What Should I Do with My Life? : The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question, Po Bronson

Po Bronson spends a great deal of time protesting that he doesn't know what you should do with your life and doesn't want to influence you, he then spends pages explaining how he talked with lots of lost people who were asking themselves what they should be doing and cleared that question right up for them. The book is an exploration around the idea we seem to have that we all have a vocation waiting or us if we could just figure out what it is or how to get to it. Bronson interviewed many people in an effort to explore these issues, and tells us way more than we want to know about how he himself has dealt with them. I was annoyed with Bronson's tone in this book, and with his all-knowing attitude. Moreover, the book doesn't really come to any real point, much less any conclusions. Bronson can't possibly answer that question for all the people who will read the book, but neither does he give his readers any real tools for doing so themselves.

Victoria's Daughters, Jerrold M. Packard

I knew a lot of about the long-lived, long-armed, long-loving Queen Victoria and when I read a reference to this book I was curious about about her daughters, about whom I knew nothing. "Victoria's Daughters" chronicles the lives of her five daughers, some of whom married royally and others of whom were quite retiring. The five princesses were in a bad position with an egocentric parent that never let them forget that she was the queen and also lived so long that they were never able to live independent lives. Vicky, Alice, Lenchen, Beatrice and Louise had their entire lives arranged by Victoria; Vicky and Alice were even outlived by their mother. The book is clearly sympathetic to the girls and fairly critical of Victoria's mothering skills in this fairly intimate look at the difficulties of royal life.

The Wife, Meg Wolitzer

Another book for the surprise-ending category. "The Wife" is the story of a husband and wife who meet as teacher and graduate student. The husband, a well-known novelist, is receiving a coveted literary prize. His wife has decided to end the marriage as soon as he gets his prize. Much of the book is written as a flashback during the award ceremony and the festivities surrounding it. The husband is clearly guilty of being a prick, the suspense of the book comes in discovering in just how much of a prick he is. I quite enjoyed this book, except for the ending, which seemed to twist the meaning of the book back on itself (I can't say more about this without giving about the entire plot and spoiling the book for you.). Nonetheless, I recommend this one.