Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 9. It wasn't easy whittling down to these suggestions of books to gift your mother . . . because there are so many possibilities on our bookshelves! This list includes new literary fiction, memoir/biographies, children's picture books, cookbooks, and nonfiction. We think there's just the right something here for your mom!

Readers of Elizabeth Strout, Alice Munro, and Anne Tyler will find themselves at home in this deeply moving novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home. The story begins with a fire: a fiercely-independent, thrice-widowed woman living on her own in a rambling house near the Maine coast forgets a hot pan on the stovetop, and nearly burns her place down. This beautiful novel—attuned to the seasons of nature, the internal dynamics of a family, and a nation torn by its contradicting ideals—reveals the largest meanings in the smallest and most secret moments of life.
The 'mothers' of this book's title refers to the gaggle of elderly churchgoing women who comment on the congregation around them, especially the trio of Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey. But "The Mothers" is about more than that. It refers to the concept of motherhood, whether real, lost, aborted, adoptive, or conflicted.

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, she flees to grieve in her Northern California hometown village of Mendocino. The day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, she learns that the most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. Weaving together actual cases of missing persons, trauma theory, and a hint of the metaphysical, this propulsive and deeply affecting novel tells a story of fate, necessary redemption, and what it takes, when the worst happens, to reclaim our lives—and our faith in one another.
New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins makes her fiction debut with this electrifying novel, For fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jacqueline Woodson, the story brings to life one powerful and enigmatic family in a tale rife with secrets, betrayal, intrigue, and magic.

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Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together. A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors.
A warm, incisive new novel about the enduring bonds of marriage, motherhood and friendship.
In the arc of one year, an unnamed narrator in an unnamed city, in the middle of her life’s journey, realizes that she’s lost her way. The city she calls home acts as a companion and interlocutor: traversing the streets around her house, and in parks, piazzas, museums, stores, and coffee bars, she feels less alone.

Richly told and profoundly moving, "Pachinko" is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters — strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis — survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "A Thousand Acres," this is a captivating abd brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals and a young boy whose lives intersect in Paris. A sheer delight.

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all. A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, "A Thousand Ships" puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.

An exquisite new literary voice — wryly funny, nakedly honest, beautifully observational, in the vein of Jenny Offill and Elizabeth Strout — depicts one woman's attempt to keep her four chickens alive while reflecting on a recent loss.

A true crime podcast sets a trophy wife's present life on a collision course with her secret past in this "blazingly intense" story.

A richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. "The Dutch House" is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are.
"She Come By It Natural" is a sympathetic tribute to the icon Dolly Parton and—call it whatever you like—the organic feminism she embodies.
Brandi Carlile was born into a musically gifted, impoverished family on the outskirts of Seattle and grew up in a constant state of change, moving from house to house, trailer to trailer, fourteen times in as many years. As an openly gay teenager, she grappled with the tension between her sexuality and her faith when her pastor publicly refused to baptize her on the day of the ceremony. "Broken Horses" is at once an examination of faith and a meditation on the moments and lyrics that have shaped the life of a creative mind, and a brilliant artist.

Journalist Lisa Napoli’s account of the four pioneering NPR women, their deep and enduring friendships, and the trail they blazed to becoming icons: Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Nina Totenberg.
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Built in 1927, Manhattan's Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. Before the hotel’s residents were household names, they were young women arriving with a suitcase and a dream. Sylvia Plath fictionalized her time there in "The Bell Jar", Titanic survivor Molly Brown lived there as well as actresses Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Jaclyn Smith, Phylicia Rashad, and Cybill Shepherd; writers Joan Didion, Diane Johnson, Gael Greene, and Meg Wolitzer; and many more. This is the story of the hotel and the women who occupied it.

In this story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage.
A look at the physiology, biology, and psychology of pregnancy and motherhood, "Like A Mother" explores the emerging science behind the pressing questions women have about everything from miscarriage to complicated labors to postpartum changes, and what’s really happening during nine life-altering months, and why women deserve access to better care, support, and information.
Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them. In her groundbreaking and essential debut "The Three Mothers," scholar Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last book is a curation of her own legacy, tracing the long history of her work for gender equality and a “more perfect Union.”
The pathbreaking investigation into motherhood and womanhood from an influential and enduring feminist voice, now for a new generation. Originally published in 1976, influential poet and feminist Adrienne Rich examines the patriarchic systems and political institutions that define motherhood.

A father and daughter set about laying the foundations for their life together. Using their own special tools, they get to work, building memories to cherish, a home to keep them safe, and love to keep them warm. A rare and enduring story about a parent's boundless love, life's endless opportunities, and all we need to build a together future. The perfect gift for new parents!

Join a mother and daughter on an up-and-down journey that reminds them of what's best about Saturdays: precious time together.
One of the only original board books about gay parents. Showing a toddler spending the day with its mommies, from hide-and-seek to dress-up, then bath time and a kiss goodnight, there's no limit to what a loving family of same-sex parents and their children can do together as the share their loving bond.
In this universal story, a child tests the limits of independence and comfortingly learns that a parent's love is unconditional and everlasting. The lyrical text introduces young readers to a distinctively different culture, while at the same time showing that the special love that exists between parent and child transcends all boundaries of time and place.

This brand new cookbook features 80 stir-fried-saucy, sweet-and-tangy mostly Thai-ish recipes from the mom who taught Chrissy (almost) everything she knows, Pepper Teigen!
If you seek out, celebrate, and obsess over good food but lack the skills and confidence necessary to make it at home, you’ve just won a ticket to a life filled with supreme deliciousness. "Cook This Book" is a new kind of foundational cookbook from Molly Baz, who’s here to teach you absolutely everything she knows and equip you with the tools to become a better, more efficient cook.

A guide to some of the world’s most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain who saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His life of experience is collected into this travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of Bourdain's favorite places—in his own words. A handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family supplement Bourdain's words, telling even deeper stories about a place.

The debut cookbook from the popular New York Times website and mobile app "NYT Cooking", featuring 100 vividly photographed no-recipe recipes to make weeknight cooking more inspired and delicious.