Mothers in Literature

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the
place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."

- Washington Irving

Mothers are synonymous with selfless love, generosity, kindness, wisdom and care. No matter how difficult times can get, they are the ones who hold our hands through the toughest of times. Through their silent ways, they comfort us and make us believe that difficult times do not last. We owe a lot to our mothers: our lives, understanding of the world, the first dose of education and much more. This week, we pay a tribute to all the mothers in the world.

Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908 in the U.S., when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia. She campaigned to set aside a day to honor mothers - 'the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world'. Anna's mother, Ann Jarvis, was a peace activist who had cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War and formed Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health concerns. We will feature some of the best works on mothers in literature. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

BookChums Theme of the Week: Places in Literature

This week on BookChums, we celebrate Places in Literature as the theme of the week. From travelogues and history to memoirs, places and locations have always played a special role in characterizing plots, emotions and thoughts. Even the most ordinary of places emerges as the most extraordinary place when described by a bard or writer. From the pages of history or a novel, there emerge places that we have never heard of arousing our curiosity and all the more excitement to read as the book unfolds. Therefore, sit back and relax some of the best reads in literature based on places.

ATale of Two Cities (written in 1859) by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution sketches the difficulty of the French peasantry brutalized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding cruelty demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many other social parallels with life in London during the same time. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events including Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton.  It is a timeless read.

AShort Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby is an autobiographical account of his adventures in the Hindu Kush, around Nuristan in Afghanistan, apparently to make the first mountaineering ascent of Mir Samir. It is a popular read among all travel aficionados.

Love and War in the Apennines is a 1971 Second World War memoir by Eric Newby. After the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces in 1943, he left the prison camp in which he had been held for a year, and escaped the Germans by going high up in the mountains and forests south of the Po River. In enforced isolation, he was sheltered by brave Italian peasants. This book is an account of the selfless people and their basic lifestyle. This is where he Wanda, a local girl who later became his wife. The 2001 film In Love and War starring Callum Blue and Barbora Bobulova was inspired by this memoir.

Read on and enjoy. We will feature more of these brilliant and fun books.

Ask Kabita 54 - Our Book Recommendation Expert

Hope all of you are enjoying the flavors of the season. As always, I have been having fun reading and I hope you guys are enjoying too. The following are the questions and answers of the week.

Q 1: Please recommend some fun poetry to read during a holiday. Thank you. Anwesha Dutta, Pune

Ans: Anwesha, thank you for writing. You can try Ogden Nash's collections including Candy is Dandy and Zoo. They are fun reads. Have a great holiday.

Q 2: Please suggest some good mystery reads. Deepak, Mumbai

Ans: Deepak, please try Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag and The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches.

Have a good week ahead and write to me at ask@bookchums.com.