Here in the US, Caitlin Flanagan has been angering women for so long with her odes to stay-at-home motherhood (even though she really doesn't qualify on that score) that news of her book, TO HELL WITH ALL THAT, just fuels the fire further. (Just read through Salon's recent letters to the editor regarding Joan Walsh's take on the book.)

But in the UK, Flanagan-fever hasn't crossed over yet; instead, a different debate rages about a book by Katherine Ellison that argues motherhood makes women smarter. The Times' Sarah Vine isn't so sure, wondering if "any of it really make women materially more clever — or just better at managing limited resources." That said, "regardless of the theory about babies boosting brain power, this is a book packed with identifiable truths about the reality of being a wife and mother." And whether we need another book that argues that men and women have differing cognitive pathways is another story anyway...