The Best Books for Every Type of Mom

The title essay of this 20-year essay collection from novelist and journalist Rachel Kushner recalls her undeniably cool and rather hard-partying youth: Other topics touched on include art, literature, and motorcycle racing.

If you’re worried she’s already read all the good historical fiction, try this nonfiction breakdown of life in Elizabethan England that’s one of Grammy-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens’s favorite books. “It’s by this woman who’s done a lot of living-history stuff, so she breaks down what it was like to live in Elizabethan England,” Giddens says. “Like, what did they wear? What did they eat? Did they take baths? It’s really interesting.”

Unfortunately the paperback version of this book won’t arrive on time for Christmas, but it’s still available instantly on Kindle.

One of Vulture’s best horror books of 2022; writer Emily Hughes calls this suspenseful haunted-house tale “a classic historical gothic novel, impeccably executed.”

Namwali Serpell’s second novel unfurls around the death of young protagonist C’s younger brother, Wayne. “What seems like a simple premise quickly becomes dark and twisted through the author’s expert use of repetition: Every few chapters, the book resets and C is forced to watch Wayne die yet again,” explains Vulture’s Mary Retta, who says this is one of 2022’s best books.

One of Vulture’s best comedy books of 2022, The World’s Worst Assistant is a memoir by Conan O’Brien’s personal assistant, Sona Movsesian, who your mom may be familiar with from O’Brien’s beloved podcast. Mainly focusing on the years the author spent backstage at Conan and The Tonight Show, it’s both funny and full of oddly life-affirming anecdotes.

“When I first read Eudora Welty’s The Golden Apples, I was a teenager in mid-1950s North Carolina,” says Anne Tyler, author of Redhead by the Side of the Road. “The linked stories about the inhabitants of a small town in Mississippi made me feel right at home; I recognized these people, and none of them surprised me.”

Every Strategist staffer who has read Gabrielle Zevin’s latest has loved it. While the plot summary doesn’t at first glance sound especially mom-worthy — it’s technically about indie video-game development in 1990s Boston and L.A. — we think she’ll be hooked, especially if she lives for a love triangle or has enjoyed campus novels in the past.

This popular book will no longer ship on time for Christmas due to stock issues, but is still available instantly on Kindle.

Any Samantha Irby essay collection is guaranteed to entertain, and this one in particular is a favorite of actor and writer Amber Tamblyn. Irby, as she says, “is one of our country’s most fierce and foulmouthed authors, whose literary takes on sex, family, and the body are unique in their comedic resonance and full gut-punch power.”

Or here’s a humorous essay collection by one of the original masters, Nora Ephron. Any of Ephron’s books would make a great mom gift, but Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones and the Six, recommends her most candid (and final) published work, I Remember Nothing, as a “great place to start” if your mom hasn’t read her before.

Station Eleven author Emily St. John Mandel takes speculative fiction to new heights in her latest book, which takes place both on early 20th-century Earth and a moon colony established 500 years later.

A bright and cheerful artist-inspired dinner-party guide that throws out the rulebooks penned by Martha Stewart et al.

Whether she’s a lifelong vegetarian or experimenting with meat-free Mondays, she’ll find it easy and fun to work her way through these simple yet flavorful Asian-inspired recipes for noodles, dumplings, and more.

Strategist writer Lauren Ro recommends this book by gardener David Culp which offers an overview of “how to plant for climate and aesthetics” to create “a garden that’s dynamic in every season.”

A blend of memoir, art, and critical theory that’s optimistic about the feminist revolution, this unusual manifesto is one of our favorite Black coffee-table books.

According to Janifer P. Wilson, founder of Sisters Uptown in New York City, this book is about “ultimate Renaissance woman” Madam C.J. Walker, the first female self-made millionaire in America, whose story “is a testament to the resilience, the wonder, and the power in each of us.”

New York Magazine’s biography of the bartender turned politician shaking up Washington and her own political party draws on hundreds of interviews exploring her early life, historic election, and career thus far.

Shopping for an avid reader is hard. Rather than guess at what novel she has and hasn’t already got on her shelf, here’s a book about the pursuit of reading itself: specifically Tolstoy’s most famous tome.

Rebecca Solnit’s profound history of walking will appeal to any mom who’d rather leave her car in the garage and engage with the world on foot.

“Celebrity memoirs by women are often stealth accounts of the challenges of being a working mother, or a straight woman who earns more than her male partner,” Sharon Marcus, professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, tells us. “Dear Girls offers plenty of insights on both fronts.” It’s also very funny.

The 33 ⅓ book series sees music writers reflect on landmark albums from past and recent decades. This reappraisal of Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville will please any Gen-X rock mom.

“Everyone needs to read” this book about sanitation rights in rural Alabama, says Arielle V. King, a student and environmental-justice advocate. “Catherine is just brilliant.”

This unusual book of sewing projects encourages readers to patch up ripped and stained clothes in creative ways. It’ll appeal to moms who can’t quite get on board with fast fashion.

As on-the-nose as this mom book recommendation might be, we do think she’ll enjoy it. Jenny Offill called this memoir about Cusk’s entrée into motherhood “a secret handshake among new mothers.” And Polly Rosenwaike, author of Look How Happy I’m Making You, says it’s “an antidote to all the sentimentalities about what it means to become a mother.”