Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe and Sabine Streeter (2000)

I unequivocally loved this book. It's a series of first-person essays based on interviews with Americans about their jobs. Fascinating look at people and their jobs, where sometimes the job itself is fascinating, sometimes the actual person is the fascinating part. The essays are beautifully done and imperceptibly edited--so conversational, just like you're sitting down with someone and they're telling you a really interesting story. LOVED. Provides amazing insight into people's everyday lives.  Some of my very favorites were the husband and wife truckers, the bus driver, the buffalo rancher, the barbecue cooks, and the prison guard.  So many gems of wisdom that can apply to a number of jobs--even a librarian:

 "I wish I had more good days than I do. Because the good days are very good. And it's a good job, overall it is. It's just kind of up and down sometimes, you know? So when you have a good day, you save those days. You hope to have more days like them than you do. My last good day was about two weeks ago. Nobody said anything. Everybody paid. I didn't get cussed at, nobody tried to pull a fast one over me. Everything went real smooth. No traffic, no accidents, no hazards, That was precious." (p. 187 - bus driver)

"If they get excited, they get in trouble. They'll run into a fence or break it down, so be patient. Slow. Keep your mouth shut. Best way to handle them is to put some duct tape over your mouth. If you get excited, they'll get lost or get away, you'll scare them. When you sort them, be quiet. Patient and slow." (p. 225 - buffalo rancher)

"Other than that, you basically just hang out. You don't really work, you just enforce rules and make sure they don't fight and aren't killing each other." (p.549 - prison guard)

My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe (2010)

Subtitled Risking it all for a Convenience Store.   This is a fascinating story about an editor at the Paris Review who buys a deli in Brooklyn with his wife for their Korean in-laws.   He spends his time between working to make the deli a success (and get along with his in-laws) and working in Manhattan at George Plimpton's townhouse for the Review.  Interesting inside story into how a deli is run, and all of the interactions with customers, vendors and the community.  Much struggle and some hilarity ensue.

I listened to this on audio, read by Bronson Pinchot.  Pinchot's reading is fabulously expressive, and he does a dead-on George Plimpton.   His narration made all of the characters so endearing and hilarious--even when I got a big impatient with Howe.  One of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to, ever.

Remember Me by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (2006)

Subtitled: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death.  Time writer Cullen explores some of the stranger customs emerging around death, including modern mummification, green burials, and even making diamonds out of your loved ones' cremains. Well written, and includes lovely sidebars about each person's life and death (inspired by Vows in the NYT, according to the author). Reminded me in the best way of Susan Orlean.

Gimme Shelter by Mary Elizabeth Williams (2009)

Subtitled: Ugly Houses, Cruddy Neighborhoods, Fast-talking Brokers, and Toxic Mortgages: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream, this is a personal story of the author's search for a home in New York City. Williams has an engaging, endearing, self-deprecating tone that makes the whole book a pleasure to read. Plus, she has a wide circle of friends with different experiences in the housing market all across the country, so it helps broaden the focus. She pops in facts here and there, but they're well woven into the narrative and she has lovely turns of phrase. Just a great book that goes through all of the many dramas and joys involved in becoming a homeowner.

Choosing Civility by P.M. Forni (2002)

Subtitled The 25 Rules of Considerate Conduct, Forni strips away all the trimmings of etiquette and manners, and brings it down to the basic truths of civility. His rules are wonderful, and I think the world would be a better place if everyone read this book and lived by these rules.

The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger (2007)

Interesting exploration of how the "star machine" functioned in Hollywood's golden age by one of the best film history authorities around.  Fascinating case studies of actors including Lana Turner, Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power show who the machine worked for, who it didn't, and the effect it had on their careers.

Answering 911 by Caroline Burau (2006)

Really interesting book about an ex-drug addict who gets a job at a 911 dispatch center in the St. Paul suburbs. A little writerly, but lots of interesting stories, and engagingly written.

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart (2007)

Charming slip of a memoir about a woman who spent a summer during college working at Tiffany in New York. Lovely look at life in New York during wartime, quite evocative of the period. She was in Times Square on V-J Day!

Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities by Alexandra Robbins (2004)

Robbins follows four girls through their first year of pledging at sororities at a (probably) Southern university. Although not much is news here (apparently, sororities are hotbeds of binge drinking, cruel behavior and racism), this is an entertaining, gripping read.

Columbine by Dave Cullen (2009)

Amazingly researched and written non-fiction book on the Columbine killings. The media coverage and the police coverups are astonishing, as well as the myths that still live on about the tragedy. Quite excellent reading.

In His Sights by Kate Brennan (2008)

Subtitled A True Story of Love and Obsession.  Really interesting story about a woman who meets a man with some serious issues, falls in love, has a trying relationship, and breaks up with him. The second half of the book describes his relentless stalking she experienced from him. Her experience is pretty horrifying, but she tells it without a great deal of self-pity--despite having to even write this book under a pseudonym.

Never Enough by Joe McGinniss (2007)

True crime about a rich, successful investment banker and his wife, who has an affair and ends up murdering her husband. Compellingly written look at a pretty messed up family, and the lives of the rich and tawdry.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (2002)

Subtitled: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America.  Absorbing parallel tales of the building of the 1892 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the serial killer who preyed on the visitors to the fair. Richly and beautifully described.

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival by Stanley N. Alpert (2007)

From the cover: "On January 21, 1998, federal prosecutor Stanley Alpert was kidnapped off the streets of Manhattan. This is the story of what happened next . . ." Amazing memoir, unbelievably riveting and wonderfully written. Impossible to put down.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (2005)

In this gripping memoir, Walls takes the reader through her unconventional childhood, spent in often unbelievable poverty. Fascinating, unsentimental and impossible to put down.   There's simply nothing more to say.

Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett (2004)

Memoir in which Patchett writes about her longtime friendship with poet and author Lucy Grealy. They became friends at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and supported each other through friends, lovers, books, and more. But, Grealy, who had more than a little self-destructive streak, eventually became quite hard to be friends with, and this book is an interesting exploration of friendship, depression, and along the way, writing.

The State Boys Rebellion by Michael D'Antonio (2004)

Amazing non-fiction about the Fernald State School for the Feebleminded, where boys of low IQ and boys in unfortunate circumstances were locked away and treated awfully, included having radiation testing without their knowledge. Well written and gripping book on a subject that is a bit lost to history.

Candyfreak by Steve Almond (2004)

Very good personal essay/informative nonfiction book about, yes, candy. Would it be too clichéd to say it was sweet? It was. Like the best candy, it was sweet, nostalgic and doesn't leave too much of an aftertaste.

Green With Envy by Shira Boss (2006)

Subtitled Why Keeping Up with the Joneses is Keeping Us in Debt, this is a fascinating non-fiction book about the emotions surrounding money and what we perceive to be other's money. The book starts out with a story about the author's envy of her neighbor, moves on to tell the story of senators' financial situations, and introduces us to a sensible couple who move to a gated community and, essentially, lose it completely.

City: Rediscovering the Center by William H. Whyte (1989)

Exploring every aspect of city life--from pedestrian behavior on the street to skyways to plazas and parks to sun and shadows--this is a fascinating sociological analysis of city life and planning. You're guaranteed never to look at city streets the same way again.