Vacation Books

Valerie's Recommended Non-Fiction

Underwater to Get Out of the Rain: A Love Affair With the Sea by Trevor Norton
Avid snorkelers and divers will love this book as much as you love the ocean.

Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside by Dr. Katrina Firlik
The Kitchen Confidential for brain surgeons

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell

Foodie Reads

Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford

The True History of Chocolate by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe

My Life in France by Julia Child

Valerie's Recommended Fiction

On the Fun Side:

Blessed are the Cheesemakers Sarah-Kate Lynch

Angles and Demons Dan Brown

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith

Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal Eric Schlosser

Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons Lorna Landvik

On the Deeper Side:

The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion
Ladder of Years Anne Tyler
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life Barbara Kingsolver
Memoirs of a Geisha   Arthur Golden
The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream Paulo Coelho
Broken For You Stephanie Kallos
Runaway   Alice Munro
For One More Day   Mitch Albom
The Known World Edward P. Jones
The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
The Amateur Marriage Anne Tyler
Honor Lost   Norma Khouri
The Three Junes   Julia Glass
Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson
The House of Sand and Fog Andre Dubus III
Forever Pete Hamill