This month’s theme may seem a little obvious for those in the U.S., but I had to be reminded that Mother’s Day was this month by looking at one of those ubiquitous holiday calendars. Luckily I’ve already taken care of my present for my mother. Whew! As usual, there’s a wide-range of books you can read to incorporate into the challenge, though it may take a little effort. Some of the ones I’ve thought up are: books on the joys of being a mother/grandmother, the trials and tribulations of becoming/being a mother, famous mothers, fiction where mothers/grandmothers are a central theme, Mother Earth, and someone with mother issues.

  • Mothering humor
    • Belly Laughs: the Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth by Jenny McCarthy
    • Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-be by Rebecca Eckler
    • Motherhood, the Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck
    • The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit by Jill Conner Browne
    • You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman : Diary of a New (Older) Mother by Judith Newman
  • Mother biographies
    • The Autobiography of Mother Jones by Mother Jones
    • A Simple Path by Mother Theresa and Lucinda Vardey
    • Teta, Mother, and Me: Three Generations of Arab Women by Jean Said Makdisi
    • A Remarkable Mother by Jimmy Carter
    • A Woman of Uncertain Character: the Amorous and Radical Adventures of My Mother Jennie (Who Always Wanted to be a Respectable Jewish Mom) by Her Bastard Son by Clancy Sigal
  • Mother fiction
    • Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer
    • Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter
    • A Boy in Winter by Maxine Chernoff
    • The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
    • White Oleander by Janet Fitch
  • Mother Earth – ecology/environmentalism
    • An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
    • Extinction: the Causes and Consequences of the Disappearance of Species by Paul R. Ehrlich Anne H. Ehrlich
    • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared M Diamond
    • Gaia’s Revenge: Climate Change and Humanity’s Loss by P H Liotta; Allan W Shearer
    • Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
  • Mother issues
    • Freud on Women : a Reader by Sigmund Freud and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl
    • Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
    • Postcards From the Edge by Carrie Fisher
    • The Woman Who Gave Birth To Her Mother by Kim Chernin
    • Oh No! I’ve Become My Mother by Sandra Reishus