Family Ties

Wrong about Japan : a father's journey with his son by Peter Carey
The Booker Prize-winning author describes how his shy young son's fascination with Japanese manga and anime led father and son on an odyssey to Tokyo, where they discover the intricacies of modern-day Japanese culture, from shitamachi and the Internet tokabuki and the samurai.


The beautiful struggle : a father, a son, and an unlikely road to manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates
An exceptional father-son story about the reality that tests us, the myths that sustain us, and the love that saves us.
An evocative memoir of family and growing up in the tough, violent world of Baltimore in the 1980s chronicles the relationship between the author and his father, a Vietnam vet and Black Panther affiliate, and his steadfast, if sometimes eccentric, campaign to keep his sons from falling victim to the seductive temptations of the streets.

Soccer dad : a father, a son, and a magic season by W.D. Wetherell
Traces a year during which the author, an avid soccer fan, enthusiastically watched his high-school senior son play a winning season, which was also marked by thoughts on his own role as a father and the disparities between his son's awareness of life as compared to the realities of the adult world.




Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick
When the mothers of four sixth-grade girls with very different personalities pressure them into forming a book club, they find, as they read and discuss "Little Women," that they have much more in common than they could have imagined.


Wisdom of our fathers : lessons and letters from daughters and sons [collected by] Tim Russert
Sheds new light on fatherhood and the relationship between parent and child, discussing what we can learn from our fathers about humor, discipline, values, tradition, pride, loss, and love, tenderness, strength, honor, discipline, and occasional eccentricity. Most of these daughters and sons were eager to express the gratitude they had carried with them through the years. Others wanted to share lessons and memories and, most important, pass them down to their own children. This book is for all fathers, young or old, who can learn from the men in these pages how to get it right, and to understand that sometimes it is the little gestures that can make the big difference for your child.


Mother-Daughter Wisdom: creating a legacy of physical and emotional health by Christiane Northrup
Mother-Daughter Wisdom introduces an entirely new map of female development, exploring the “five facets of feminine power,” which range from the basics of physical self-care to the discovery of passion and purpose in life. This blueprint allows any woman—whether or not she has children—–to repair the gaps in her own upbringing and create a better adult relationship with her mother. If she has her own daughter, it will help her be the mother she has always wanted to be.



You're wearing that? Understanding mothers and daughters in conversation by Deborah TannenWhy do daughters complain that their mothers always criticize, while mothers feel hurt that their daughters shut them out? Why do mothers and daughters critique each other on the Big Three–hair, clothes, and weight–while longing for approval and understanding? And why do they scrutinize each other for reflections of themselves?





The Mighty Queens of Freeville: a mother, a daughter, and the town that raised them by Amy Dickinson
The humorist and advice columnist for "Ask Amy" describes her inspirational, haphazard experiences with divorce, traveling throughout the country, and resettling in her hometown, where her extended family helped her to raise her daughter.



Plainsong by Kent Haruf
From the unsettled lives of a small-town teacher struggling to raise two boys alone in the face of their mother's retreat from life, a pregnant teenage girl with nowhere to go, and two elderly bachelor farmers emerges a new vision of life and family as their diverse destinies intertwine. "From simple elements, Haruf achieves a novel of wisdom and grace--a narrative that builds in strength and feeling until, as in a choral chant, the voices in the book surround, transport, and lift the reader off the ground."-FROM THE CITATION FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Life on the refrigerator door : notes between a mother and daughter : a novel in notes by Alice Kuipers
Told through a series of notes, the story of fifteen-year-old Claire and her single mother follows their correspondence during busy times in their respective lives, in a tale marked by Claire's school interactions, her mother's job, and a momentous change that redefines their relationship.