Mom & Me & Mom

Maya Angelou reads this brief but piercing memoir of her relationship with her mother, a woman who loved and hated with equal passion and taught her children to fear no one. As a narrator, Angelou turns in an intimate performance. The sonorous, deep voice she says she was teased about in her youth is in rich supply here, as is her sense of humor. At a few points throughout the audiobook, Angelou’s voice seems to crack with emotion, which adds to the story’s power and immediacy. Whether she is narrating her mother’s fierce protectiveness or her own gradual empowerment when she became a mother herself, Angelou never fails to captivate. A Random House hardcover. (Apr.)