Mother's Day Reading

Have you noticed that when Mother's Day is coming up, there are piles of ads about buying your Mum the latest romance novel or chick lit? Or taking her to see the most recent romantic comedy or sentimental historical film? Why this assumption that when a scientist or an athlete or a teacher becomes a mother she will automatically want to read this sort of stuff? Hell, why assume your Mum the office manager or cleaner would not be a passionate fan of Tolkien or psychological thrillers? It's like the "don't show this to your maiden aunt!" spiel. For the record, I'm the maiden aunt of David,Mark,Max, Amelia, Dezzy, Rachel, Eden and Jonah and those of them old enough to talk and hang out with me would fall about laughing at the very idea. My own mother likes crime fiction - admittedly whodunnits and cosies for preference, but is also a fan of the police procedurals of Reginald Hill. My sister, the mother of David and Mark, hasn't read chicklit since her teens; she reads SF and crime fiction and watches UN-PC comedy and TV science fiction. Few of the mothers I know would fall into the category into which the advertising industry would like to slot them. So next Mother's Day shout your Mum to what SHE enjoys!:-)