In her best-selling graphic novel Fun Home, Alison Bechdel explored her relationship with her father; in Are You My Mother?, she turns her focus to her mother. The psychological intent of this memoir is fascinating. In trying to understand the gulf between mothers and daughters, Bechdel visits with 20th-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, then with Virginia Woolf, then with her current partner, and finally, back to her mother. A wonderful, fun, and smart read.

Anna Quindlen is a best-selling author and a Pulitzer Prize winner. She is also a mother, a wife, a daughter, a friend, and a successful woman with a lot to say about the ups and downs of getting older. Chapter by chapter, she shares her philosophies on motherhood, marriage, friendship, solitude, and faith, weaving them all together into a warm and candid memoir about the changes, the lessons, and the losses we all (women in particular) experience as time goes by.

This is an inspiring story of a young man and his dying mother who form a book club of two that brings them closer as her life draws to an end. Schwalbe and his mom read titles ranging from classic literature to current bestsellers, poetry to mysteries, fantasy to spirituality. As Will recounts their wide-ranging, deeply personal conversations, we hear their passion for reading and their love for each other. They—and we—are reminded how books can be comforting, astonishing, and illuminating, changing the way that we connect with the world around us.

I read this book in one sitting overnight because the thought of putting it down seemed absolutely impossible, and I couldn’t rest until I knew how it ended. Hosseini’s latest work is touching, painful, and exquisitely beautiful. It is about an Afghani family scattered across the globe, the lives they touch, and the bonds between them that last forever. Each chapter is a masterpiece in itself. Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, writes with the certainty and delicacy of one who understands the pain every human suffers, but who still remembers that our lives are filled with beauty. I cannot recommend And the Mountains Echoed highly enough. Don’t miss our event with Hosseini on June 2nd.

Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle) certainly must have pulled from her own unconventional background to so convincingly bring the two intrepid stars of this new novel to life. It is 1970, and 12-year-old Bean and 15-year-old Liz have been left by their artistic, whimsical mother, Charlotte, in a desert town in California. They end up making their way “home” to the Virginia town they were born in but have not seen since. Their Uncle Tinsley and the small Southern town that greet them seem suspended in time, but truly everything is on the edge of social change, with the Vietnam War and racial integration barely at bay. Both Bean and Liz have to grow and shift in their loyalty to themselves and one another, and must make heart-breaking decisions to try to carve a road between their past and future.

I’m a bit obsessed with Cheryl Strayed. Much like Gabrielle Hamilton of Blood Bones and Butter, Strayed is an incredible writer with a strong voice that will blow you away. Wild is an account of Strayed’s 1,000-mile solo trek on the Pacific Crest Trail, undertaken at age 26 following the sudden loss of her mother. Despite the blood and bruises and the terrible things that happened to her toenails, I couldn’t help but root for her with every sentence, and dream about following in her footsteps.

Fans of Maya Angelou will revel in her latest work Mom & Me & Mom as readers get a glimpse behind the phenomenal woman, writer and poet and into the most important years of her development: her earliest childhood experiences. Readers will be able to explore and discover Maya’s unusual and inspirational relationship with her mother, reminding us all of the incredible power of connection that is uniquely forged between mothers and daughters.