Author of one of the most brilliant and devastating stories about parenting—"People Like That Are the Only People Here," from Birds of America (Picador)—Lorrie Moore has the ability to capture not only the absurd in everyday life but also the meaning in it. Throughout her three short-story collections and two novels, she has brought us such sly insights as "the hide-and-seek of the heart dashing" across someone's face and, describing a woman coming from a massage: "She felt a little like she had just seen God, but also a little like she had just seen a hooker." Her new novel, A Gate at the Stairs (Knopf), also examines parenthood. Now Moore, who has a 14-year-old son, shares the books that have made an impression on her as a mother.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown Young Readers)
"When I asked my son what he liked best about this book, he said, 'Everything.' This is a vital, funny young-adult novel whose honesty children, teenagers, and adults can all appreciate. It's about a 'poor-ass' reservation kid, Junior, who must find his way, choosing from the counsel he is given by elders and peers. Born with 'too much grease' in his brain, he undergoes a surgery at birth that results in a series of physical humiliations: 10 extra teeth, eyes that are 'enemies' (one's nearsighted and the other's farsighted), and an enormous skull. He is also a wonderful cartoonist. The cartoons—actually done by Ellen Forney—are included throughout the book. As sentimental as he is unsentimental, Junior decides to leave behind the life he's known in hopes of securing a better future in a school outside his ailing reservation. For kids who are having a rough time fitting in—and don't most kids feel this way to some degree?—there is no misfit they'll connect with better than Junior."
Fever Pitch
by Nick Hornby (Riverhead)
"If you've got a kid who's crazy about soccer and you want to familiarize yourself with the sport, begin here: This story of how Hornby became obsessed with the English-football team Arsenal is probably the most famous book about the sport ever written. He describes how attending football games as a child with his father was a way of seeing the man who had divorced his mother and begun a new family far away. But soon Dad was beside the point, and Hornby ventured out to games on his own. In this book, a lifelong passion is anatomized, dramatized, and good-naturedly mocked. Plus, it is terrifically written."
Fugitive Spring
by Deborah Digges (Knopf)
"Digges was an admirable wonder: Thrice married but mostly a single working mother, she weathered not only rough times paying bills but a son who ran with Boston gangs, collected guns, and in general was beyond her reach. She restored order to her household by flying in the face of institutional advice and neighborly admonitions—she filled her home with sick and injured animals and members of her son's gang—all of which is chronicled in her second memoir, Stardust Lounge (Anchor). But it is in Digges's first memoir, Fugitive Spring, that her own childhood on a Missouri apple orchard is put forth with treasuring care: The orchard itself is emblematic of the gardened wilderness, the forces of order and disorder that will pervade any family, let alone one with 10 children and a doctor father conducting cancer research on rats next to the apple showroom. Her precise, lyrical writing is informed by her girlhood memorization of Bible passages. Witnessing her parents' generosity toward strangers—vagrants and prisoners—no doubt infused her own belief system once she was a mother. Fugitive Spring ends with a flying lesson, given to her by her husband for her birthday, and the fact that Digges just this year ambiguously fell or leaped to her death is a haunting coda to this book about familial fortitude."
A Hand to Guide Me
by Denzel Washington (Meredith)
"It takes a village. Or at least a couple of villagers. This is a collection of essays told by famous people—including Washington, as well as Wesley Clark, Toni Morrison, and Leonard Nimoy—who were once scrappy kids in possible peril. In each case, some adult came along at the right time and helped them out. For Danny Glover, for example, it was his third-grade teacher, who recognized his struggle with reading (later understood to be dyslexia) and gave him the nurturing he needed. These essays make for inspirational nighttime reading for children."
The Odyssey
by Homer (Barnes & Noble)
"Western civilization's original pagan adventure story, replete with monsters, shipwrecks, storms, sea nymphs, and gods and goddesses. Like The Wizard of Oz, it is about longing for home while still encountering love and death in the dangerous and exotic world out there. I think this is a good book for children and parents to read together—kids may need help hearing the poetry, but the tale offers a lesson about triumphing over adversity eventually. And it shows how even thousands of years ago, people were interested in stories about superheroes!"
