Some more book ideas for holiday giving

No, no, I'm not suggesting War and Peace--so don't worry! Almost no one else wants to read my choice of tomes. Though I was pleased to see that Oprah has bestowed her "selection" magic on two Dickens classics...Read the recent piece on her Dickens-duo of holiday book picks here.
As for me, I prefer to recommend books by living writers--and a good case in point is the recent anthology from City Works Press, a local non-profit press that annually produces a couple of top-flight literary works--many of them anthologies. The newest collection of writing is Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting, edited By Alys Masek and Kelly Mayhew. The list of writers includes Neal Pollack, Wanda Coleman, Sam Apple, and Jim Miller (author of one of my recent faves, Flash: A Novel).
As the editors put it: "While we published valentines to the experience of being a parent, we also included pieces that explore the difficulty, contradictions, and frustrations of raising children as well as work that explores what it means to not have children or to acquire and parent them in other ways."
As someone who is "childfree" but adores her three nieces, I really responded to many of these pieces; it's definitely not a "parents only" book--far from it...It speaks to the human condition, and to the essential emotions: wonder, fear, frustration, anger, and joy. (But yes, it is perfect for a new parent as well as someone contemplating parenthood--and for grandparents, too!)
Check out the whole line-up of books from City Works Press--there's something for everyone on your list...Spread some knowledge--spread some joy--give someone a book.
Hasta pronto!

The Day After Mother's Day (What does it really mean?)

Okay, I wouldn't have posted this yesterday, because who knows who out there is gonna get ticked off at me, but I really don't like Mother's Day. I love my mom, and I like celebrating her and the other mothers that I love, and the nearly-moms who have helped me along the way. But it's a day when I often feel odd, purely for being a woman of a certain age (I'm turning 49 this month) who is NOT a mother.
Anne Lamott to the rescue. This "Why I hate Mother's Day" essay by Lamott on Salon.com was sent to me by my dad, and I missed seeing it yesterday, because I was at my mom's house, celebrating Mother's Day. This was following the morning of people asking me "Are you a mother?" as if it was a test. Of course it is...If you're a mom, they'll wish you a Happy Day, if not, the person will quickly smile and say something to cover up how sorry they now feel for you.
I'm currently reading Charles Dickens' Little Dorritt (since it'll be hard to find in a bookstore, I don't mind linking to Amazon) which has some of perhaps the worst mothers in all of Dickens' books in it, or at least a couple of contenders, and somehow it was perfect to start the day with them...Especially with horrible Mrs. Clenham, who lies, denies, and always, always, is right and righteous (I won't do any "spoiler" stuff here, so yes, there is more to it--it is Dickens after all).
I say, let's not just celebrate every person who birthed a child--which, after all, is a pretty basic step in "mothering" said child. I'd love to celebrate something called Good Mother's Day, or a Good Aunt's Day, even a Good Mentor's Day. Considering the Octo-mom, it occurs to me that quality is better than quantity in terms of shaping the future, which is what we humans are up to, by raising children.
Isn't the most important thing not whether I have had children (or if anyone has) but whether I care about your children (if you have them)? In fact, the big question is how much we all care about all children, not just "ours." And that applies to all of "our" children, such as politicians who talk about "America's children" as if they were more valuable than other children around the globe.
A good way to celebrate Mother's Day, or any other day, might be to consider how we can better use our time, talents, and resources to help "mother" everyone's children...If we all tried this, even once in a while, we would surely all be better off.
Hasta pronto!