Mother/Daughter books suggested by Sue Monk Kidd & Daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor

Mother Picks from Sue Monk Kidd

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
"I took this novel on vacation a few summers ago. I can still remember the beach chair I sat in day after day as I read about the conflicted, loving, and enduring bond between a mother and a daughter. I remember nothing else about the vacation but this sumptuous book."

Paula by Isabel Allende
"At first, I didn't know if I could bear to read this heart-rending memoir, which tells the incandescent story of Allende's journey through her grown daughter's coma and death. But I ended it filled with hope and feeling like I'd been returned to what matters most in life."

One True Thing by Anna Quindlen
"I love this utterly gripping novel about a daughter on a career fast track, who returns home to care for her mother and discovers her as a real person before it's too late."

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
"One of my all-time favorite books about a wise and funny young woman who has managed to escape her poor life in Kentucky without getting pregnant (this being her main goal growing up), and the three-year-old Native American girl she 'inherits' on her road trip. The novel's beauty and brilliance are the deepening way this unlikely pair become mother and daughter."

The Mermaids Singing by Lisa Carey
"This novel is as magical as the title. Narrated in the voices of three generations of women—mother, daughter, and grandmother—it crisscrosses between America and Ireland, awash in islands, Celtic mythology, and the rich exploration of motherhood."


Daughter Picks from Ann Kidd Taylor

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
"No matter how often I read this 1868 classic, I find myself enthralled. Marmee, a wise and loving mother, encourages her daughters' ambitions during a time when such notions are not fashionable. You couldn't ask for a better mom in any historical period."

Chocolat by Joanne Harris
"When magical Vianne and her imaginative daughter, Anouk, open a decadent chocolate shop in a small French town during Lent, secrets are revealed and love is tested in the village, but not as much as between Vianne and Anouk themselves. Impossible to read without eating chocolate."

Not Becoming My Mother by Ruth Reichl
"After her mother's death, Reichl goes through her mother's letters and stumbles upon one that is written to her. What unfolds is a compelling story about a mother's choices and the lessons they teach her daughter. Sometimes her best lesson is what not to do."

Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson
"Adele and Ann are one of the more unique mother-daughter duos in literature. Adele could have taken a lesson from Marmee in Little Women about the finer points of motherhood, not to mention the basic ones. I found myself rooting for Ann and absorbed in the messy bond she has with her mother."

Sense and Sensibiilty
by Jane Austen
"Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters support each other during dreary times. When Mrs. Dashwood comes to ailing Marianne's bedside, it is vividly clear why you never outgrow wanting your mother when you're sick."