When my husband took a new job several years ago, I couldn’t have known that one of my favorite perks of his job would be making friends with the other wives. They are smart, fun, and funny, and hanging out with them at the various social functions is definitely NOT a chore. I hit it off almost immediately with another mom named Tawny. We have spent countless parties talking about our kids, our husbands, our jobs, and best of all… BOOKS!!!! We talk about our favorite books, books we read as kids, books we’ve recently read, books our kids are reading, books we wish our kids would read, books we’ve heard are fantastic but we haven’t read yet…. you get the picture.
Her enthusiasm for reading is as contagious as her smile and I hope that once you get to know her, you will find a new author, a new love of reading for relaxation, and maybe even a few new favorite books.
Meet Tawny:
I am Tawny Brooks and I am a married mom of 16 year old twins. Raised primarily in Wauwatosa, immediate suburb of Milwaukee, I went to Hope College in Holland, Michigan for undergrad and Marquette University for Law School. I have been a practicing attorney since 2003 and for the past 6 years I have been running my own law firm in Milwaukee.
I represent parents in cases where their children have been removed from their care due to allegations of abuse or neglect and represent children in the same cases. I also represent parents in cases where the State seeks to terminate their parental rights.
When I am not reading for work or pleasure, I enjoy streaming crime shows and Star Wars and Marvel movies.
Tell me a little more…. Tell me more about your law practice. How did you get started in law? Why did you decide to practice your type of law? What is your favorite part of practicing law?
I always wanted to be a lawyer. My dream job growing up was a corporate lawyer for Disney so I could represent Mickey Mouse. When I went to college, it was the last thing I expected to do. I was a political science major and wanted to work in Washington DC. I interned there my junior year, and if it would have been my senior year I probably would have stayed.
But I had to go back to school to finish and by then I’d met Scott and wanted to get back to Wisconsin. So I took the LSAT and applied for law school at Marquette. I didn’t mind law school and got a job clerking in Milwaukee County after law school. I also found myself pregnant with twins right around the time I graduated. I took a safe job for a while before finding this area of practice that is both emotionally draining and professionally satisfying.
I love arguing, but I also love that my job is to help someone—to take the time to explain things to them and help them know what to do and to help other see what my client has done. It doesn’t always end up the way they want it and sometimes that is the way it should be, but it is always my job to make sure my client knows what is going on and has someone fighting for him/her.
Do you mostly read for pleasure or do you mostly read for professional development?
I probably mostly read for work, though I decompress by reading for pleasure.
What are you currently reading? Thoughts on it?
I don’t have anything new that I am reading right now—I have an old familiar favorite that I use to transition from work to sleep in the evenings-Nora Roberts The Search. I find that if I read new books during the work week, I get much less sleep trying to finish them, so I save new reads for vacation and weekends. My Nora Roberts library is purely for catching up with old friends and a familiar story. I also very much enjoy re-reading the Rizzoli and Isles series from Tess Gerritsen.
The last new book I read was a couple weeks ago on vacation-The House on Fripp Island by Rebecca Kauffman. I enjoyed it a lot—it was well written, but more family drama than suspense.
Do you share what you read with your co-workers to encourage them to read more?
I share what I’ve read-the new reads-with co-workers and other avid reader friends. Many of my co-workers read as much as I do, so they either love reading or they only read work.
What is your favorite genre?
I love mystery and suspense. Romance included is a bonus if I like the characters and it doesn’t take over the mystery.
Have you always been a reader or did your love of reading come later in life?
I have always loved reading and rarely went anywhere without a book.
Are your friends readers, too, or are you the outlier in your group?
I think most of my friends are readers. The lawyer friends don’t have as much time or desire to read when it is such a big part of our jobs, but a lot of them read when they have the time.
Do you have a favorite author? Favorite book?
I never miss a book by Nora Roberts or Tess Gerritsen. I also like fun supernatural reads by Kerrelyn Sparks, Lyndsay Sands, MaryJanice Davidson and Deanna Chase. Good crime series like Kathy Reichs, James Hayman and Karin Slaughter. I absolutely love Dot Hutchinson’s FBI series—I actually read one while driving once which I definitely do not recommend as safe. Wait—no I do not have a favorite author or favorite book!
Is there a book that you feel has changed your life?
A Wrinkle in Time. I know I loved reading before the first time I read it in 5th grade, but it remains a book I continuously come back to. Meg is flawed and fierce and deeply loved and is one of my favorite characters ever.
Is there a book you consistently recommend?
Well lately I’ve been recommending The Handmaids Tale a lot. I don’t think there is anything that I have recommended consistently—I buy people the books I enjoy. When the kids were little, I was the mom who gave books as presents and bought the ones I liked!
Are both of your kids readers? If so, do they enjoy the same books? If not, does this cause any issues because you are such an avid reader?
My kids are polar opposites in every way. Sam loves reading and has a book in his hand wherever he goes. Emma does not share our love of reading and would rather be doing anything else. Sam loves reading books that are completely foreign to me-science fiction/fantasy. The only thing they have in common is that they know I am such an avid supporter of their reading—they know I will buy a ton of books anytime. I have tried to suggest books for both of them to read and usually it is met with eye rolls.
Are there any books you have read that made you stop in your tracks because their message was so powerful?
I haven’t had any books like that—I’ve had books that I read straight through and was shocked at the end. But the vast majority of my reading is not super deep because of all the things I read for work. The time I can think of when I did stop and really identify with something was because it was a book about abused kids whose parents were getting killed—so what they were saying about foster care and systemic racism in foster care resonated with me.
Between work and family, you are extremely busy. How do you make time to read?
I don’t sleep a lot. I need a bridge between work and sleep so I don’t stress over cases when I am supposed to be sleeping (as much), so before bed for the re-reads is essential. Something to switch the brain to calmer and less stressful, which given my choice of material sometimes isn’t all that helpful. Having most of my reading material on my phone helps so I can read wherever I am. I do wish I had more time to read new things. It’s just a matter of making it a priority and doing it because that’s what I love to do!
So There You Go!!!
It should be easy to see why Tawny and I hit it off from the word GO! I think that the thing I love most about Tawny as a reader is that she focuses on making time to read each night because she knows it helps her unwind. How many of us complain we don’t have time to read and also complain we can’t settle down to sleep at night, but have never considered a perfect solution like Tawny’s? I hope that this helps you think of some of your favorite books that you haven’t read in a while. Maybe pull them out and crack them open… you never know how happy just reading a couple of pages (or even the whole thing) might make you today!
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