Some Reading for Mother's Day

Today is Mother’s Day so I thought I’d highlight a short story anthology entitled Mothers and Daughters edited by Alberto Manguel.    The 20 stories explore the mother-daughter connection.  Some authors featured are Daphne du Maurier, Louise Erdrich, Katherine Mansfield, Carson McCullers, and Edith Wharton. 

 In "Mama," Dorothy Allison reflects on her mother's life by remembering the physical details of her mother's body and comparing them to her own: "Nothing marks me so much her daughter as my hands--the way they are aging, the veins coming up through skin already thin. I tell myself they are beautiful as they recreate my mama's flesh in mine."

Sara Jeannette Duncan's "A Mother in India" questions the biological bond between mother and daughter.

In "Lolita," Dorothy Parker turns her eye to a social butterfly mother and her drab, shapeless daughter who ends up winning the chisel-jawed heartthrob.

In Bonnie Burchard's "Women of Influence" a grown daughter becomes the go-between for two sisters--her dying mother and her dying aunt: "I realize I have not been asked to bring my mother's forgiveness here. Or have I? Is my mother counting on me to pass it on or to live with it? I don't want her compromised"  (https://www.amazon.ca/Mothers-Daughters-ALBERTO-MANGUEL/dp/1551921278/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462302466&sr=1-1&keywords=mothers+and+daughters+alberto+manguel).

Also in honour of the day, I thought I’d share an article from The Guardian.  It features writers’ reflections on photographs of their mothers before they were born.  Some of the writers included are Jeanette Winterson, Julian Barnes, and Penelope Lively:  http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/05/writers-mothers-photographs-carol-ann-duffy?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks.