Synopses & Reviews
From the editors of Salon.com's cutting edge Web site, "Mothers Who Think," comes "an anthology of smart and lovely essays"
(Chicago Sun Times) -- provacative collection that challenges and changes our views of motherhood today.
Anne Lamott, Jayne Anne Phillips, Sallie Tisdale, Susan Straight, Jane Lazarre, Nora Okja Keller, Beth Kephart, Ariel Gore, Alex Witchel, and many other contemporary writers elevate the discussion of motherhood above the level of tantrum control and potty training. Irreverent, wistful, hilarious, fierce, and tender, these essays offer an unsparing look at the myths and realities, the serious and silly sides, the thankless and supremely satisfying aspects of being a mom -- and are a testament to the notion that motherhood gives women more to think about, not less.
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Miami Herald This book is a lot like motherhood itself full of joy, trauma, insanity, hard work, exhaustion, and more than a few good laughs.
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Austin Chronicle (TX) A must-read for anyone contemplating motherhood and a bible for all of us whose lives have been warped, splendored, and expanded by our dear little ones.
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Miami Herald This book is a lot like motherhood itself full of joy, trauma, insanity, hard work, exhaustion, and more than a few good laughs.
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Los Angeles Times [These] essays...are not so much issues as personal truths, spun out with equal parts observation, honesty, and good humor. They are sad, and funny, and poignant, and real.
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Ms. Magazine Finally, we who share the joy and the fury can share a book that embraces both and, unlike any other book on the subject, invites us to honor ourselves for simply doing the best we can.
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Mirabella Full of dames both besotted and fed up...Essays by these mothers who think deal with the sweet, the sour, and the unthinkable.
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Minnesota Parent Here, at last, is a parenting book for those of us who have made the desperate search for some literature (any literature!) that reflects our own intense, horrific, hilarious, joyful, maddening, bewildering, sublime experiences as mothers.
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New York Newsday Motherhood, apple pie, angst. This book offers proof that good parenting exists on many levels...Reflective and crisply written.
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Chicago Tribune Wistful, tender, hilarious...will move you the way only good writing can.
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Elizabeth Taylor, literary editor Chicago Tribune Trade the parenthood guides in for this collection of provocative essays. I read most of them late at night on Salon, the Internet magazine, and revisited, they come alive again. The sheer intelligence and range of these mothers, from Jayne Anne Phillips to Sallie Tisdale and Alex Witchel, enlarge the world of motherhood.
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The Bellingham Herald (WA) Most popular press articles on the joys and tribulations of mothering are mildly insulting. Good friends may share true feelings with you, but not the press. [The web site] "Mothers Who Think" is where you go when you realize you've been duped...Heartfelt, exuberant essays...Funny, straight-talking...
Description
Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood, which grew out of Salon's popular daily department of the same name, comprises nearly forty essays by writers grappling with the new and compelling ideas that motherhood has dangled before them. Elevating the discussion of motherhood above the level of tantrum control and potty training, this collection covers an unparalleled range of topics, from the impossibility of loving your children equally to raising a son without a father, from worrying that your privileged black child is becoming too "white" to the free-floating anger most mothers feel but wouldn't dare admit except to other mothers. The intelligent, candid essays in
Mothers Who Think are a testament to the notion that motherhood gives women more to think about, not less.
Coeditors Camille Peri and Kate Moses have assembled the best writing from the website's first two years, including works by "Mothers Who Think" regulars Anne Lamott, Chitra Divakaruni, Susie Bright, and Stephanie Coontz; eloquent new essays by Jayne Anne Phillips, Sallie Tisdale, Susan Straight, Jane Lazarre, Nora Okja Keller, Beth Kephart, Ariel Gore, and Alex Witchel; and more than a dozen un-forgettable new voices.
Irreverent, wistful, hilarious, fierce, tender, these essays offer an unsparing look at the myths and realities, serious and silly sides, and thankless and supremely satisfying aspects of being a mother.
About the Author
Camille Peri is the editor of "Mothers Who Think," the most popular feature in the online magazine Salon.com. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Parenting, Lear's, and Savvy.
Table of Contents
CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD / ANNE LAMOTT