This historical romance set in mid-1700s Scotland is a cut above the usual "sex fest trying to pass for intellectual fiction by merit of being set in another time period." Which is not to say there isn't the usual quota of sex-festing, but the story apart from the main couple's inarguably fabulous (and extensively documented) sex life is also worth reading. After reading a book such as this, I ask myself, "Do I feel I know more about history now? Or just about historical costume and the color of the heroine's nipples?" With this book it's some of each, and that makes for a pleasing balance of history and entertainment. I especially enjoyed the time-travel element to the plot, and will now check out the next book in the series (Dragonfly in Amber, for those of you following along). A wee complaint: I could have used a pronunciation glossary in the back, and if Jamie (the utterly contrived Romance Novel Man, perfect in every way) said "Sassenach" one more time I thought I might go through the whole book with a black magic marker.

Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris (2000)

I loved this book of self-deprecating humorous essays. Forgive me for not saying more: I've been suffused with book review ennui lately, and it seems pointless to write when superior authors such as David Sedaris are already saying it better and funnier.