100 Books Like When Life Gives You Pears

Reading this book made me a better mom almost overnight! It impacted me and changed the way I approach my relationship with my kids more than I thought was possible.

I’m a mom of five kids and a pretty darn good one, but this book took parenthood to the next level for me. I wish I had read it years ago! Now I can hardly imagine parenting without this insightful, informative, inspiring, book. 

This is the most impactful book on motherhood I’ve ever read. It is filled with compelling data supporting what most people already know: Moms are important to their children. The book opened my eyes to WHY mothers are crucial to the early cognitive, emotional, and social development of their babies and how a mother’s impact can last a lifetime.

Erica Komisar is a rockstar in her field with over 25 years in private practice and has a wealth of wisdom to share about the most important job in the world: Mom. I think this is an ideal baby shower gift, but even old moms can benefit from reading it. In my opinion, no mom should face motherhood without this book in her back pocket! 

I absolutely love this book! I knew the story of Maria von Trapp from The Sound of Music, but reading Maria’s experiences in her own words was compelling beyond anything I expected.

Although not everything in the movie is true, the vast majority of it IS true, and what we get in the movie is only half the story! There’s so much grit and goodness in this remarkable book. Above everything else, it is the story of a woman who didn’t expect to be a mother but became one of the best mothers the world has ever known.

I walked away from this book feeling absolutely inspired to be as good a mom as Maria von Trapp. If she could do it, so could I! If you’re looking for an incredible true story, whether you’re a mom or not, this is it. 

This book ripped my heart to pieces and somehow put it back together better than it was before. It profoundly changed my outlook on motherhood and freedom and showed me how those two things are intimately connected.

This true story of one woman, her husband, and their unthinkable life in China is riveting, chilling, hopeful, and tender. I cried, and then I cried some more. Copies of this book can be difficult to find; I’m so glad I found one. 

I’d like to thank this humorist for making brain surgery fascinating and bizarrely funny.

I couldn’t put it down. I was fascinated with how incredibly dark and awful it was, and yet he made me laugh. 

Normally, I could never read intense, graphic, bloody descriptions of early, risky, experimental brain surgery in the 1930s, when it was a frighteningly new technology. However, the author under the knife was one of the most sarcastic humorists of his time, so the resulting memoir is riveting, thrilling, shocking, horrifying, compelling, and weirdly humorous all the way along. I discovered there are no nerves inside the brain, and you have to be awake during brain surgery.

This writer recorded every scrape, every sound, everything. It is totally horrific, completely amazing, and highly recommended. 

In my work in the world of mental health and trauma, anxiety is a common complaint. I love the positive (and scientifically accurate) portrayal of the function of anxiety in this whimsically illustrated book. “Sometimes your brain works so hard to protect you, it hits the panic button by mistake.” With this strengths-based framework woven into every page, Hey Awesome teaches kids how to be the boss of their brilliant and brave brains. A must-read for all children, and a lifeline for those who struggle with anxiety. And remember, “anxiety and courage always happen together.”

I could relate to Abby’s struggles of living with epilepsy and how her family was impacted by her seizures.

I liked that Abby explained what she felt before she had a seizure, the emotional toll her epilepsy took on her, and how her seizures impacted her everyday life. I liked that Abby explained how she dealt with having seizures in high school and college. I enjoyed reading about her determination to earn a college degree despite having seizures.

I found her story to be inspirational and one that I could relate to since we both have experience with having epilepsy.

Through reading this book, I learned some practical things people with epilepsy can do that might decrease their seizure frequency.

I appreciated that the author emphasizes the importance of people with epilepsy taking control of their lives and being engaged in doing what they can to prevent seizures. This book was written from the perspective of a person with epilepsy, Andrienne Richards, and a doctor, Joel Reiter, which helped me understand epilepsy from two different perspectives. I liked learning about what various treatments there are for epilepsy aside from prescription medication.

I liked learning about the different types of epilepsy and the terminology pertaining to epilepsy. I enjoyed learning about different forms of treatment for epilepsy, such as vagus nerve stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, and deep brain stimulation. I liked learning about practical ways that people with epilepsy can manage their seizures.

It was refreshing to read a book written by a neurologist that recognizes that the side effects of seizure medications are serious and that the whole person is important when considering what treatment to provide to a person with epilepsy. I liked reading about the medical tests that are used to diagnose people that might have epilepsy and what the results mean. I appreciated reading about how epilepsy and seizure medication impact women.

I enjoyed reading about how a woman’s epilepsy impacted her life and yet she also pursued her dreams.

As a person who has had seizures and has gone through epilepsy brain surgery, I felt her determination and struggles to live each day not knowing if a seizure would happen. I could relate to her motivation and courage to earn a college degree and undergo brain surgery to obtain a better quality of life. While each person’s story is different, Deanna Brady’s story and mine story have some things in common.