2016-06-30

Home Cooking
by Laurie Colwin
Harper Perennial Library
Part memoir, part cookbook, this delightful discourse on food and family life is as warm and welcoming as a fresh-baked loaf of bread (recipe included). Colwin, who lamentably died young, was a mother, novelist, and essayist for Gourmet.

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Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul
by Jack Canfield (ed.), Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne, and Marci Shimoff
Health Communications

Get out your handkerchiefs--this panegyric to maternal love, devotion, and wisdom may be the most touching entry in the wildly popular series.

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No Greater Love: Being an Extraordinary Mom
by Loren Slocum
Golden Books

Slocum's book is a relaxing antidote to baby-care and child-development books--an appreciation of motherhood as a learning experience and kids as spiritual teachers. Inspiring text and celebratory black-and-white photos help moms slow down and be present with their children.

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I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendships in Women's Lives
by Ellen Goodman and Patricia O'Brien
Simon & Schuster

The authors--Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Goodman and writer O'Brien--started talking together 25 years ago and haven't stopped since. They use their own long-term relationship and intimate interviews with others to examine the meaning of friendship throughout women's lives.

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The Mother Trip:
Hip Mama's Guide to Staying Sane in the Chaos of Motherhood

by Ariel Gore
Seal Press

The sequel to the "Hip Mama Survival Guide," Ariel Gore (who reviewed "Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth" for Beliefnet) is a smart, witty, unconventional mom whose well-crafted essays acknowledge the messier side of motherhood. A refreshingly feminist viewpoint that doesn't pigeonhole or patronize women.

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Dalai Lama, My Son:
A Mother's Story

by Diki Tsering
Seal Press

Ever wonder what it's like to be the mother of a holy man? Diki Tsering's moving autobiography gives you an inside peek--at the tender age of 2, Lhamo Dhondup was named the next Dalai Lama.

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Black Mothers:
Songs of Praise
and Celebration

by Kristin Clark Taylor
DoubleDay

Scan most newspapers or magazines, and you're not likely to find a very flattering picture of black moms--the media likes to portray them as welfare queens, watching soaps as their sons get arrested. "Black Mothers," by former White House staffer Kristin Clark Taylor, is a good corrective. Taylor pays homage to black moms, who, she says, are not only their kids' best friends and fiercest advocates but also their links to church and God.

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Jewish Mothers
by Lloyd Wolf and Paula Wolfson
Chronicle Books

A stunning collection of photographs and essays of Jewish moms, from activists and writers to rabbis and homemakers.

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And What Do You Do?
by Loretta Kaufman and Mary Quigley
Wildcat Canyon

Full-time mothers, say Loretta Kaufman and Mary Quigley, don't need to feel embarrassed or sheepish when working women raise an eyebrow and ask the dreaded question. Two former stay-at-home moms--now successful journalists--Quigley and Kaufman have written a manifesto on mothering. It's OK to take a few (or a dozen) years off from work to hang out with your kids, they say: Your brain won't atrophy, your marriage won't deteriorate, and your kids will be grateful.

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Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth
by Benig Mauger
Healing Arts Press

Benig Mauger helps expectant moms transcend the cold anonymity of hospitals and experience the spiritual power of giving birth. A more spiritually meaningful birth is not just good for moms but good for babies too, says Mauger.

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