The Know-It-All

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World (2004) by A.J. Jacobs. The author set himself the task of reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from front cover to back cover, a total of 33,000 pages, in his quest to become the "smartest person in the world." Meanwhile, his own personal life continues, and manages to occasionally find its way onto the pages of his book. An entertaining read. Grade: B+

The Post-Birthday World

The Post-Birthday World (2007) by Lionel Shriver. A woman, Irina McGovern, finds herself attracted to a man other than the one she has been living with for 10 years. They find themselves alone together and she is tempted to kiss him. Then, in alternating chapters, Shriver tells us what might have happened if she did kiss him -- and what might have happened if she didn't. Shriver gives us a dazzling display of plotting skill, as well as a pitch-perfect ability to switch from American English to English-English. Grade: A