Recommended Reading
Women's Issues
MOTHERHOOD
BREEDER: REAL-LIFE STORIES FROM THE NEW GENERATION OF MOTHERS by Ariel Gore & Bee Lavender
BUDDISM FOR MOTHERS - by Sarah Naptahali
A collection of stories by young mums who are trying to balance mothering with the rest of their lives, while facing negative perceptions, financial difficulties and dealing with others advice/criticism. Topics discussed include breastfeeding, homebirth, fathers, racial issues, school, young mothers making peace with their own mothers and much more.
Parenthood can be a time of great inner turmoil for a woman, yet parenting books invariably focus on nurturing children rather than the mothers who struggle to raise them. This book is different – it is for Mothers. It explores the potential to be with your children in the all-important present moment, to gain the most joy out of being with them.
MOTHER AND CHILD: THE SECRET WISDOM OF PREGNANCY, BIRTH & MOTHERHOOD by Deborah Jackson
Deborah Jackson brings together timeless insights and practices of motherhood from different cultures around the world. 'Mother and Child' shows how a body of inherited knowledge, from Native America and Aboriginal Australia to the Middle East and Europe, can inspire and instruct mothers (and fathers) today. This is brimming treasure chest of mothers' lore.
MOTHERS AND MOTHERHOOD: READINGS IN AMERICAN HISTORY by Rima Apple & Janet Golden
Using women's writing, film, feminist theory and personal experience, contributors explore how the mother-daughter relationship is represented and experienced as a site of empowerment. This volume will offer readers an important and welcome chapter in the story of the complex relationship that is a part of nearly every woman's life.
MOTHERS AND SONS by Andrea O'Reilly
This collection of essays covers neglected topics such as feminism, sexism, masculinity, homophobia and racism. Contributors write from their experiences as mothers and explore how the institution of motherhood can, in their opinion, oppress women, impede mother-son identification, and foster sexism. The impact of the feminist movement on the mother-son relationship is explored in depth here.
MOTHER TRIP: HIP MAMA'S GUIDE TO STAYING SANE IN THE CHAOS OF MOTHERHOOD by Ariel Gore
An upbeat, liberating book with empowering meditations and anecdotes to encourage mothers to look after themselves.
NAKED MOTHERHOOD by Wendy LeBlanc
A mother herself and an academic, Wendy LeBlanc explores and discusses how other women cope with the extraordinary transformation that takes place when a woman becomes a mother.
TAO OF MOTHERHOOD by Vimala McClure
THE BIRTH OF A MOTHER - HOW MOTHERHOOD CHANGES YOU FOREVER by Daniel Stern et al
Very little has been written about the unique inner experience of a mother and how the deep emotional and psychological changes of motherhood emerge. In this book, Stern asks how it feels to experience this transformation, follows the different phases of its development and charts its profound effect on every aspect of a woman's existence.
THE MASK OF MOTHERHOOD by Susan Maushart
Subtitled "How mothering changes everything and why we pretend it doesn't", this book offers comfort to new mothers experiencing the fears, frustrations and confusions of early motherhood. Reassures woman that these feelings are not evidence of personal failure but rather the experience of a job that involves a host of unworkable structures, extravagant expectations and conflicting demands.
THE MOTHER DANCE: HOW CHILDREN CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Harriet Lerner
Harriet Lerner is a psychologist with a special interest in women and family relationships. In this book, she writes from her dual perspective as a psychologist and a mother, and brings us deeply personal tales that run the gamut from the hilarious to the heart-wrenching. From birth or adoption to the empty nest, here is a gloriously witty and moving book about what it means to dance the mother dance.
THE MOTHER KNOT by Jane Lazarre
Hilary Lerner writes from her dual perspective as a psychologist and a mother, and brings us deeply personal tales that run the gamut from the hilarious to the heart-wrenching.
WOMANHOOD
BIG PURPLE UNDIES by Suzanne Kelman & Louise Kelman
This is a collection of 14 funny poems that reflect and capture the comedy of being a woman, wife and mother. It's written by two sisters, and illustrated by Penny Baker. Most of the poems are true stories.
GOOD HARBOR by Anita Diamant
The author of the bestseller "The Red Tent" again writes about the secret lives of women, with a contemporary novel that reaffirms her remarkable gifts as a natural storyteller.
THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant
Anita Diamant tells the little-known story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and his wife Leah. She conjures an imaginative story from the fresh perspective of the women. The author changes Dinah from someone about whom little is said in the Book of Genesis, to the narrator of this fascinating story which reveals the life of ancient womanhood - the world of the red tent.
THE WOMAN'S RETREAT BOOK by Jennifer Louden
A guide to restoring, rediscovering and reawakening your true self - in a moment, an hour, a day or weekend. A practical and inspirational handbook that walks you step-by-step through planning and savouring a self-led retreat.
WIFEWORK.. by Susan Maushart
Maushart, who also wrote The Mask of Motherhood, argues that high divorce rates (mostly initiated by women) are evidence of women's disillusionment with 'wifework'. This is Maushart's term for 'husband maintenance', all the work women do to keep their marriage going, the family fed, the house clean and the husband happy. She argues for making marriage more equitable and outlines the effects inequitable marriage have on women, men and children.
WOMAN:AN INTIMATE GEOGRAPHY by Natalie Angier
This book is a celebration of the female body - its anatomy, its chemistry, its evolution and its laughter. Award winning author, Natalie Angier, explores the essence of what it means to be female.
OUR BODIES, OUR BABIES: THE FORGOTTEN WOMEN'S MOVEMENT by Kerreen Reiger
Kerreen Reiger traces the struggle of Australian women and others to change approaches to childbirth, to claim their right to choices in childbirth and to educate themselves about birth and breastfeeding. She explores the movement which radically changed our maternity care practices, allowing fathers to participate in the birth of their children and babies to 'room in' with their mothers. Reiger draws on interviews with women and doctors, and on archival material from relevant women's organisations to show how the childbirth and breastfeeding movements are relevant to feminism and women's rights.
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