We had dinner and Red Lobster tonight after finally breaking down and buying our first umbrella stroller, and while we waited for our deep friend shrimp and shoved Cheddar Bay Biscuits into our daughter’s gullet, I mentioned how much I loved reading Alternadad by Neal Pollack last weekend. Donna told me I should write a review and send it to Doug at dadbloggers.com. Even though I recently posted there, I wrote the following review after we got home. I am sure Doug will post it soon, but I wanted to put it here, too.

Pollack, Neal. Alternadad (2007)

 As a high school teacher I come across new books all of the
time, and recently when I was reading Time magazine on my throne there
was a column written by one of my favorite columnists (James
Poniewozik). The topic of that article was about
Gen-Xers growing up and having children, while trying to maintain their youth
and ideals. Poniewozik mentioned a new book called Alternadad
by Neal Pollack, whose most recent book is about coming to terms with marriage
and having children while still maintaining his own identity.

 My wife and I have read Dooce.com for years now, and we use
to talk about Jon & Heather Armstrong like we knew them personally.
Pollack, in Alternadad, writes like he could be the male version of
Heather Armstrong. I began this book on a cross country flight and read over
half of it before I landed. That weekend while I was at conference I finished
the entire book. It began with Pollack dating various women and running around
town to a plethora of concerts. It continued to him meeting his wife and her
getting pregnant. And it culminated in the experiences of trying to raise a
baby and toddler on the Austin city limits.

Pollack, who has written several non-fiction books, pours
his own experiences as a stay-at-home father trying to raise his son and live
his life with his family. It details the time they lived in Texas before moving to Los Angeles, and, as a father of a toddler, I found the book strikingly funny and sincere.
From the travesties of day care to the in-laws brushing his kid’s teeth with Bordeaux’s butt paste, we should all read this book.