Jenny Offill
TLR contributor and amazing writer Jenny Offill was kind enough to compile a list of essential reading that brings mothers and literature together. Give Mom a great read on May 8th to show her how grateful you are, and have a Happy Mother’s Day!
The Collected Stories of Grace Paley
Taking Care by Joy Williams
Getting a Life by Helen Simpson
Grace Paley
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk, and more importantly her amazing memoir, A Life’s Work
Ghosts by Eva Figes
Because I Was Flesh by Edward Dahlberg
Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath
Baby and Other Stories by Paula Bomer
(Minna Proctor reviews Baby and Other Stories)
Women Writers at Work: Paris Review Interviews
Rachel Cusk
Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson
My Happy Life by Lydia Millet
The Complete Essays of Montaigne
Key Short Stories
“To Room Nineteen” by Doris Lessing
“The Lover” by Joy Williams
“People Like That Are the Only People Here” by Lorrie Moore
Michel de Montaigne
“The Used Boy Raisers” by Grace Paley
More by Jenny Offill:
Last Things
17 Things I’m Not Allowed To Do Anymore
Read the essay that started the Motherhood and literature conversation on Moistworks.
Also see Jenny’s interview with Ceridwen Morris on Literature and Motherhood, Terrible, Horrible, Wonderful Mothers!