7 memoirs about moms to read this Mother’s Day

Forget what you’ve seen in sitcoms and gauzy Hallmark television commercials: being a parent might be rewarding, but there’s nothing easy about it. “A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother,” Rachel Cusk: Canadian British author Cusk, who spent part of her childhood in Los Angeles, is best known for her trilogy of autobiographical novels, “Outline,” “Transit” and “Kudos.” Her 2001 memoir recounts a year in her life after the birth of her first child, after she was forced to reckon with the loss of her solitude. “Blue Nights,” Joan Didion: The legendary author’s daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, died of pancreatitis in 2005, just shy of her 40th birthday. “And Now We Have Everything: On Motherhood Before I Was Ready,” Meaghan O’Connell: The 2018 debut book from Portland, Ore., author O’Connell is a brutally honest and deeply funny memoir about how her life changed after becoming pregnant and giving birth to a son when she was in her 20s. Cheryl Strayed praised the book as “smart, funny, and true in all the best ways.” “I’m Supposed To Protect You From All This,” Nadja Spiegelman: Author Spiegelman, the daughter of “Maus” creator Art Spiegelman, writes about her sometimes-fraught relationship with her mother, the designer and publisher Françoise Mouly.