Non-Fiction
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingslover. "This is about a year spent eating food grown by the author's family or within 100 miles of their home -- but written by a fiction writer, who I like - and its supposed to be great. I have not read it yet, but one the customer reviews on amazon says 'This is a must-read for anyone who eats' -- so I guess that includes most of us?"
Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky. “Writer meets chef (Spike Mendelsohn, of Top Chef fame) and they fall in love. Writer moves to DC. Loathes it. Has horrible time in relationship. Confesses to outing herself while trying to email the WaPo with a blind item about herself and the chef. Sex, food, a little self-loathing... I liked it a lot.”
Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox: by Stella Tillyard. From Amazon: "An intimate, detailed portrayal of the lives of four eighteenth-century sisters, great granddaughters of King Charles II who lived wealthy, public lives. It is based on diaries and letters and reveals the joys and tragedies they shared."
The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes. "It's not great literature but it's great fun. If you love The Princess Bride (and who doesn't, right?) then this is a real treat to listen to. Cary Elwes is the primary voice but Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal etc etc all chime in to tell you how much they enjoyed making the movie. Don't expect ANY dirt - this is a love fest and I loved every second of it".
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. New York Times best seller about the rise and fall of multibillion-dollar biotech startup Theranos, founded by Elizabeth Holmes. “The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.” —Bill Gates.
Bad Days in History: A Gleefully Grim Chronicle of Misfortune, Mayhem, and Misery for Every Day of the Year by Michael Farquhar. “Tons of fun, very much in the Michael Farquhar style, which I love. It's the kind of book you can have on a coffee table and people will pick it up, look for their birthday, then keep thumbing through it, laughing. Great gift for people who love history and trivia.”
Being Catholic Now edited by Kerry Kennedy “A just-published collection of short interviews with prominent Catholic Americans, including Peggy Noonan, Cardinal McCarrick, E.J. Dionne, Dan Ackroyd, Bill O’Reilly, Andrew Sullivan and Anna Quindlen on where they see the Catholic Church in the wake of the abuse scandal, what their Catholic upbringing was like and what they’d do if they were Pope for a year. Kerry Kennedy, who is Robert Kennedy’s daughter, tells her own story as well. Fascinating.”
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. “Thought provoking and, at times, difficult to listen to book - but one that I would highly recommend to everyone. It especially hit home now that I'm in those sandwich years between the kids/grandkids and the aging parent. Almost every story and aspect of this book was recognizable in my own life and made me think about how I need to deal with other people's health and mortality as well as my own. Sounds pretty heavy but Gawande makes it all very accessible. Highly recommend!”
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. “He's a beautiful writer. Extremely thought provoking. I would highly recommend to anyone interested in language, social issues, history. The list goes on and on.”
The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Cult. "I thoroughly enjoyed this book from last year’s list, the history of a summer house on Cape Cod. It helped that I read it while I was staying in a house that had been in a family (not mine) for generations and had to be sold, mirroring exactly what was in the book."
Black Boy by Richard Wright. “If you haven't read this classic coming of age autobiography in school or in college, you should make sure you read it now. It is a beautifully written memoir of life in the deep South in the early 20th century for a black boy who is struggling to figure out how to come to terms with his family and the way society deals with racial issues. Eventually he finds his way north to Chicago and as a young adult tries to forge his identity as he becomes involved in political movements. The story is compelling and forceful and difficult to put down.”
The Blessing Of A Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis (NB: I think this one might be more for the men in your life -- it was recommended by Drew, the one male contributor to this list.) "Football version of Lewis’ “Moneyball” (baseball). The quarterback is the highest played player on all NFL teams. What position usually garners the second highest paycheck? Read The Blind Side to find out.
Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides. “In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. In Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides gives us a magnificent history of the American conquest of the West. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.”
Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn. A recommendation from a friend who knows the players (cue spooky music!). From Amazon: "When Kirn first met Clark Rockefeller, he was smitten by the man’s wealth and eccentricities. Coming off a failed marriage (to the daughter of Thomas McGuane and Margot Kidder), Kirn was a bit of a wreck, as was Rockefeller. The two men were drawn to each other. As the friendship progressed--into some uneasy terrain--Kirn ignored the clues 'spread out for [him] to read,' and plowed ahead to become a confidant and enabler. Except, it turns out, Clark wasn’t a Rockefeller at all. Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter was, as Kirn puts it, 'the most prodigious serial imposter in recent history.'"
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef 
Blue Nights by Joan Didion. From Amazon: “From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter.” Another reviewer says: “Although I loved her description of the blue nights, the book is about the death of her daughter and yet she never explains why her daughter died. Didion struck me as a name dropping, self-centered person. It was not nearly as moving as The Year of Magical Thinking - about her husband's sudden death.”