Conversations on Motherhood

20th century women : Les femmes du 20e siècle


CATEGORY: DRAMA. Disc label title. Originally released as a motion picture in 2016. Widescreen version. Bilingual packaging (English/French). English language track, with English and French subtitles. "The story of three women who explore love and freedom in Southern California during the late 1970s"--www.imdb.com.
Date Published:

Arrival stories : women share their experiences of becoming mothers


Two pink lines on a pregnancy test. The primal scream of a woman pushing through her thirty-fifth hour of labor. The moment a still-wet newborn is placed in his mother's open arms after an unexpected c-section. The bottomless love reflected in the eyes of a father seeing his daughter for the first time. The moment a baby latches to her mother's breast. Or the moment that mother decides to switch to formula. Each of these, and so many more, are stories of entering motherhood. Motherhood is an identity, a calling, a battle, a journey. By sharing their experiences, the contributors to Arrival Stories offer an account of what it feels like when a woman first realizes she is a mother. Throughout her difficult pregnancy, and following her frightening labor experience, Amy Schumer found camaraderie and empowerment in hearing birth stories from other women, including that of her friend, activist Christy Turlington Burns. It is through their conversations that the idea for this book was born. .
Date Published:2022

Two pink lines on a pregnancy test. The primal scream of a woman pushing through her thirty-fifth hour of labor. The moment a still-wet newborn is placed in his mother's open arms after an unexpected c-section. The bottomless love reflected in the eyes of a father seeing his daughter for the first time. The moment a baby latches to her mother's breast. Or the moment that mother decides to switch to formula. Each of these, and so many more, are stories of entering motherhood. Motherhood is an identity, a calling, a battle, a journey. By sharing their experiences, the contributors to Arrival Stories offer an account of what it feels like when a woman first realizes she is a mother. Throughout her difficult pregnancy, and following her frightening labor experience, Amy Schumer found camaraderie and empowerment in hearing birth stories from other women, including that of her friend, activist Christy Turlington Burns. It is through their conversations that the idea for this book was born. .

Date Published:2022

Boyhood : Jeunesse


CATEGORY: DRAMA. Disc label title. Originally released as a motion picture in 2014. Widescreen version. Bilingual packaging (English/French). "The life of a young man, Mason, from age 5 to age 18"--from www.imdb.com.
Date Published:2014

Burnt sugar

Doshi, Avni, 1982-


"In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents), and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless 'artist' - all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her. This is a love story and a story about betrayal. But not between lovers - between mother and daughter."--Publisher.
Date Published:2021

"In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents), and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless 'artist' - all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her. This is a love story and a story about betrayal. But not between lovers - between mother and daughter."--Publisher.

Date Published:2021

Dandelion

Liew, Jamie Chai Yun,


An Asian woman traces her mother's past journey in order to learn who she really is and where she belongs. When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now, as a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls the spring of 1987, growing up in a small British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families; Lily's previously stateless father wanted them to blend seamlessly into Canadian life, while her mother, alienated and isolated, longed to return to Brunei. Years later, still affected by Swee Hua's disappearance, Lily's family is nonetheless stubbornly silent to her questioning. But eventually, an old family friend provides a clue that sends Lily to Southeast Asia to find out the truth. Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging.
Date Published:2022

An Asian woman traces her mother's past journey in order to learn who she really is and where she belongs. When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now, as a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls the spring of 1987, growing up in a small British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families; Lily's previously stateless father wanted them to blend seamlessly into Canadian life, while her mother, alienated and isolated, longed to return to Brunei. Years later, still affected by Swee Hua's disappearance, Lily's family is nonetheless stubbornly silent to her questioning. But eventually, an old family friend provides a clue that sends Lily to Southeast Asia to find out the truth. Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging.

Date Published:2022

The death of Vivek Oji : a novel

Emezi, Akwaeke.


"One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son's body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family's struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious. Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek's closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens--and Osita struggles to understand Vivek's escalating crisis--the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom."--Publisher.
Date Published:2020

"One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son's body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family's struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious. Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek's closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens--and Osita struggles to understand Vivek's escalating crisis--the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom."--Publisher.

Date Published:2020

Everything everywhere all at once : Tout partout tout à la fois


DVD. Disc label title. Originally released as a motion picture in 2022. Widescreen version. Special features include: director's commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes. Bilingual packaging (English/French). "An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led"--www.imdb.com.
Date Published:

The farewell : Le mariage d'adieu


CATEGORY: COMEDY. Disc label title. Originally released as a motion picture in 2019. Widescreen version. Bilingual packaging (English/French). English with Mandarin, and French with Mandarin language tracks, with English and French subtitles. "A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies"--From www.imdb.com.
Date Published:

CATEGORY: COMEDY. Disc label title. Originally released as a motion picture in 2019. Widescreen version. Bilingual packaging (English/French). English with Mandarin, and French with Mandarin language tracks, with English and French subtitles. "A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies"--From www.imdb.com.

Date Published:

Fight night

Toews, Miriam, 1964-,


Fight Night is told in the unforgettable voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old living in Toronto with her pregnant mother, an actor who is raising Swiv while taking care of her own elderly, frail, yet extraordinarily lively mother, Elvira. When Swiv is temporarily kicked out of school, her Grandma becomes her teacher, and gives her an assignment: to write a letter to Swiv's absent father about life in the household during the last trimester of the pregnancy. In turn, Swiv gives an assignment to Grandma: to write a letter to "Gord," her unborn grandchild (and Swiv's soon-to-be brother or sister). "You are a small thing," Grandma writes to Gord, "but you must learn to fight." Through the headlong rush of Swiv's voice as she records her thoughts and observations, Fight Night unspools the pain, love, laughter, and above all, will to fight across three generations of women in a close-knit family. It is also a poignant love letter to the wise, exasperating, and irrepresible woman at the heart of the family, Swiv's Grandma: someone who knows acutely what it costs to live in this world, yet has found a way-- painfully, ferociously-- to love and fight to the end, on her own terms.
Date Published:2021

Fight Night is told in the unforgettable voice of Swiv, a nine-year-old living in Toronto with her pregnant mother, an actor who is raising Swiv while taking care of her own elderly, frail, yet extraordinarily lively mother, Elvira. When Swiv is temporarily kicked out of school, her Grandma becomes her teacher, and gives her an assignment: to write a letter to Swiv's absent father about life in the household during the last trimester of the pregnancy. In turn, Swiv gives an assignment to Grandma: to write a letter to "Gord," her unborn grandchild (and Swiv's soon-to-be brother or sister). "You are a small thing," Grandma writes to Gord, "but you must learn to fight." Through the headlong rush of Swiv's voice as she records her thoughts and observations, Fight Night unspools the pain, love, laughter, and above all, will to fight across three generations of women in a close-knit family. It is also a poignant love letter to the wise, exasperating, and irrepresible woman at the heart of the family, Swiv's Grandma: someone who knows acutely what it costs to live in this world, yet has found a way-- painfully, ferociously-- to love and fight to the end, on her own terms.

Date Published:2021

Future home of the living God : a novel

Erdrich, Louise.



Date Published:2017

Go to sleep (I miss you) : cartoons from the fog of new parenthood

Knisley, Lucy.


"Lucy Knisley is one of the great memoirists of the graphic novel format. Following the completion of her pregnancy memoir Kid Gloves (and the birth of her baby), Lucy embarked on a new project: documenting new motherhood in short, spontaneous little cartoons, which she posted on her Instagram, and which quickly gained her a huge cult following among other moms."--Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2020

I'm glad my mom died

McCurdy, Jennette, 1992-,


Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called "calorie restriction," eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, "Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn't tint hers?" She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail--just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi ("Hi Gale!"), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Date Published:2022

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called "calorie restriction," eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, "Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn't tint hers?" She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail--just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi ("Hi Gale!"), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Date Published:2022

The kids are all right


CATEGORY: COMEDY. Special features: The journey to forming a family; "making of" featurette; the writer's process; feature commentary with Lisa Cholodenko. Languages and Subtitles: English, French, Spanish. Nic and Jules are in a long term, committed, loving but by no means perfect relationship. Nic, a physician, needs to wield what she believes is control, whereas Jules, under that control, is less self-assured. They have two teen-aged children, Joni, who is Nic's biological child, and Laser, who is Jules' biological child. A big-hearted, sexy and uproariously funny movie that combines comedic surprise with poignant emotional truth.
Date Published:2010

CATEGORY: COMEDY. Special features: The journey to forming a family; "making of" featurette; the writer's process; feature commentary with Lisa Cholodenko. Languages and Subtitles: English, French, Spanish. Nic and Jules are in a long term, committed, loving but by no means perfect relationship. Nic, a physician, needs to wield what she believes is control, whereas Jules, under that control, is less self-assured. They have two teen-aged children, Joni, who is Nic's biological child, and Laser, who is Jules' biological child. A big-hearted, sexy and uproariously funny movie that combines comedic surprise with poignant emotional truth.

Date Published:2010

Lady Bird


CATEEGOTY: DRAMA. Disc label title. Originally released as a motion picture in 2017. Widescreen version. Special features include: audio commentary, featurette. Bilingual packaging (English/French). "In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California"--www.imdb.com.
Date Published:2018

Lion


CATEGORY: DRAMA. English or French dialogue; French subtitles; subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). Special features: deleted scenes ; behind-the scenes gallery ; " Never Give Up" performed by Sia. At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia.
Date Published:2017

CATEGORY: DRAMA. English or French dialogue; French subtitles; subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). Special features: deleted scenes ; behind-the scenes gallery ; " Never Give Up" performed by Sia. At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia.

Date Published:2017

Little fires everywhere

Ng, Celeste.



Date Published:2017

Motherhood

Heti, Sheila.



Date Published:2018

The need : a novel

Phillips, Helen.


Molly is home on her own with two small children: one-year-old B, and four-year-old Viv. Her husband is away for two weeks and she is running between her job as a paleobotanist and looking after her children. She is exhausted, anxious, losing her grip on reality and, as dusk falls, she gets jumpy - are those footsteps out in the hall? What was that noise? She holds the children close, tries to pull herself together, of course they're all safe. But moments later, in the sitting room, she sees it - a figure wearing a deer mask who climbs out of the chest in the centre of the room, looks at her and then walks out. And Molly has to follow... Gripping, unsettling, completely original, this is outstanding speculative fiction, teasing out the possibilities of alternative universes, as well as an unnervingly acute exploration of motherhood, and the splitting of sense of self that can accompany it.
Date Published:2019

Molly is home on her own with two small children: one-year-old B, and four-year-old Viv. Her husband is away for two weeks and she is running between her job as a paleobotanist and looking after her children. She is exhausted, anxious, losing her grip on reality and, as dusk falls, she gets jumpy - are those footsteps out in the hall? What was that noise? She holds the children close, tries to pull herself together, of course they're all safe. But moments later, in the sitting room, she sees it - a figure wearing a deer mask who climbs out of the chest in the centre of the room, looks at her and then walks out. And Molly has to follow... Gripping, unsettling, completely original, this is outstanding speculative fiction, teasing out the possibilities of alternative universes, as well as an unnervingly acute exploration of motherhood, and the splitting of sense of self that can accompany it.

Date Published:2019

Notes for the everlost : a field guide to grief

Inglis, Kate, 1973-.


In this part memoir, part handbook, Kate Inglis uses her story of losing one of her premature twin boys to help other bereaved parents.
Date Published:2018

The nursery

Molnar, Szilvia


There is the before and the after. Withering in the maternal prison of her apartment, a new mother finds herself spiraling into a state of complete disaffection. As a translator, she is usually happy to spend her days as the invisible interpreter. But now home alone with her newborn, she is ill at ease with this state of perpetual giving, carrying, feeding. The instinct to keep her baby safe conflicts with the intrusive thoughts of causing the baby harm, and she struggles to reclaim her identity just as it seems to dissolve from underneath her. Feeling isolated from her supportive but ineffectual husband, she strikes up a tentative friendship with her ailing upstairs neighbour, Peter, who hushes the baby with his oxygen tank in tow. But they are both running out of time; something is soon to crack. Joyful early days of her pregnancy mingle with the anxious arrival of the baby, and culminate in a painful confrontation – mostly, between our narrator and herself. Striking and emotive, The Nursery documents the slow process of staggering back towards the simple pleasures of life and reentering the world after post-partum depression. .
Date Published:2023

There is the before and the after. Withering in the maternal prison of her apartment, a new mother finds herself spiraling into a state of complete disaffection. As a translator, she is usually happy to spend her days as the invisible interpreter. But now home alone with her newborn, she is ill at ease with this state of perpetual giving, carrying, feeding. The instinct to keep her baby safe conflicts with the intrusive thoughts of causing the baby harm, and she struggles to reclaim her identity just as it seems to dissolve from underneath her. Feeling isolated from her supportive but ineffectual husband, she strikes up a tentative friendship with her ailing upstairs neighbour, Peter, who hushes the baby with his oxygen tank in tow. But they are both running out of time; something is soon to crack. Joyful early days of her pregnancy mingle with the anxious arrival of the baby, and culminate in a painful confrontation – mostly, between our narrator and herself. Striking and emotive, The Nursery documents the slow process of staggering back towards the simple pleasures of life and reentering the world after post-partum depression. .

Date Published:2023