Genres

Parenthood

Lists

Dr Daniel Siegel Collection 3 Books Set by Dr Daniel Siegel

The Meat and Potatoes of Life by Lisa Smith Molinari

If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother by Julia Sweeney

Comedy For Mom

28 books — 10 voters

Waking Up With the Duke by Lorraine Heath

Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Bargain for Heir/Baby

21 books — 16 voters

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Novels about Motherhood

393 books — 211 voters

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse

Picture Books About Mothers

273 books — 45 voters

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Dining Out Around the Solar System by Clare O'Beara

SF Pregnancy

45 books — 8 voters

Dem Boyz From Da Bottom by Diamond D. Johnson

Brokenhearted Girl by Diamond D. Johnson

'Single black parents'

59 books — 2 voters

Featured News & Interviews

Discover a New Author with These 47 Fall Debut Novels

Read »

“ ...my father, [was] a mid-level phonecompany manager who treated my mother at best like an incompetent employee. At worst? He never beat her, but his pure, inarticulate fury would fill the house for days, weeks, at a time, making the air humid, hard to breathe, my father stalking around with his lower jaw jutting out, giving him the look of a wounded, vengeful boxer, grinding his teeth so loud you could hear it across the room ... I'm sure he told himself: 'I never hit her'. I'm sure because of ...more ”
― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

86 likes

“ Youth was the time for happiness, its only season; young people, leading a lazy, carefree life, partially occupied by scarcely absorbing studies, were able to devote themselves unlimitedly to the liberated exultation of their bodies. They could play, dance, love, and multiply their pleasures. They could leave a party, in the early hours of the morning, in the company of sexual partners they had chosen, and contemplate the dreary line of employees going to work. They were the salt of the earth, a Youth was the time for happiness, its only season; young people, leading a lazy, carefree life, partially occupied by scarcely absorbing studies, were able to devote themselves unlimitedly to the liberated exultation of their bodies. They could play, dance, love, and multiply their pleasures. They could leave a party, in the early hours of the morning, in the company of sexual partners they had chosen, and contemplate the dreary line of employees going to work. They were the salt of the earth, and everything was given to them, everything was permitted for them, everything was possible. Later on, having started a family, having entered the adult world, they would be introduced to worry, work, responsibility, and the difficulties of existence; they would have to pay taxes, submit themselves to administrative formalities while ceaselessly bearing witness--powerless and shame-filled--to the irreversible degradation of their own bodies, which would be slow at first, then increasingly rapid; above all, they would have to look after children, mortal enemies, in their own homes, they would have to pamper them, feed them, worry about their illnesses, provide the means for their education and their pleasure, and unlike in the world of animals, this would last not just for a season, they would remain slaves of their offspring always, the time of joy was well and truly over for them, they would have to continue to suffer until the end, in pain and with increasing health problems, until they were no longer good for anything and were definitively thrown into the rubbish heap, cumbersome and useless. In return, their children would not be at all grateful, on the contrary their efforts, however strenuous, would never be considered enough, they would, until the bitter end, be considered guilty because of the simple fact of being parents. From this sad life, marked by shame, all joy would be pitilessly banished. When they wanted to draw near to young people's bodies, they would be chased away, rejected, ridiculed, insulted, and, more and more often nowadays, imprisoned. The physical bodies of young people, the only desirable possession the world has ever produced, were reserved for the exclusive use of the young, and the fate of the old was to work and to suffer. This was the true meaning of solidarity between generations; it was a pure and simple holocaust of each generation in favor of the one that replaced it, a cruel, prolonged holocaust that brought with it no consolation, no comfort, nor any material or emotional compensation. ...more ”
― Michel Houellebecq, The Possibility of an Island

119 likes

More quotes...