Besides asking for book selections, I also like to give a few myself. So this week, it’s my turn to offer a recommendation.

It has been a busy time with two holidays squashed in during week days.. The time actually gave me a chance to finish “The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?” I have been slogging through this 350-page hardcover for many weeks and will pay for it when I return this library book slightly late. I guess it will be a contribution to the Kent Public Library so I won’t quibble and late is late. But I will kick myself for not renewing it online since Kent and all libraries in our region make it so easy to renew without leaving your house.

Anyway, I picked up this book because the author’s name was familiar. Leslie Bennetts is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and former New York Times reporter, and a friend of the sister of one of my husband’s closest friends. Never mind the connection. I had met Bennetts many years ago and was really impressed with her ambition as a journalist, so I wanted to take a look at this discussion about women, family and society. As a working mother myself I have been debating this topic with myself for years.

Bennetts says she wrote the book to provide women with information about working, maintaining their careers and the reality of life as a stay-at-home mom. You can read her own discussion online here at Huffingtonpost.com and her reaction to reviewers’ comments.

Interestingly enough, the book notes lots of suburban women from New Canaan, Conn. to parts of N. J. She also spoke to Sarah Portnoy, a labor lawyer who stopped working to stay home in Westchester with her two children, and eventually took a volunteer post as human rights commissioner for White Plains and then return to lawyering. There is also Lucy Peters of Bedford who joined the ranks of PTA moms and admitted to Bennetts that staying home is not the bliss she thought it would be. And there are others.

Some parts of this intelligent, thoughtful book made me steam and other parts made me nod in agreement. I would recommend this book because it makes you think about your choices and offers some perspective. The point is that every woman, every mother, has to chart her own path and make changes when necessary. And there are no “do-overs” but certainly life lets you begin a chapter at anytime.

One aspect of “The Feminine Mistake,” though, disturbed me. It read like a book for and about professional women. From my years of reporting I can tell you that plenty of women, and men, are not necesssarily seeking careers or professions, but holding down jobs to support their families. The work is not always so interesting or all-important, but it pays the mortgage, gets food on the table and shirts on everyone’s back. Not everyone is an attorney or investment banker or trying to change the world.

But I do agree that we all need to feel comfortable with our life choices for ourselves and our family.

And now I’m off until after the new year… Happy New Year!