Why am I passionate about this?

I am fascinated by the idea of good people, moral people, people you know and like and love, who make terrible choices, wrong decisions, and mistakes that can’t be undone. And when the person who makes the mistake is a mother—my God! How the world turns on them. We live in a society where mothers are judged so harshly, where they are not allowed mistakes, where they are barely allowed to have a life or a want or a desire or a longing not connected to mothering. And so I write about this, and I read about this.


I wrote...

Book cover of A Season of Perfect Happiness

What is my book about?

My book explores one woman’s journey through motherhood—its deepest regrets, truest longings, and the scars even its happiness leaves behind.…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Good Mother

Maribeth Fischer Why did I love this book?

Twenty-two years since this book was published, I still remember the grief I felt watching this good mother make such devastating mistakes. With the character of Anna, a devoted divorced mother who is also passionately drawn to a new love, Miller captures what feels like an ongoing issue—society's refusal to allow mothers to make mistakes at all

By Sue Miller,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Good Mother as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A reissue of the powerful and troubling debut sensation - which spent over six months at top of the New York Times bestseller list on its original publication thirty years ago Recently divorced, Anna Dunlap has two passionate attachments: her daughter, four-year-old Molly, and her lover, Leo, the man who makes her feel beautiful - and sexual - for the first time. Swept away by happiness and passion, Anna feels she has everything she's ever wanted. Then come the shocking charges that would threaten her new love, her new family - that force her to prove she is a good…


Book cover of A Map of the World

Maribeth Fischer Why did I love this book?

I couldn’t put it down, and thirty years after its publication, as with Sue Miller’s book, I still feel the emotions I felt reading it. I can’t think of a better recommendation for any book. I still care about the characters. I wonder how the main character, Alice, is doing. Simply writing this answer makes me want to go back and read the book again—it will be my fourth or fifth read.

By Jane Hamilton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Map of the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of the widely acclaimed The Book of Ruth comes a harrowing, heartbreaking drama about a rural American family and a disastrous event that forever changes their lives.

"It takes a writer of rare power and discipline to carry off an achievement like A Map of the World. Hamilton proves here that she is one of the best." —Newsweek

The Goodwins, Howard, Alice, and their little girls, Emma and Claire, live on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Although suspiciously regarded by their neighbors as "that hippie couple" because of their well-educated, urban background, Howard and…


Book cover of Dept. of Speculation

Maribeth Fischer Why did I love this book?

This one I loved for the style as much as the character. I love the use of fragments to weave together a life and it felt true to the life of a mother—that a mother only gets snippets of time to piece together her story and her thoughts. I also loved that Offil was wrestling with such a big issue—how to hold onto oneself while giving so much of your self to a child.    

By Jenny Offill,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Dept. of Speculation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

They used to send each other letters. The return address was always the same: Dept. of Speculation.

They used to be young, brave, and giddy with hopes for their future. They got married, had a child, and skated through all the small calamities of family life. But then, slowly, quietly something changes. As the years rush by, fears creep in and doubts accumulate until finally their life as they know it cracks apart and they find themselves forced to reassess what they have lost, what is left, and what they want now.

Written with the dazzling lucidity of poetry, Dept.…


Book cover of Sorrow and Bliss

Maribeth Fischer Why did I love this book?

I fell in love with Martha, the main character who is struggling with an unnamed depression and who because of this assumes she can never be a good mother. She is so surprising and real and sad and impossible to love and funny—I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see if things would work out for her. 

By Meg Mason,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sorrow and Bliss as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

THE BOOK EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

'Just read it. It's unforgettable'
India Knight, The Sunday Times

'It is impossible to read this novel and not be moved. It is also impossible not to laugh out loud... Extraordinary'
Guardian

'Full of snappy one-liners but, at the same time, remarkably poignant'
Craig Brown

'Probably the best book you'll read this year'
Mail on Sunday

'Completely brilliant. I think every girl and woman should read it'
Gillian Anderson

'Exactly the book to read right now, when you need a laugh, but want to cry'
Observer

'The…


Book cover of Every Last One

Maribeth Fischer Why did I love this book?

I teach writing with this book because it’s brilliant in its depiction of an ordinary family in all the beautiful routine wonderful ways all families are ordinary. I felt as if I were living in this household. I felt as if the mother were my good friend. How does Quinlen make you want to turn the pages of such an ordinary life—until, of course, nothing is ordinary.

By Anna Quindlen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Every Last One as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “spellbinding” (The New York Times Book Review) novel, the author of Still Life with Bread Crumbs creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.
 
“In a tale that rings strikingly true, [Anna] Quindlen captures both the beauty and the breathtaking fragility of family life.”—People

Mary Beth Latham has built her life around her family, around caring for her three teenage children and preserving the rituals of their daily life. When one of her sons becomes depressed, Mary Beth focuses…


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of A Season of Perfect Happiness

What is my book about?

My book explores one woman’s journey through motherhood—its deepest regrets, truest longings, and the scars even its happiness leaves behind. Claire grows up in a beautiful resort beach town in Delaware, has a terrific best friend, marries her childhood sweetheart, and has a daughter. Then, tragedy upends everything.

The novel begins ten years after the tragedy when Claire falls in love again and hesitantly finds new friends. She wonders what she owes these new people of her past. If she reveals the tragedy, they’ll never see her the same way again, yet not telling them feels wrong, too. And so she wrestles with her feelings: Does she deserve this newfound happiness? And what will it cost her?

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Curiosity and the Cat

By Martin Treanor,

Book cover of Curiosity and the Cat

Martin Treanor Author Of The Logos Prophecy

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Illustrator Reader Jester Quantum physics buff

Martin's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.

Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history. 

An ominous tale of faerie folk.

Curiosity and the Cat

By Martin Treanor,

What is this book about?

Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.

Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history.

An ominous tale of faerie folk.



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