6 Books for Mother’s Day

Mike Crisolago | May 7th, 2016

Not sure which book to get for the mom who loves to read? Try one of these six picks.

The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Men are what their mothers made them,” which helps explain Anderson Cooper’s rise as one of the most famous newsmen around. His mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, 92 – author, actress, clothing designer – surely instilled a similar drive in her son, and it’s that familial dynamic and loving connection that’s explored in The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love and Loss.

Speaking of mothers, author Betsy Lerner spent two years alongside hers and her friends of more than five decades at their weekly bridge game and chronicles their lives and longings in The Bridge Ladies.

Auschwitz survivor and Toronto resident Max Eisen recounts his harrowing survival at the Nazi camp in the memoir By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz.

Sixty-four-year-old Toronto writer Lynne Kutsukake’s debut novel, The Translation of Love, follows a Japanese girl after her release from a Canadian internment camp.

Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, returns with a tale of love, affairs and travel among the 60-something set in Something to Hide.

Man Booker Prize-winner Julian Barnes recounts the life of beleaguered Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who navigates art, politics and oppressive regimes in The Noise of Time. Sounds like Shostakovich’s mother made one strong son.

A version of this article appeared in our May 2016 issue with the headline, “Mother’s Day Reads,” p. 15.