Are you searching for some last minute inspiration? We asked five Readings staffers about the book(s) they're gifting this Mother's Day and the books they'd love to receive.

Fiona Hardy, bookseller

When you work in a bookshop, nobody ever gifts you books – but I have an internal wishlist, anyway! There's a huge sale on cookbooks for the month of May, and even though I tend to buy cookbooks, pore over them, make one thing successfully, and then never revisit any other recipe again, I love to own them. I've frequently been tempted by so many books in this sale, like Alice Zaslavsky's In Praise of Veg, or Nagi Maehashi's Recipetin Eats: Dinner, which customers constantly rave about. While something's bubbling away in the oven, I'd love to read Madelaine Lucas's Thirst For Salt, a new Australian fiction book that looks to be quietly moving, and set on a coastal town – hopefully it won't make me oversalt my dinner.

My mother loves to read more about people's lives – fictional and true – and I think she'd love Brenda Matthews' The Last Daughter, the story of a woman torn from her Aboriginal parents and siblings at two years old, and who spent five years with a white foster family before her family was able to get her back. Brenda's story of those two separately loving families, and her search into her path, looks like an incredible read. I might pair it with Pip Williams' The Bookbinder of Jericho, a companion, in a way, to Williams' chart-topping bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, to look into a different kind of fictionalised history, and the story of more strong and determined women. 

Lian Hingee, digital marketing manager

For Mother’s Day I’m hoping to get a copy of Bush Flowers. Written by the team behind Carlton’s iconic florist, Bush, this absolutely stunning book is full of gorgeous imagery of Australian Native flora: how to grow it, how to identify it, and how to use it in the home. I’m actually getting married at the end of the year, so if I’m not lucky enough to score a copy you bet I’ll be buying one for myself for all the helpful tips on how to do my own floral installations.

I’ll be giving my Mum a copy of Built to Move because she took a bit of a scary tumble last year and it put the wind up both of us. Juliet and Kelly Starrett’s book is full of great foundational advice and techniques to make sure she keeps being able to move freely and easily. I’ll get her some flowers (maybe from Bush Flowers!) as well.

Angela Crocombe, buyer

My mum is a big Agatha Christie fan, and now she’s a bit older she prefers to read books she knows rather than delve into anything new. She finds comfort in the familiar. But I thought I might be able to tempt her with the recent Lucy Worsely biography of Agatha Christie, which received such fabulous reviews and really brings to life a person who was so contradictory and such an enigma. Christie did not consider herself a feminist and yet she spent the majority of her adult life working hard at writing her numerous bestselling novels. I think this biography will be just as entertaining as one of Christie’s murder mysteries.

For myself, I’m so busy at the moment that the thought of a lazy day in bed reading seems utterly decadent. Perhaps I will get lucky on Mother’s Day and I can take to my bed with a copy of the Women’s Prize shortlisted book, Fire Rush, by Jacqueline Crooks. I did plenty of raving in my ill-spent youth and this novel set in the underground clubs around London sounds like a compelling read that will not only be a nostalgia trip, but will also allow me to discover more about Black womanhood in the UK and Jamaica. Once I get out of bed, I might like a delicious drink and the book Wild Drinks by Melbourne-based Sharon Flynn is going to teach me (and my loved ones) about how to make kombucha, mead, cordials and other delectable concoctions within our own kitchen. It’s going to be a great day!

 Read review

Elke Power, editor of Readings Monthly

I will be giving my grandmother a copy of Graft: Motherhood, Family and a Year on the Land by Maggie MacKellar for Mother’s Day this year, in the full knowledge that as soon as she has read it, she will lend it to my mother. I know that as soon as they see Graft in the May Readings Monthly, they will want to read it. They both grew up in Tasmania and have given much thought to the seasons of life and motherhood, so I’m confident they’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

As for me, I would love a copy of The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop or Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity by Ellen van Neerven. Alison Huber and I are dedicated Bishop fans, and she has assured me I will not be disappointed by this new novel. Similarly, I was already keen to read Personal Score as soon as I heard about it, but once I read Jackie Tang’s review, I knew it was not to be missed.

Rosalind McClintock, marketing manager

For Mother's Day I'd like Women and Whitlam, because I feel like I need a bit of rallying right now to get the fight back into me after a few years of flatness. Or Hanging Out, because maybe the fight is dead, and I just need to chill.

For my mum, who has never given up the fight, but is also excellent at just hanging out I'd get The Queen is Dead, because she never shies away from examining oneself in pursuit of growth.