The Lunch-Box Chronicles

"For me, parenting is like dieting. Every day, I wake up filled with resolve and good intentions, perfection in view, and every day I somehow stray from the path. The difference is with dieting, I usually make it to lunch. . . ."With the open and often hilarious voice we have come to expect from Marion Winik, here is a refreshing, insightful journey that takes us through the mishaps and serendipity, tumult and quiet, that make up daily life in raising a family. When Winik's husband died in 1994, she was left not only with her grief, but also with the care of her two sons and with the task of rebuilding all their lives. Part memoir, part survival guide, The Lunch-Box Chronicles is a wholly engaging revelation of the philosophy of parenting that grew out of her experience, where boys (ages seven and nine) will be the boys they are, and a "good-enough mom" is actually good enough. Taking us from the morning scramble to get the boys off to school to the good-night kisses when (at last!) they are asleep, Winik takes on the difficult subjects of everyday life, from sex and drugs to what to make for dinner, all with affection and insight, but with her laser-sharp humor and sense of irony firmly in place. From the Hardcover edition.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.