"The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us" leads you to appreciate your mother and all of her flaws and quirks, and compels you to be the best mother you can be to your own children. ( )

The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us is a collection of short profiles featuring two dozen prominent women* reflecting on their mothers (and often, their grandparents). Though I would have enjoyed more diversity (it's mostly writers and actresses, mostly over age 50), it's a lovely collection -- the voices are gentle and insightful and proof that no matter how things seem on the surface, people’s lives and relationships -- especially daughters and mothers -- are full and complicated underneath. As a side note, I especially liked the startling moments when Patti Davis, in her interviews, discovers how her father's (Ronald Reagan) presidential policies affected some of these women's lives.

*in addition to Patti Davis: Rosanna Arquette, Candice Bergen, Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee, Melissa Gilbert, Whoopi Goldberg, Marg Helgenberger, Mariel Hemingway, Alice Hoffman, Angelica Huston, Lorna Luft, Julianna Margulies, Mary Kay Place, Anna Quindlen, Anne Rice, Cokie Roberts, Carolyn See, Kathy Smith, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, Lily Tomlin, Faye Wattleton, Marianne Williamson, Carnie Wilson ( )