Happy Mother’s Day from Salon columnists Camille Peri and Kate Moses, who earlier offered “Mothers Who Think” and are now out with the thought-provoking, laugh-inducing “Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write About Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves.” These varied mothers include Marianne Pearl, Ayelet Waldman and Ann Hulbert, who tackle child custody, rap music, sex, cancer, boys vs. girls and a mother lode of other issues. (HarperCollins, $24.95)

Still buzzing from the excitement of Derby Day? “After the Finish Line” by Bill Heller (no relation) might bring you down, real quick. The veteran racing writer looks at the dark, disturbing secret of horse racing – the slaughter of horses, including thoroughbreds, for food. Former Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, you may recall, was found butchered in Japan. (BowTie Press, $16.95)

“Inside the Wire” is a chilling, very real account of what’s been going on inside the American detention center Camp Delta in Gunatanamo Bay. Many Americans won’t be happy with this book by Army veteran Erick Saar, who served at Gitmo as a linguist. Co-writer Viveca Novak is a journalist. (Penguin, $24.95)

If you haven’t heard of Monica McInerney, you’re about to. The Australian-born author has already had success with “Upside Down Inside Out” and “Spin the Bottle.” Now, “Alphabet Sisters” becomes her first novel published in the States. The title sisters are Anna, Bett and Carrie who were young singing stars in Australia. They become estranged as adults – Bett’s fiancé left her to marry Carrie. Their grandmother, turning 80, is determined to reunite the girls. (Ballantine Books, $13.95)

Divorce, dancing, seduction and political intrigue in Castro’s Cuba are all parts of Patricia Chao’s “Mambo Peligroso.” It’s the story of Japanese-Cuban immigrant Catalina Ortiz Midori who divorces her WASP husband and falls under the spell of a one-eyed mambo teacher. (HarperCollins, $24.95)

If you’re dreaming of a wonderful vacation in, say, Italy, but can’t get away from your desk, “Tuscany in Mind,” may be just the ticket. The anthology, edited by Alice Leccese Powers, takes the reader to Northern Italy through the eyes of literary giants, who include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, E.M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence, Mary Shelly, Mark Twain, Lawrence Ferlinghetti among them. (Vintage, $14)