Three Books for a More Honest View of Mother

Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson, author of one of the most wonderful novels of all time, The Haunting of Hill House, and of the short story The Lottery, also wrote two charming autobiographical (自传的) novels about raising her four children in a farmhouse in rural Vermont. In my favorite, Life Among the Savages, Jackson’s humor is as smart as her horror is scaring and her children seem never to inspire in her anything worse than a fond anger.

A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, Amy Bloom

A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You contains one of the most absolute expressions of a mother’s love in fiction. Much of it takes place in the waiting room of a gender-reassignment surgeon. It’s about a woman who is determined to be the mother her child needs her to be. In this book, ordinary women rise to the occasion demanded by motherhood. They make mistakes but they generally succeed in making up for them.

Family Man, Calvin Trillin

My last recommendation is not about mothers at all, but rather about fathers, or rather one father in particular. In Family Man, Calvin Trillin writes about his wife and daughters. He gives what I think is the most useful piece of parenting advice: “Getting advice on the best way to bring up children is like getting advice on the best way to breathe. Sooner or later you’re probably going to forget it and go back to your regular old in-and-out.” Trillin gives the impression of being the best kind of husband.

Never overlook the pleasure of reading a great work of fiction. 【小题1】 Men who read it develop their minds by not only educating themselves with new information but also learning how to think. Reading works of fiction makes a better man.

【小题2】 Reading literary fiction develops our vocabulary, strengthens our speech, and makes us a better writer. Literary fiction, rather than easy-to-read fiction, has the potential to expand our vocabulary because while it exposes us to new thoughts and ideas, it does so through plenty of grammatical styles, forms of wording and undiscovered words.

Fiction is culture. 【小题3】 Reading reveals different cultures and attitudes from a variety of people from various time periods and places. Each great work of fiction is beautiful and an important piece of culture that shapes the different cultures which treasure it.

Fiction develops our theory of mind. 【小题4】 A developed theory of mind allows a person to interact socially and use their cognitive abilities to read thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Studies have found that works of literary fiction can impact our theory of mind so that we may guess motives and thoughts in social situations based on experiences gained from fiction.

When we read literature, we’ll learn things about the world, others and ourselves. 【小题5】

Now that it's spring, you can take your reading from cozy couches and day beds to balconies, gardens, and anywhere the glorious natural light is going to touch. Here are some books that are just as illuminating as that spring sunshine.

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

$17.70（34% off）

Gingerbread men, gingerbread houses—when you think about it, this sweet treat is more popular in fable and fiction than you might expect. The magic of fairy tales plays a part in this novel about the myth- building that takes place in families, from the author of What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours.

The New Me by Halle Butler

$11.00（31% off）

Wake up, look in the mirror, swear it will all be different today. Sound familiar? Here's that feeling in novel form：Meet Millie, a 30-year-old flailing around in dissatisfaction. A job offer seems promising? Reinvention—but, sadly, easy transformations are for caterpillars, not lonely, anxiety-ridden women.

The White Card by Claudia Rankine

$11.00（31% off）

Mac Arthur Fellow Claudia Rankine follows up her award-winning 2014 poetry book Citizen with a play. Charlotte Cummings, a black artist, has a conversation with the family of a white art dealer, and a collector. As they discuss works of art, the differences between how each values art become apparent, especially when the subject of it is black suffering.

Invisible Women by Caroline Perez

$17.70（34% off）

You know, chest and arm pain, faint and sweating abnormally. But guess what? Those are typically experienced by men—a woman having a heart attack is more likely to feel tired and an unexpected stomach pain. Feeling unbalanced from the built-in prejudices all around us is common, and a corrective like Perez's book is welcome.