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Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps

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StoryCorps is a fabulous notion. Ordinary people interview other ordinary people. Over the past seven years thousands of us have told our stories for the StoryCorps project. Every interview is recorded for posterity. One copy goes to the participants. The other copy will be preserved as part of our oral history. David Isay, the founder of StoryCorps had a brilliant notion and it just keeps growing.

We all have stories to tell. This latest collection comes out just in time for Mother's Day. These are excerpts from interviews about mothers. These stories about moms will touch your heart. Some are told by moms. Some are told by spouses, others by children. Every story is unique.

As Isay closes this collection he talks about the time he interviewed his own mother. Going into it he assumed he knew all about her, that there would not be any new revelations. Boy, was he wrong. Something about the StoryCorps Project brings out the best in participants. They remember. They reflect. They give honor. They show their grit in the face of life's obstacles. These stories are magical. Isay's mom told stories that blew him away. He was amazed.

Prepare to be delighted and amazed by this fabulous, tender collection of stories about MOM. You gotta love it~ya gotta love your mom. Happy Mother's Day.

I feel really connected to the experiences presented in this book. A portrait of what it means to be a mother --the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the glorious and the mundane-- emerges through the pages of transcribed interviews. Each one is poignant, and I'm definitely giving a copy to my mom for Mother's Day.

A special book which shares the wisdom, courage, and life experiences between mothers and their children. Stories in this book are those which mothers can truly relate to, gain insight, feel honored by, and find comfort in the journeys we all share as moms.

K

StoryCorps' collection of interviews with everyday moms gives a great insight into what it means to be a mother. It's amazing to discover the threads that connect all moms from all walks of life. Get this as a gift for you mother. She will love it! But don't forget to add a second copy to the cart for yourself.

Storycorps does its usual good job of giving us inspiring glimpses into people's lives.

From a view of what it is like to get estranged from your family then come back to good relations, to what it is like to raise a family with special needs children, to what it is like to come here from another county, to what it is like to adopt or be adopted, the stories are engrossing. I identified with much and was fascinated throughout. The stories are as gripping and well-told as fiction.

This book made me think a lot about my own mother and what kind of mother I could and should be. The stories often inspired me as people continued to be loving and friendly with their families throughout ups and down and sometimes great adversity.

Each and every one of the stories in this book is profoundly touching. I admit to tearing up a little bit, more than once. If you like the book, it is worth the time to visit the StoryCorps website and listen to some of the audio versions as well.

I just read this book on my commute to and from work and was pleasantly surprised how reading these stories created the same spine-tingling sensation I feel when I listen to the StoryCorps stories on Morning Edition. The voices of each person in the book resonate loudly through each page and even on a crowded train I found myself smiling widely and holding back tears as I read on.

It's a great Mother's Day gift, but also a great reminder of how special our relationships with our mom's truly are. Everyone should have this book on their shelf.

My favorite story in here is about a couple trying to conceive who find out they're actually pregnant with quintuplets. In telling it to one of the five kids, they remember wondering how they would love five kids at once. They were worried about giving equal attention, making sure no one felt like they were left out. After the birth, they find out it wasn't so hard after all.

I can't imagine raising five kids, but my grandparents know exactly what it was like. My mom was one of five, and she and her siblings are now as close as they could be. I'll be getting her a copy for Mother's Day. I hope she likes it.

I heard the quick and familiar knock on the door a few weeks ago. The UPS delivery man was already walking back to his truck when I opened the front door and found another package on my porch. I opened the package to discover an absolutely beautiful book. The cover was red and the simple title in white caught my eye -- MOM.

How could I resist this book? The answer is simple. I couldn't.

MOM : A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps edited by Dave Isay is a delightful collection of interviews about mothers.

I rarely listen to NPR so I was unfamiliar with StoryCorps. According to the introduction in the book, several years ago StoryCorps set up a small recording studio in Grand Central Station and then in other public places around the country. They were hoping that people would venture inside, interview each other and share their personal stories. The project was remarkably successful.

This book is a collection of thoughts, feelings and stories about moms that were gleaned from these interviews. When I first received the book, I read a quick story here and there when I had a spare moment. Today, I planned to do the same. Read a few stories. I became so engrossed and emotionally involved that I read the entire book from cover to cover. I became choked up at several of the stories and the words of love for their children and for their mothers really touched my heart. The book is also filled with simple words of wisdom.

Pam and Dan Pisner talk to their daughter about the decision to continue with the pregnancy after learning that Pam, using fertility treatments, was carrying quintuplets. Dan says:

"And then after you babies were born we were very busy, but we weren't doing any of those other things, and in fact could not even remember what those things were. But it wasn't important to us. What was important to us now was just being with you guys. Those other things must have been time fillers--because this is the real deal!"(pg. 75)

Tia Casciato Smallwood tells her daughter about her feeling of ending her cherished career to be at home with her young children. She says:

"...I don't think I learned how to be a real human being until I was with my children and suffered with them and watched what they go through. You would give up anything for them. You would give up your life, your career, and your home. You unconditionally love them, and I think that is what made my life complete. So I never regretted it." (pg. 84)

Roselyn Payne Epps, a pediatrician, talks with her daughter, also a pediatrician. Roselyn says:

"You all have done very well. But I take no credit and I take no blame. People say, 'Aren't you proud?' My mother always said, 'Don't be proud; just be thankful.' So when you were coming along, I said 'I won't take credit because I'm not going to take blame either!'" (pg. 42)

Sisters express their love and memories for their mother who recently passed away after a battle with cancer. A birth mother tells her son the story of his adoption. A mother talks with her two daughters - one adopted and the other biological - about how she loves them both dearly. A son expresses his relief that he and his mother were reconciled before her death. A mother talks about her son who gave his life as a soldier.

The stories tap honest and deep emotion because they are true. As the people pour out their deepest feelings to family members that they trust, one can read into their very souls.

MOM : A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps would make a perfect gift and is in every way an expression of the amazing and tender emotions that mothers have for their children and children for their mothers.

StoryCorps also reminds us to take the time to interview and record for posterity the memories, thoughts and words of wisdome of our family members. The book includes questions that can initiate conversation, such as "What was the happiest time in your life?" or "How has your life been different than you imagined it?"

My grandfather was a storyteller. As a child, I loved to sit at his knee as he spun the yarns of his exciting life (some were probably slightly exaggerated). When I was in college, I bought dozens of blank tapes with the intent of recording his stories. But he was too sick by then to talk for long periods. The coughing would wear him out. He gave me a notebook that he had filled with his handwritten tales that I treasure but it is not the same thing as hearing his voice. And then he passed away.

In the words of Dave Isay, the editor, "Don't wait."

is just one of the many momisms shared in this super short (small sized and only about 180 pages long) book containing thirty four StoryCorps interviews, divided into the subheadings, Wisdom, Devotion, and Enduring Love. The (typically two per interview) participants' oft-inspiring stories expose readers to a wide-range of mother-child relationships, situations, and experiences, and will likely elicit in them just as diverse feelings (note to Moms-have tissues handy). Each mini-biography begins with the names and ages of the participants and ends with their photograph.

StoryCorps, started in 2003, "has recorded nearly thirty thousand interviews with more than fifty thousand participants...across all fifty states...from every imaginable background." Those interested in participating in the program (to which proceeds of the book go) can see what it's all about by reading either of the two books edited by founder Dave Isay (this one and Listening is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project, published in 2007), or checking out (and listening to interviews at) their web site. As with the prior book, listening (versus reading) seems the better way to go to experience the interviews, but book format is a handy way to get the word out on the program. Similarly good: The Mother Garden by Robin Romm, Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families edited by Andrew Carroll, and Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich.