Mother’s Day is here!

Make sure you are calling your moms, making plans, sending gifts, and taking them OUT to eat. No one makes a good breakfast in bed and let’s face, it’s getting kind of old. To celebrate, I’ve picked out 5 books about moms and motherhood you should definitely be adding to your bookshelves this month. They’re DEFINITELY not your usual suspects, so be prepared to get weird. I also never want to suggest things that I don’t know for a FACT are great, so all of these suggestions are books that I’ve actually read and finished in the past year and a half.

1. My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall

Better known as Laverne of Laverne and Shirley, Penny Marshall gives us her life story from childhood to mommyhood to famehood. Those aren’t words but you catch my drift. And yes, that order is correct: Marshall had her daughter before she became famous. She’s like the 70’s version of Sofia Vergara. And obviously, as the book’s title suggests, she doesn’t just reflect on being a mother but on being a daughter as well to am ambitious mother in the Bronx. If you are a woman interested in TV and movies or a working mother who feels a little out of whack most of the time. Here is your read.

2. Dark Places – Gillian Flynn

We’re taking a dark turn here. Flynn is perhaps best known for Gone Girl, which unless you live under a rock, you know was made into a film last year. Great news! Dark Places is also going to be a film starring Charlize Theron so basically, Gillian Flynn is kicking ass lately. Dark Places was published before Gone Girl and follows the story of Libby Day. A Kansas woman who, at 7 years old, survived the murders of her mother and two sisters …and then testified that her older brother did it. Just like Gone Girl, the story flips point of view, and we hear from Libby, her brother Ben, and their mother. I found myself fascinated with their three distinct views on motherhood among the insanity of this story. Read it before the movie comes out and get crazy!

3. To Marry an English Lord – Gail McColl and Carol McD Wallace

It’s good to read all sorts of stuff, for your brain and whatever. So I’m tossing in this one. It’s a non-fiction, research book that was published at the height of Downton Abbey craziness (is it just me or that show losing steam?) The book takes us through the marrying phenomenon that swept the US in the late 1800s: marrying English Lords for titles. In short, American heiresses had money and Englishmen had titles. It was a swap. Money for titles and titles for money. They delve deep into the process and how mothers played an integral role in finding the proper suitor for their daughters. This includes taking season long trips overseas with their daughters to “court” and overseeing their extreme wardrobes. Be intrigued.

4. I’d Know You Anywhere – Laura Lipmann

Back to creepsville. Lippman’s novel is about a young mother who is trying to escape her disturbing past. When she was a girl, she was the only survivor of a series of kidnappings and murders. The book finds her now grown, but receiving letters from her former captor. Her family doesn’t know about her past and she gets desperate to keep it a secret. Skeletons in the closet! I repeat, skeletons in the closet! Plus, Stephen King liked it… so there’s that.

5. Room – Emma Donahgue

Room was a huge hit when it came out because, without any spoilers, the story is told from the point of view of a child. Open, honest, but still incredibly detailed, Room takes you on a disturbing and emotional ride through what it is like to be both a mother with few choices, and a son who knows very little about how big the world is. I read this one in like, 2 days. This is a “can’t put it down” type of book.

Let me know if and when you read any of these or if you gift your mom with one of the creepy ones. Dying to hear how you and Mom like them!