100 Books Like What My Mother and I Don't Talk About

I was one of those women who was obsessed with Oprah’s Book Club. She started it in 1996, the same year I started my sophomore year of college. I can’t say that I read every book assigned to me in my classes, but I damn sure as hell read every book Oprah recommended.

White Oleander was picked in May 1999, just a few months before my wedding. I did zero wedding planning the week I read that book. I ignored my soon-to-be husband and called my sisters to demand that they read the book. The story, which follows Astrid (why did my parents name me such a terrible ugly name like Courtney when Astrid was right there?) as she navigates foster care following her mother’s conviction for murder, is compelling. However, I fell in love with the prose and the way Finch describes the people and places in the novel.… show more.

I loved What We Carry for the intricate, nuanced relationship between Maya and her mother.

The woman she thought she knew gradually revealed herself in unexpected ways, leaving Maya—and me—grappling with confusion, longing, and a sense of loss. Witnessing Maya come to terms with her mother’s complexities and her own understanding of what it means to be a mother was both heartbreaking and uplifting.

The book pulled me with its honesty and vulnerability and stayed with me long after the last page. I have re-read this book a couple of times. 

The Part That Burns is not a linear narrative but a memoir in fragments. Each essay or chapter is different, interesting, engaging like scattered pieces of a puzzle that the writer—and reader—are trying to put together.

It's about a childhood wrought with abuse and rejection, about trauma and epigenetics, home and roots. It's about a girl who grows up to become a teenager who becomes a young woman who becomes a wife and a mother and every step of the way, she yearns for what we all yearn for: acceptance and love.

My memoir is as slim and sparse as Ouellette’s and some might consider my chronological story as fragmented because of its tiny chapters and missing connective tissue from one chapter to the next.  

This book is a poignant portrayal of trauma, resilience, and the enduring quest for healing. Trethewey's memoir delves into the deeply personal aftermath of a crime, exploring themes of loss, memory, and the complexities of identity.

Her lyrical prose, emotional depth, and narrative richness resonated with me as I wrote my own true crime memoir, offering readers a profound exploration of the human spirit's capacity to confront tragedy and find moments of grace amidst adversity.

There are two companion board books, one for little ones with two mommies and the other for little ones with two daddies, which are the perfect way for babies and toddlers to see themselves and their families in a book, just doing the ordinary things that parents do with their young children. I love how the love shines through in each illustration.

As a guy with no children, motherhood has always intrigued me.

What does motherhood actually feel like? How does it change you? How to describe the bond between mother and child? I had questions that would be difficult to ask any mother. In this soaring memoir, Clover has answered them all for me. She has a skill to convert the most mundane into life-changing and the routine into extraordinary.

Clover’s style is engaging and intimate. She leaves no stone unturned in this ‘heart on her sleeve’ book about what it really means to be a mother.

I had to shut this book about halfway through, and I couldn't pick it up again until my daughter was safely home from her weekend visitation with her father—because it was too real.

Too powerful, in the way it captured my (and many mothers') constant fear that my ex-husband would find some excuse not to bring my daughter back after each visit.

I've rarely read anything that grabbed me so personally. The overall plot itself was also enthralling, though less directly realistic for me.

Anna and her ex-husband, Brian, seem to have an amiable divorce, and Anna finds new romance with a sexy lover. But then things go too far: Will Anna lose custody of her young daughter, Molly? What did her lover, Leo, actually do? 

Hedge fund manager Kate Reddy is keeping plenty of plates spinning while struggling to maintain her sanity as a mom and make it in “a man’s world.” For some, a day in Kate’s life might be anxiety-inducing (hence the title!), but for those who’ve lived it, it’s maddeningly accurate.

I read this novel before work-life balance became a popular catchphrase, and as much as we may think society has evolved, Kate’s day-to-day is probably still far more relatable than it should be.

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is a fable, and as with all good fables, you’re going to find yourself commiserating with an animal. Sprout is a hen who is past her childbearing years. There is no rooster around. Well, there’s one. But he’s got a partner. Childlessness is an unplanned journey for some, and the book shows the grief that many people in this situation might deal with. Just as we’re feeling there is absolutely no hope for our infertile, partner-less, hen, she ends up becoming a mother. But now another unplanned journey pops up. Well, decisions and sacrifices have to be made. 

There are so many reasons why I like this book. After my son was born, I was suddenly on an unplanned journey. I didn’t expect my son to be sickly and developmentally delayed and even now I still pray for a miracle for him. The… show more.

I love this book because it took me on a surprise adventure through the life of a black boy (and young man) raised in the South. I met Laymon at a writing workshop a few months prior to this book’s release date, and I heard him read an excerpt from it.

I was immediately hooked on his storytelling ability. The language is so authentic to him and his experiences, and he holds nothing back. I love the vulnerability that saturates each page as I follow him through his addictions and struggles. While his life is so different from mine, the idea of finding one’s identity in society could not be more relatable.