Reading ...

Boomer & Me is a memoir of mothering a child who happens to have Aspergers syndrome. This is a work in progress (the bringing up of Leo, not the book) as the author's son is still young but so far she's doing an awesome job. I first met Jo when we worked together at Wakefield Press in our first jobs in publishing. Then she had her son and moved to the glamorous lights of Melbourne and I started working as a freelance editor. Jo's book is a closely observed, sensitive and moving story about Leo's early years. He is a super smart and a genuinely likeable kid who has some issues relating to other kids and controlling his passions. Jo's descriptions of other school yard mums and the politics of playdates are brilliant, and her excursions with Leo on her bike and Melbourne's trams remind me of the best bits of that Melbourne classic Monkey Grip (without the adult-rated content) and I'm not the first to compare Jo's writing to Helen Garner's.  Boomer & Me is a courageously honest and humorous memoir that perfectly captures the complexity of modern motherhood.