Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books with My Mom

Last week, when I saw Carol’s Mother’s Day Post, I thought I should so something like that–and started to come up with ideas for a couple of posts along those lines. Then I remembered I wasn’t supposed to be working on the blog too much right now. So now I was in a quandary–how can I talk about Moms and books without doing any work? (other than making notes in my calendar to try something next year) Then I remembered, “Hey, I have a Mom!” So, I asked her to contribute to this series

My mom doesn’t really have a social media presence, so there’s no online bio for me to rip off here. I guess I’ll settle for this: Among her many accomplishments, this life-long reader was one of the parents who raised two readers (the other one takes a more rational approach to it), and has encouraged it in her grandchildren and great-grandchild.

#1 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I read this first in my late teens—just because—felt like I’d met my personal role model of strength and hope. It was so good that I read everything written by the Brontë sisters. Great literature but none of them met the bar set by Jane Eyre.

#2 Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals

I don’t read much non-fiction but this one had an impact that opened my eyes and heart. It is a memoir written by one of the young women, at age 15, who was among those who integrated Little Rock’s Central High School. She endured hatred, fear, and danger as she sought equality in education in the late 1950s. Another woman of strength and determination and change.

#3 Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

A woman of wisdom, naïveté, industriousness, flaws, and love of people and life. This book is packed with humor and life lessons.

#4. Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn

This woman of advanced years, she too was a woman of wisdom who proved to herself she could take risks her younger self would never have considered. She, too, was naïve, and loved people, and saw through their flaws to find their goodness as she sought justice. This book is full of humor and humans who face life head-on.

#5 The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

(It’s been a while since I read it and I don’t recall very many specifics about it but…)

A book about books. A book about an angry teenage girl and an elderly man who struggled to move on with life after his wife died. A book about their deepening friendship and the expanding circle of unlikely friends. A book about a reading list found on the library floor and the unique, healing impact these books had on their unique individual lives.

It surprised me to find my favorite books were about women, their flaws, and strengths.

Thanks for doing this, Mom, Happy Mother’s Day!

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