The Best New Books to Get Your Mom This Mother's Day

The premise of Rose’s (Women in Dark Times) book is that mothers are the glue that holds everything together. Despite this critically important role, Rose is convinced that mothers carry too onerous a responsibility in ensuring the health of their children, their families and, ultimately, society. Tracing the progression of the roles of women throughout history, Rose’s insightful essays are a fascinating lesson in feminist theory as it relates to parenting.

A debut short-story collection, Back Talk speaks to the ways women and girls define themselves and delineate their paths. The protagonists of these stories are daughters, mothers, siblings, girlfriends and wives, all figuring out their strengths and soft spots (same), as they defiantly push the boundaries between selfishness and self-possession. 

Curtis Sittenfeld’s (American Wife) first short-story collection is a ten-story compendium that starts and ends with stories about the election of Donald Trump, but it’s at its best when focusing on the crazy-relatable daily triumphs and upsets of women in their 30s. Yes, that includes social-media envy, imposter syndrome and the very mixed emotions of leaving a screaming newborn who won’t take a bottle in order to secure an exciting work project. See? Relatable.

The author of a less-is-more-themed mommy blog, Jonat evangelizes the power of “no.” She encourages us all to say no to social obligations, no to extra chores, no to missing our own lives due to constant busyness. Basically, she teaches you how to re-frame “doing nothing” as a form of self-care (necessary for everyone, but especially busy moms).

Wade is a popular artist and poet who’s been called “the millennial Oprah.” Her debut book features more than 120 original poems, mantras and affirmations, all of which amount to a kind of daily pep talk.

A young woman escapes her Midwestern Catholic childhood to create a home and life for herself in the insular lesbian underground of Portland, Oregon. But one drunken night, she hooks up with a man and soon discovers she’s pregnant. Despite the concerns of her shocked community of gay friends, she decides to have the baby. What follows is a sweet, funny and quirky anti-romantic comedy, about the families we’re born into and the families we choose.

Filled to the brim with Crosley’s (I Was Told There'd Be Cake) trademark wit, this new collection of essays covers a handful of the weird shenanigans she gets into, from scaling active volcanoes and playing herself on Gossip Girl to befriending swingers and debating the merits of motherhood.

Writer O’Connell was in her early 20s when she got accidentally pregnant and decided to have the baby. The book she needed then—a brutally honest reckoning with the emotional and existential impact of motherhood—wasn’t on Amazon, so she wrote it. She tackles everything from the fantasies of a "natural" birth to postpartum body and sex issues with humor, wit and realness.