You should read Baroque Cycle Volume 1: Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.  You can pass it off to you mom as a historical fiction book.  Tell her it is about Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and the ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV.  It is also about a guy with half a wang, pirates, and 17^th century banking, but you don’t have to tell your mom that.  If you like the first one then you can read the two other books in the series.