, I think the next book I'll be reading is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

Once my daughter became mobile, my relationship with books became much as it was when I was around 12 years old. I was one of those sneak-reading geeky kids. I snuck chapters in after bedtime, during math class, and any other time when I could feasibly get one sentence further in whatever book I was devouring at the moment. It is more difficult now, but I can't just not read. I can't. Although reading a book a paragraph (or sentence) at a time does not make for a very deep relationship with a book, I'll take it over no relationship, any day. And it is a relationship for me, like many of the panelists suggested. I have to admit, since becoming a parent, my relationship with books has become much more about sensory gratification, and less about intellectual stimulation. Hey-as long as we both know that it's just recreational, no one will get hurt, right? ;-) The book that most recently made a real impact on me was a re-read of Walden. I read it in high school, and recently picked it up again. Thoreau's treatise on living life deliberately is so important to me right know, as a parent trying to find balance between my child, work, house stuff, and everything else. Living life with purpose-REALLY living with full attention on the things that are important-that is a true sensory experience. It was interesting to see how my perspective on what constitutes a purpose-driven life has changed since I was sixteen.

2 books that are a MUST READ are The Alienist and The Red Tent.

One of the perks of extended breastfeeding is that once a day (when my daughter nurses before bed) I lay on the bed breastfeeding and reading. I think it might actually be the reason I've continued to read since she was born. It gives me the time to get into a book so that I'm pushed to somehow finish it. Books I love? I think I have read Mists of Avalon about 38 times. Sometimes it's so silly, but usually it's just awesome. I love anything by Margaret Atwood (especially The Handmaid's Tale) and I'm reading the Time Traveller's Wife now--so far I'm hooked.

I would love to see a list of the books mentioned in this episode, and perhaps the ones that didn't make it to the final cut?

ditto! the two major activities in my life - writing a dissertation and raising a toddler - don't leave a lot of room for pleasure reading. but i do have a list of favorite authors that i return to always. here they are: -JUMPA LAHIRI -JUNOT DIAZ -MARILYNNE ROBINSON and i love RUSSIAN LIT (especially anna karenina, master and margarita, and war and peace...yes, there was a time in my life when i had the time to read war and peace). my next venture will be ROBERTO BOLAÑO!!

"The Shack" by William P. Young is the only book that has changed my life. Don't be turned off by its religious undertones... you really will look at things in a new light!

yes! love love love reviving ophelia. anyone who's raising a daughter should read this book.

I'm not a non-fiction lover, but there are three that were totally life changing for me. In addition to Maggie's suggestion of Susan Faludi's Backlash, I'd have to add her Promiscuities. It, along, with Reviving Ophelia by Mary Piper were so critical to helping me recover from adolescence. I think all three, but especially the later two are must-reads for parents of girls. Literary fiction? Man, I could probably tie every major life event I've had to a book I was reading at the time, but here are the ones whose images still pop into my mind months or years after reading them: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz) One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) The Tortilla Curtain (TC Boyle)