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
You missed one: Shirley Jackon’s Life among the savages. But that’s not too surprising; I’m not sure why I know about it, but it was probably because of my mother, who would have read it in the ’50s or ’60s, shortly after it came out.
So, I’ve already paged MPOW’s copy so I might actually get done early this month!
Thanks for the suggestion, David!
I did read most of Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women (I had to give up about 2/3 of the way in because it should actually be called Dull, Unlikeable People You Don’t Give a Rip About.) I’ll try to post a quasi review later today.
For this month’s challenge I’ll read Yas Yas In Bloom.
Ouch! I’ve had to stop reading books for the same reason. Well, I was listening to books on CD. And it happened with two books in a row. Really annoying. An honest critique of the book, whether good or bad, is always welcome!!
I tried to look up books about mothers in the school library & it was pretty sparse in terms of mothers being an integral part of the story. But I did find one:
“for one more day” by Mitch Albom.
I’ve never read anything by him and it was a bit sappy for my taste but pretty good. It’s also a very fast read. A more indepth review will be here:
http://www.lostbetweenthepages.blogspot.com
OK, I was on the verge of simply skipping this month. But I think I found my item, and as soon as ILL delivers it, we’ll see. Just a little something about “Mother Russia.”
http://worldcat.org/oclc/60641921
The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky – mother/daughter conflict
http://otterevilreads.livejournal.com/14075.html
Book : Louder than words: a mother’s journey in healing autism
Author : Jenny McCarthy
Genre : Non-fiction
see review on the Out of Our Minds blog (May 12)
http://www.vclblog1.blogspot.com/
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond. Adult Fiction. Review is here: http://blog.threegoodrats.com/2008/05/may-mother.html
I’m reading Playing with the Grown-ups by Sophie Dahl. The mom in this one certainly wouldn’t win any mother-of-the-year award, but it’s got an incredible mother/daughter dynamic.
I actually finished it on time. Here is the link to the note:
http://danceswithbooks.livejournal.com/42171.html
Title: The Punisher, vol.3: Mother Russia
Author: Garth Ennis:
Genre/Format: Comics/Graphic Novels
I had a hard time this month as well. I ended up picking Menachem’s Seed by Carl Djerassi. It billed itself as being a science fiction novel exploring on the ethics of reproductive science. It got halfway there.
http://rdaisygal.livejournal.com/207754.html
[…] (https://bamchallenge.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/challenge-5-mother) […]
Title: Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
Author: Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein
Genre: Biography
http://www.blog.kalda.ca/archives/342
Recommended!
I read Come Walk With Me by Joan Medlicott. It’s the story of a woman who must reconnect with her two adult children after her husband dies. I gave it a 3 out of 5.
Thanks again, Katie for this challenge. I like seeing all the different ways people interpret your themes.
The connection between my book and our May theme is clear when you see the subtitle: Enrique’s Journey: the story of a boy’s dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother.
This is an excellent book:
http://weavinglibrarian.blogspot.com/
The only one on your list I have read is The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan, which I loved. Since I didn’t have much time to look for/borrow a title for this theme, I decided to check my school library. No surprise here, there were lots of books, in particular, on the mother-daughter relationship. I read 2 which actually had similar themes and would lend themselves well to a compare/contrast. They are:
Jakeman- Deborah Ellis
Harry Sue- Sue Stauffacher
Both have a common theme of children whose mothers are incarcerated. They were actually rather fascinating as it isn’t something I’ve ever given much thought to. For more, check out my blog at
janeonbooks.edublogs.org
Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story by Mary Hahn was a quick page turner. Ali jumps at the chance to spend the summer away from her depressed and overprotective mother when offered a babysitting job with her neice. Aunt Dulcie fixes up the lake cottage where she spent her childhood with Ali’s mom, but where something dark happened that made the family abandon the place. Ali and Emma are shadowed by a mysterious young girl – Sissy – who causes conflict. This tale explores family secrets in a light manner with just enough suspense and emotion to quicken the heart and pull your heart strings as well.
Title: Yas Yas in Bloom
Author: Rebecca Wells
Genre: Fiction
Age level: 12+
http://quietgrrrl.livejournal.com/343244.html
Title: Come Be My Light
Author: Mother Teresa
Genre: Biography
Age level: Adult
http://august2010.blogspot.com/2008/05/come-be-my-light.html
Title: How She Really Does It: Secrets of Successful Stay-at-Work Moms
Author: Wendy Sachs
Genre: Non-fiction
Age level: Adult
Here’s the review: http://libraryliz.blogspot.com/2008/05/didnt-we-almost-have-it-all.html
Title: How She Really Does It: Secrets of Successful Stay-at-Work Moms
Author: Wendy Sachs
Genre: Non-fiction
Age level: Adult
http://libraryliz.blogspot.com/2008/05/didnt-we-almost-have-it-all.html
Jackson, Shirley. Life Among the Savages. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Young, 1953.
Genre: humourous biography
Age level: adult
my review
Title: Motherhood, the Second Oldest Profession
Author: Erma Bombeck
Genre: humor
Review is actually up on time!
Title: Beowulf
Author: Gareth Hinds
Genre: Graphic Novel
Age Level: Juvenile and Adult
In this book, Grendel’s mother plays a pivotal role in the story.
My review is here.
Title: Things I Want My Daughters to Know
Author: Elizabeth Noble
Genre: Fiction
Age Level: Adult
Review: here
I posted my comment a couple of week ago and it didn’t show up, so I’ll try again….
Title: The Year of Fog
Author: Michelle Richmond
Genre: Fiction
Age Level: Adult
Review: http://blog.threegoodrats.com/2008/05/may-mother.html
Title: Lee Miller’s War
Author: Lee Miller, edited by Anthony Penrose
Genre: Non-fiction, photography
Age Level: Adult
Review: Anthony Penrose had an interesting mother, Lee Miller who was model and muse to Man Ray, then became a skilled photographer in her own right. During WWII Miller became credentialed as a war correspondent. According to Penrose, his mother didn’t speak much of the war but fortunately for us he was able to find and compile her dispatches, letters, telegrams, and most importantly her photographs. The result is Lee Miller’s War
[…] June 21, 2008 — learninglibtech And, finally, the May review. The May theme was Mother for Challenge #5 in honor of Mother’s Day. I read A Long Way Down by Nick […]
And, finally, I’m here – better very late than never, I guess.
Title: A Long Way Down
Author: Nick Hornby
Genre: Fiction
Age Level: Adult
See my review.