Le Petit Nicolas by Sempé

I first met this book, as so many who have read it did, in a class - I am happy to say it didn't ruin the experience for me. It is one of the most delightful books ever, simple enough to follow even with first-year french, with ideas complex enough to amuse adults who get dragged into reading them for whatever reason. The English translations are also very fun, but if you have even a smattering of French, I strongly recommend trying the original. The chapters are short, complete stories in themselves, and written as if from the viewpoint of a schoolboy (Nicolas) who constantly gets into trouble of one sort or another - along with all of his friends. Excellent for dusting off French from ages back, or for reading to children (in French or in English, whichever is appropriate).

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Another favorite from my childhood, this has been easier than some of the others (Andy Buckram's Tin Men) to find for my children to enjoy. Delightful for elementary age on up: Well-written, good to read aloud, and a lovely episodic plot with a delightful overarching storyline. Highly recommended.

Vegetable Heaven By Mollie Katzen

Another of my favorite cookbooks; probably my favorite recipes from it are "Firecracker Red beans," "Baked Pineapple Pilaf," and a mixed grain dish I forget the name of but that we all call 'birdseed,' because it's made mostly of millet - very tasty.

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

This is a book - actually a series of books - about a Jewish family living in New York City in the early 1900's, right around the time of the first world war. When I first read it, I suppose it especially struck a note with me because this family - like the one I grew up in - is composed of five girls (though later in the series one baby brother is born). I think it also struck a note because while my family is not Jewish, we do practice our religion in ways that go beyond Sunday meetings- diet, customs, rituals, and holidays.
A beautiful piece of historical fiction; it is primarily a picture of family life, there mores and habits, and all the little things they do that are so ordinary to them and so surprising to us, a hundred years later. Beautifully written, excellent for reading aloud or for the elementary reader on up. Maybe I should note: a book that is good for reading aloud is one, to me, that is interesting enough for grown-ups, even if it was written for children.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I picked this book up from the local library a few years ago, shortly after it came out. Wonderful! For the first time ever, I really felt like I really understood the relationship between physics and astronomy. The arguments for and against human evolution - not over-simplified; and dozens of bits and pieces of stuff that just made lots of random science make sense as a cohesive whole. Very, very well done.

The Big Necessity by Rose George

I picked this up from the library new book display a few weeks back; it was very enlightening. It talks about the many ways people deal with sanitation, and the problems and effectiveness of each.
Written as a popular science work rather than a technical treatise, I sometimes wished the author would have given a bit more technical detail. Even so, the overall picture is very clear: human waste must be disposed of. Safely. Or people die. What works about the systems we use now, what doesn't, and what the options are. She doesn't offer clear-cut solutions - there don't seem to be any. But I would definitely recommend this to every adult - and many teens - as an essential part of knowing how the necessities of life work.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane austen

I would say the book Pride and Prejudice is about etiquette and how it affects people in their daily lives as much it is about Elisabeth Bennett and the diference between being well manered and truly being kind.
It was well written , rich in plot and all in all a excellent book.

Vital Friends by Tom Rath

This is for all my friends, but especially those who are parents of gifted children out there. I learned about this book from a lecture I found in the archives of the SENG [Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted] website. The lecture is titled The Problem of Loneliness: Finding Friends and Fitting in When You Are Gifted, and it's found on the Seng website, about two-thirds of the way down the page I have linked to here. The lecturer talks about the different roles friends play in our lives, how important they are, and recommends this book.
This book lists various roles different friends take, and talks about where to look, in our lives, for friends who fill various roles.
Marvelous book, highly, highly, highly recommended - not only by the lecturer I've mentioned here, but by myself.

Drive by Daniel Pink

Last year, for the first time in many years, I won a prize at the library's summer reading program - and this was the book. A quick read, very good - it talks about what truly motivates us, what that means for business and education. It didn't surprise me, but only because I'd had an organizational behavior class several years before that talked about the same things. This is the book that pulls that information into popular literature.

Shortly after I read this, my sister sent me a link to a lecture on it here - a beautiful summary, very well done. Highly recommended.

The Curry Book by Nancie McDermott

If you're into expanding the flavors you try without purchasing expensive, exotic ingredients, spices are a great way to go. Spices naturally lend themselves to curries - hence this book on my shelf. This is the book that taught me to make my own curry powder (Indian) - the short or the long way; curry paste (Thai) - red, green, or yellow; some fabulous chutneys; and now-perennial favorites such as Tandoori-Style Chicken, Black-eyed pea and eggplant curry; and Thai curry - any kind. Also has recipes for chapatis and curried cashew chicken salad (possibly my favorite).

Vegeterian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Another cookbook from early in my marriage, my copy is nearly unusable by now. The thing I love most about this book is that it includes nearly every fruit, vegetable, or plant I've ever heard of eating - and it tells you how to prepare them deliciously, giving not just recipes but basic principles of what to look for and how to fix. Quite possibly my favorites are the white bean soup; the bean and pasta dishes; and the golden caramelized tofu with peppers.