While I owe much of why I became a reader to Junie B. Jones, I ultimately fell in love with books because of my mom. My mom is the only other true reader in my family. She constantly goes to the library and always has a book by her side. In honor of Mother Day’s on Sunday, I’ll be discussing some of my mom’s favorite reads. The following books are a mix of her recent favorites and some older reads.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman- After reading A Man Called Ove, my mom wanted to explore some of Fredrik Backman’s other titles, including Beartown. It was the type of book she didn’t think she was going to enjoy, but ultimately didn’t want to end. It was so well-written and she had been really taken with the characters. My mom is much better than me at not staying up to read, but she said she just had to stay up late and finish this one. Unfortunately, she did not enjoy the sequel, Us Against You.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara- My mom is someone who rarely buys books for herself and would much rather borrow books from the library. However, she decided to buy a copy of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, partially because of its long library holds list and partially because she knew it would take her a while to read this 700+ page beast. While reading other books, it took her over a year to read A Little Life, but she said it was such an awesome read. It constantly left her gasping, making her reread passages to make sure what she was reading was right.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott- Like me, Little Women was one of my mom’s favorite classics growing up. I’m hoping that this will give me the excuse to buy the gorgeous 150^th Anniversary Edition. 

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini- Out of the books on this list, my mom learned the most from The Kite Runner. Although it’s a fiction book, the book gave much historical insight on the fall of Afghanistan and Russia’s influence.

The Lord of Flies by William Golding- My mom read The Lord of the Flies in high school and like many, it’s always stuck with her. She loved talking about it with my sister and I read when we read it in our freshman English class. I think she sometimes wishes she could write another literary analysis paper on it.

Have you read any of the books above? Share in the comments!