Because I Love Her

I rarely read collections of essays (David Sedaris being the main exception), but yet I absolutely loved this wonderfully and intensely touching and emotionally charged book. It was "assigned" for my mom's group book club and I only picked it up the day before the meeting, thinking I would skim through some of the essays. I ended up spending the entire day reading and was even excited to get up for my 4:00 a.m. feeding so that I could continue it. While reading, I sat holding my 6 week old daughter, often crying, sometimes laughing, and feeling compelled to share with her the legacy she has inherited from my amazing mother and the hopes and dreams I have for her as she grows up. I have since purchased a copy for my mother and best friend and would recommend it to anyone who has a mother and a daughter.

I loved this anthology. The subject of mothers and daughters is a complex one, and the women writers who contributed to this book explore their own relationships in a touching, yet unsentimental way. I laughed, cried, winced, smiled, and at the end found myself feeling a kinship towards many of them. Most of the contributors are both daughters and mothers themselves, so they are at that unique time in their life of coming to terms with the past as well as looking at the future. There is a lot of raw truth here, and in most cases, forgiveness for imperfection in their both their mothers and themselves. I just purchased a copy for my mother, and would recommend it for any woman in your life. Perfect Mother's Day gift!

There are certain books that elevate the human condition. This is one of those books. Not simply due to the fact that we all have some kind of relationship with our mothers; the good, the bad, the ugly and hopefully the transcendent. But also because within these stories, the writers have invited us to join them in ways that offer hope and a kind of self-deprecating wonder. Andrea Richesin has managed, with this thoughtful collection of writers, to weave a tapestry of colors of the emotional terrain of motherhood. At times mundane, silly, beautiful, angry, heart wrenching and yet always unflinchingly honest and thought provoking. I saw myself, my friends, my mother and my daughter in many of these stories. And then I bought the book for all of them. It is not easy to pick a favorite story. They all sing their own song in their own key and each one rings true to me at different times. I have now read it at least twice and I keep it handy for times when I need a moment of sometimes uncomfortable and yet forgiving recognition of where I am as a woman, a mother and a daughter. I cannot recommend this enough. Buy it for yourself and then for all the women you know.

Everyone will enjoy this book: Moms, daughters, grandmas, grandchildren, and the people who love them. It's a great gift idea, of course, with Mother's Day coming up, but it's also much-needed inspiration and reflection. I fell in love with the book trailer, getting to know some of the writers whose work is represented here. [...] I'm a mom and a grandma and this book makes me wonder what my girls will have to say about our relationships.

I love reading anthologies. This is a a great one! So many wonderful touching stories written by inspirational women come together in "Because I love her". I am buying it as a gift for mom-friends. We have young children and sometimes need a remind that this too shall past and we should treasure our relationships at every stage of life.