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Books Mom Will Love 2017

Mother's Day

Books Mom Will Love 2017

Mother’s Day is a time to recognize the woman who raised and nurtured us. To celebrate, we gave you the opportunity to win books and goodies for you or the special lady in your life in our 12th annual "Books Mom Will Love" contest. Scroll down to see the five winners!

 

This year's featured titles are:

  • BECOMING BONNIE by Jenni L. Walsh
  • BEFORE WE VISIT THE GODDESS by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
  • THE DISTANCE HOME by Orly Konig
  • DRIVING MISS NORMA: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living, by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle
  • FOOD, HEALTH, AND HAPPINESS: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life, by Oprah Winfrey
  • THE HONEYMOON by Dinitia Smith
  • INHERITANCE FROM MOTHER by Minae Mizumura
  • JACKIE'S GIRL: My Life with the Kennedy Family, by Kathy McKeon
  • LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly
  • THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah
  • ON TURPENTINE LANE by Elinor Lipman
  • THE THINGS YOU CAN SEE ONLY WHEN YOU SLOW DOWN: How to Be Calm and Mindful in a Fast-Paced World, written by Haemin Sunim, illustrated by Youngcheol Lee
  • WHITE SAND, BLUE SEA: A St. Barts Love Story, by Anita Hughes

Winners

Bonnie from Sherrill, NY
Cindy from Naperville, IL
Jenna from North Potomac, MD
Marcia from Omaha, NE
Susan from Cape Coral, FL
 
Becoming Bonnie by Jenni L. Walsh - Historical Fiction

The summer of 1927 might be the height of the Roaring Twenties, but Bonnelyn Parker is more likely to belt out a church hymn than sling drinks at an illicit juice joint. However, when her boyfriend, Roy Thornton, springs a marriage proposal on her, and financial woes jeopardize her ambitions, Bonnelyn finds salvation in an unlikely place: Dallas's newest speakeasy, Doc's. When Roy discovers her secret life, he embraces it --- perhaps too much, especially when it comes to booze and gambling. Maybe Bonnie can have it all: the American Dream, the husband, and the intoxicating allure of jazz music. But her life --- like her country --- is headed for a crash. Bonnie Parker is about to meet Clyde Barrow.

Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - Fiction


As the young daughter of a poor rural baker, Sabitri yearns to get an education, but schooling is impossible on the meager profits from her mother’s sweetshop. When a powerful local woman takes Sabitri under her wing, her generous offer soon proves dangerous after Sabitri makes a single, unforgivable misstep. Years later, Sabitri’s own daughter, Bela, haunted by her mother’s choices, flees to America with her political refugee lover --- but the world she finds is vastly different from her dreams. As the marriage crumbles and Bela decides to forge her own path, she unwittingly teaches her little girl, Tara, indelible lessons about freedom and loyalty that will take a lifetime to unravel.

The Distance Home by Orly Konig - Fiction

Sixteen years ago, a tragic accident cost Emma Metz her two best friends --- one human and one equine. Now, following her father’s death, Emma has reluctantly returned to the Maryland hometown she’d left under a cloud of guilt and uncovers a history of lies tying her broken family to the one place she thought she could never return --- her girlhood sanctuary, Jumping Frog Farm. She finds herself drawn back to the stable after all these years, but is having a hard time winning forgiveness from her former friend, Jillian. To exorcise the past, Emma will have to release her guilt, embrace an uncertain future, and trust again in the healing power of horses.

Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle - Memoir


When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Miss Norma --- newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage --- rose to her full height of five feet and told the doctor, “I’m ninety years old. I’m hitting the road.” And so Miss Norma took off on an unforgettable around-the-country journey in a 36-foot motor home with her retired son Tim, his wife Ramie, and their dog Ringo. With each passing mile (and one educational visit to a cannabis dispensary), Miss Norma’s health improves and conversations that had once been taboo begin to unfold.

Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life by Oprah Winfrey - Cookbook


Oprah Winfrey will be the first to tell you that she has had a complicated relationship with food. It’s been both a source of delight and comfort for her, but also the cause of an ongoing struggle with her weight. In FOOD, HEALTH, AND HAPPINESS, Oprah shares the recipes that have allowed eating to finally be joyful for her. With dishes created and prepared alongside her favorite chefs, paired with personal essays and memories from Oprah herself, this cookbook offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look into the life (and kitchen!) of one of the most influential and respected celebrities in the world.

The Honeymoon by Dinitia Smith - Historical Fiction


Dinitia Smith’s novel recounts George Eliot’s honeymoon in Venice following her marriage to a handsome young man 20 years her junior. When she agreed to marry John Walter Cross, Eliot was recovering from the death of George Henry Lewes, her beloved companion of 26 years. Eliot was bereft: left at the age of 60 to contemplate profound questions about her physical decline, her fading appeal and the prospect of loneliness. In her youth, Mary Ann Evans --- who would later be known as George Eliot --- was a country girl, considered too plain to marry, so she educated herself in order to secure a livelihood.

Inheritance from Mother by Minae Mizumura - Fiction


Mitsuki Katsura, a Japanese woman in her mid-50s, is a French-language instructor at a private university in Tokyo. Her husband, whom she met in Paris, is a professor at another private university. He is having an affair with a much younger woman. In addition to her husband's infidelity, Mitsuki must deal with her ailing 80-something mother, a demanding, self-absorbed woman who is far from the image of the patient, self-sacrificing Japanese matriarch. Mitsuki finds herself guiltily dreaming of the day when her mother will finally pass on. While doing everything she can to ensure her mother's happiness, she grows weary of the responsibilities of being a doting daughter and worries she is sacrificing her chance to find fulfillment in her middle age.

Jackie's Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family by Kathy McKeon - Memoir


In 1964, Kathy McKeon was just 19 years old and newly arrived from Ireland when she was hired as the personal assistant to former first lady Jackie Kennedy. The next 13 years of her life were spent in Jackie's service, during which Kathy not only played a crucial role in raising young Caroline and John Jr., but also had a front-row seat to some of the 20th century’s most significant events. Because Kathy was always at Jackie’s side, Rose Kennedy deemed her “Jackie’s girl.” And although Kathy called Jackie “Madam,” she considered her employer more like a big sister. Kathy was there during Jackie and Aristotle Onassis’ courtship and marriage and Robert Kennedy’s assassination, dutifully supporting Jackie and the children during these tumultuous times in history.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly - Historical Fiction


New York socialite Caroline Ferriday's world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939 --- and then sets its sights on France. Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power. The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - Historical Fiction


France, 1939. In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. As danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive. Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old girl. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

On Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman - Romantic Comedy


At 32, Faith Frankel has returned to her claustro-suburban hometown, where she writes institutional thank-you notes for her alma mater. It's a peaceful life, and surely with her recent purchase of a sweet bungalow on Turpentine Lane, her life is finally on track. Never mind that her fiancé is off on a crowdfunded cross-country walk, too busy to return her texts (but not too busy to post photos of himself with a different woman in every state). And never mind her witless boss, or a mother who lives too close, or a philandering father who thinks he's Chagall. When she finds some mysterious artifacts in the attic of her new home, she wonders whether anything in her life is as it seems.

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm and Mindful in a Fast-Paced World written by Haemin Sunim, illustrated by Youngcheol Lee, translated by Chi-Young Kim and Haemin Sunim - Spiritual Growth


By offering guideposts to well-being and happiness in eight areas --- including relationships, love and spirituality --- Haemin Sunim emphasizes the importance of forging a deeper connection with others and being compassionate and forgiving toward ourselves. The more than 20 full-color illustrations that accompany his teachings serve as calming visual interludes, encouraging us to notice that when you slow down, the world slows down with you.

White Sand, Blue Sea: A St. Barts Love Story by Anita Hughes - Fiction

Olivia Miller is in St. Barts, where she's been coming with her family every April for years. This trip should be particularly exciting because she is celebrating her 25th birthday and hoping that Finn, her boyfriend of four years, will propose. The only person who won't be here is her father, Sebastian, who she hasn't seen in 20 years. When he unexpectedly walks through the door and back into Olivia's life, however, she starts wondering if her world is too narrow. She questions the dreams and the relationship she's always thought she wanted. But there seems to be more to the story than an innocent fatherly visit, and Olivia must decide if love is more important than truth.