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I've thought long and hard about my Puddly vote and I keep coming back to this great book. It is far and away the funniest book of the year. Fey tells hilarious stories about the role theater played in her adolescence, what she learned at Second City, how she survived and thrived at Saturday Night Live, and how she created a hit sitcom. ("We weren't trying to make a low-rated critical darling... We were trying to make 'Home Improvement' and we did it wrong.") But it also reveals a lot about how to be a good boss, a good colleague, a good writer, a good improviser, a good parent, and a good spouse, and also how to hang on to dignity and sanity when you become the target of a national media frenzy. I've reread it six times already and expect to enjoy it for years to come.

An insightful and funny tour of how several European nations ensnared themselves in financial chaos. Lewis shows that the financial crisis of 2006- manifested itself in different ways in different nations but had common roots in the global availability of easy credit. And when he turns his eyes on California, it becomes clear that the United States is headed for its own kind of financial disaster, thanks to a political system that does nothing to correct the worst tendencies of its citizens (and probably exacerbates them instead). Lewis adds more than his usual dose of humor to his characteristically clear explanations. This book was enormously enjoyable to read, even though thinking about its ideas continues to frighten me long after I put it down.

Breathtaking. Lewis makes the collapse of the financial industry intelligible by telling the story of a few unlikely heroes: the tiny handful of investors who saw the disaster coming and bet against it. This gives the reader someone to root for in a story of cupidity and stupidity. In the process Lewis explains subprime lending, the derivatives built from subprime loans, the way that Wall Street firms structured themselves to make more money by selling bad investments than good ones, the failure of financial watchdogs, and Wall Street's willful disregard of risk -- to the point that the investment firms themselves started believing the lies they were telling customers, and invested their own assets in these shaky securities. In his characteristically engaging prose, Lewis shows exactly why Wall Street firms collapsed and exactly why their bankruptcies, if they had been allowed to happen, would have caused even greater economic chaos. And, in a too-brief epilogue, he shows that TARP served only to take the responsible parties off the hook. Lewis doesn't quite put things into historical perspective, but anyone who reads this book will be able to do so themselves. Highly recommended for everyone who invests and everyone who pays taxes.

An awfully funny book about the ways humans interact with their planet, and each other. If it's not quite as funny as "America (The Book)," it may be because it's harder to satirize general targets than specific ones. This book is at its best when it skewers specific targets, often by treating specific cases as general rules. Suitable for adult audiences who like laughing at human foibles or who seek wry grins, chortles, and howls of laughter.

A thoroughly readable look at seven iconic youth movies from the 1980s and the actors who starred in them. Gora provides background information on the filmmakers and actors on five John Hughes movies ("Sixteen Candles," "Breakfast Club," "Pretty In Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Some Kind of Wonderful"), plus Cameron Crowe's "Say Anything" and Joel Schumacher's "St. Elmo's Fire." She also describes how the "Brat Pack" label came to be applied to the key actors and its surprising effects on their careers and lives. Fans of the movies will enjoy reliving the films and discovering inside tidbits (like the change to the end of "Pretty In Pink," or the person who talked about Martin Sheen's heart attack to Emilio Estevez without knowing that Estevez is Sheen's son). Gora isn't a breathless admirer of these films, but she is an admirer nonetheless. She doesn't quite make the case for greatness that some of these films deserve, but she does make the case for their importance in cinema history, and makes a good argument about the emerging roles of cable TV and VCRs. Very worthwhile for general film fans, and especially anyone who loved these movies.

This is a terrific, clearly-written, agenda-free book about the systems that work so well that we can ignore them blithely: roads and transportation, stormwater drainage, water supply and sewage removal, electricity, garbage collection, and the cables that enable me to put this review out on powells.com – and also enable you to read it. Fans of books like David Macaulay's “The Way Things Work,” and possibly of books like Jane Jacobs's “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” and for that matter the depictions of house construction in Richard Scarry’s “What Do People Do All Day?,” will enjoy this on its own merit (although it's not illustrated). Fans of public policy will also appreciate the way it engages questions about the relationship of taxpayers to the services they pay for. As Huler writes, “neither Ayn Rand laissez-faire true belief nor touch-nothing environmental idealism answers the questions” raised by infrastructure.

One of the best books about baseball in years. Hayhurst's voice is distinctive and manages to be by turns funny, instructive, dark, and touching, and always insightful. We don't see many books about minor leaguers who aren't destined for success, and Hayhurst's marginal status allows him to give us an unusual perspective. In the end, though, he manages to find meaning in ways that any baseball fan, and perhaps anyone, will find valuable in their own lives. A terrific baseball book.

In Turow's latest novel, as in all his novels, he explores people and their relationships and the ways that the law parallels, and affects, these relationships. This gives Turow's novels a depth beyond the run-of-the-mill courtroom thriller. And yet that doesn't prevent "Innocent" from being a crackerjack page-turner. The reader is hooked on discovering which clues are red herrings and which are real -- and what is the meaning of each real clue. Did Rusty really do it, and what is he hiding? Turow handles the shift of perspective among the main characters fairly well, although I admit that one (and only one) character is presented in the third person, and that took some getting used to. But that's a small flaw in a hugely enjoyable book, Turow's best novel in years.

Another excellent Reacher adventure. As always, the suspense is taut and the story is relentless. Reacher is resourceful as always, the puzzles are right there in the open (I was half a step ahead of Reacher in the beginning, then half a step behind), and the action is first-rate. Child does a great job of setting the "ground rules" for each Reacher story, and the ground rules are never better than here. The ending is certainly unexpected, although I think I know where it will go in his next book. I've reviewed Child before. If you weren't convinced by me, would Stephen King's endorsement do anything for you?

This book is a surprise and a delight. Ferguson's life has been surprisingly varied and he writes about it with candor and charm. He is unflinching when he looks at his school days, his time in the punk and rock scenes of Scotland, his addictions to alcohol and narcotics, his personal relationships, and his work as an actor, director, and performer. His affection for America is genuine and permeates his story throughout. Yes, it's funny, but more than that it's a book that is honest and wise.

Despite its flaws, this is a worthwhile read for fans of "The Simpsons" and folks interested in the creation of television and movies. Ortved focuses mainly on the series' writers, and complements this with an impressive collection of quotations from published interviews and other sources. The interviews confirm his thesis that writers like George Meyer and John Swartzwelder are critically important to the show's distinctive voice, and that Matt Groening and James L. Brooks receive too much credit for the show. But it is damaging that Groening and Brooks, or even sympathetic colleagues, aren't among the interviewees; Hank Azaria's participation is welcome, but it makes the reader wonder why other voice actors weren't involved; it's helpful to hear from Klasky-Csupo animators, who were discarded for another studio, but key directors like Jim Reardon and Wes Archer are nowhere to be seen. The book is at its worst when Ortved injects too much of himself into the book and takes random potshots at people not involved in "The Simpsons." Nevertheless, Ortved does a valuable service by revealing how the show's origins, writers, and animators combined to produce an enduring classic.

Flinn celebrates the book musical, but also takes the time to explain how and why great shows succeed -- and why the book musical is almost exclusively a thing of the past. His discussion on why choreographers should be the only people allowed to direct musicals is provocative (and I don't agree with him) but it reveals key truths about the art form. The book also provides a fine reference guide to the sung and unsung heroes of the musical stage - composers, lyricists, choreographers, performers. For theatre buffs, this book is invaluable.

Martin is well known as a writer and actor, but for a few years in the late 1970s he was a comedy god, making three platinum albums and performing hundreds of sold-out arena shows. This is an unsparing but also unsentimental look at how he created that act, drawing on his interests in magic, the banjo, philosophy, and art, set against his unhappy family life and his nomadic days as a young performer and writer. Martin is smart enough to be able to comment on the nature of his act, even if he may not have understood it at the time, and honest enough to keep the reader enthralled. This is an exceptional book about both finding your voice and balancing your public and private personae.

Funny, thoughtful, and deeply affecting. This is, first, a memoir about how a baby-boomer only child deals with the death of both of his parents, and there are valuable ruminations about dealing with both the practical and emotional impact surrounding death and dying. Second, more enjoyably, it is a memoir about living with great people, and it makes the humorous and affectionate point that the things that make great people great can be incredibly annoying when you live with them every day.

A perceptive and comprehensive look at the elusive man one heartbeat away from the presidency. Gellman's reporting is astonishing, compiling the bits and pieces of Vice President Cheney's actions and writings into a coherent portrait of a man driven by a deep devotion to secrecy and loyalty, a philosophical attachment to extensive executive power, and a fear of catastrophe so great that he is willing to sacrifice law and peace to defend against it. This book is only competently written, but dazzlingly reported. Indispensable to understanding the man.

An incomparable book about the life of a player in today’s NFL. Fatsis undergoes the preparation needed to play in the NFL, earning the respect and trust of his new teammates. And by describing that regimen with perception and vividness he allows the reader to experience the life of an NFL player: the boredom and intensity, the hard work and goofing around, the things players can control and the things they can’t. He experiences the difference between performing in practice and performing under pressure. He experiences the arbitrary forces that lead teams to sign, cut, and re-sign players, as well as the rigidity that led to the nickname No Fun League. He experiences the disconnection between the players’ lived experience and the media’s reports of it, and shows the reader why players are so far removed from fans. Happily, Fatsis is able to recognize and describe the forces that separate the insiders from the outsiders in an engaging and engrossing manner. Today’s NFL is very different from the NFL described by George Plimpton in his classic Paper Lion, and this book is a worthy successor. It may even be a better book. A Few Seconds of Panic deserves the widest possible audience: fans, of course, but also athletes, coaches, and the media.

I'm a huge fan of Child and Reacher (see my review of "Bad Luck and Trouble"). But this is the first time I've felt that Child has done anything other than outdo himself. Fans will like it fine, but it lacks the suspense-in-overdrive of most other books in the series. Still, even a subpar Reacher novel is better than most suspense novels.

I thought this book was hilarious, and I've never seen a single episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond." It's a funny look at how writers transform their experiences into entertainment -- and yes, even art -- that touches the souls of performers and audience members. Rosenthal's personal experiences also illustrate the enormous role that luck and persistence play in "breaking in" to Hollywood. I suspect fans of the show will enjoy the book, too.

The most indispensable book about soul music. Guralnick argues for a distinct "Southern soul" sound, as distinguished from Motown or Chicago soul or other forms of "Northern soul," and traces its development from its twin roots in gospel song and Delta blues. He considers the giants of the soul tradition, from Ray Charles and Sam Cooke to Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin and Solomon Burke, as well as more obscure figures such as Doc Pomus, Spooner Oldham, and Joe Tex. He writes extensively about Stax Records, both the music and the company, and shows that the music's particular strength grew from a partnership between black and white musicians. For Guralnick, Stax in particular and Southern soul music in general represent the civil rights movement ideal of blacks and whites working together. Guralnick traces the decline of Stax to efforts to move the label towards a black-power position. While I wish Guralnick had done more to highlight the differences between Southern and Northern soul (in particular the jazz roots of Northern soul), this is still my favorite book about soul, because of Guralnick's astonishing portraits and the breadth of his canvas. One final word of warning: Guralnick writes about so many records and performers, in the narrative and in the extensive discography, that this book may lead you to spend hundreds of dollars on recorded music. Proceed with care... and delight.

Rich Eisen is smart and witty, but so are a lot of his peers. What separates him from other sportscasters in the cable era is that he never slides into self-parody, and that serves him very well as he covers a league that is utterly humorless about itself. It's hard to imagine that there are things about the NFL that fans have never heard, but Eisen manages to find a bunch of them. Admittedly, most of them are about nuts and bolts of NFL business and broadcasting, but Eisen makes it all seem like breezy fun. This is a worthwhile book for casual and hardcore NFL fans alike.

Don't come to this book expecting either high hilarity or Punichello-style mawkishness. Yes, it is funny sometimes and sad sometimes. But the strength of Martin's astonishing memoir is the simplicity, honesty, and directness of his revelations and insights about himself and his art. His comedy embodied absurdity, but he explains how it grew from a rigorous intelligence and discipline. He is a famously private person, but he reveals intimate details of his life with breathtaking candor. He explains his work and his creative process with clarity and discernment, but never degenerates into self-aggrandizement or navel-gazing. Like Martin himself, the book is impossible to classify, and it lingers with you long after it ends. Highly recommended.

This book provides a good overview of the last twenty-five years of Supreme Court nominations. The animating question is, Why didn't the Reagan and Bush nominations roll back the liberal activism of the Warren and Burger course, as most people thought and/or hoped they would? Crawford Greenburg shows how individual personalities and individual battles have shaped the Court -- for instance, how Thomas's doctrinaire approach drove Kennedy to the center. Crawford Greenburg is certainly sympathetic to disappointed conservatives, though she stops short of making this a conservative polemic. She says that the current president has worked to "avoid the mistakes of his father," which is an interesting insight that may explain much about his administration in general. She is clearly too generous in this regard -- the Miers nomination is a mistake, but she doesn't blame the president for it -- but this is a minor flaw in an engaging and useful book. Crawford Greenburg has done great research and reporting, and her narrative carries the reader along. Some liberals with low boiling points will be enraged by it, but those who are willing to consider the conservative perspective will find a lot of value here.

This is easily the best academic satire novel ever written in the US, and arguably the best ever. It gets all the details right -- the frustrations and pettiness of colleagues, the promises and disappointments of students, the inscrutability of central administration, and the peculiar mix of public attention that a university gets. It is laugh-out-loud funny. And, perhaps most distinctively, it is grounded not in cynicism but in an affectionate optimism about teaching and learning and the people who do them. Buy twelve copies and give them as gifts.

This is easily the best academic satire novel ever written in the US, and arguably the best ever. It gets all the details right -- the frustrations and pettiness of colleagues, the promises and disappointments of students, the inscrutability of central administration, and the peculiar mix of public attention that a university gets. It is laugh-out-loud funny. And, perhaps most distinctively, it is grounded not in cynicism but in an affectionate optimism about teaching and learning and the people who do them. Buy twelve copies and give them as gifts.

This is the best book I've read about the business of football. Maske's year-long time frame enables him to show how free agency and the draft work together with other roster management strategies, as well as how teams respond to each other's moves. Maske does a great job of explaining how the salary cap works and illustrates it with concrete examples. Not a book for figuring out why this quarterback was benched in Week 9, but for why teams manage their rosters as they do. Maske's a fine writer and a great reporter. This book is a must for football fans who think beyond Xs and Os.

This is an insightful and provocative look at collegiate education. Lewis argues that the faculty is too often complicit in exacerbating the worst unfortunate trends in undergraduate education, but they do have the opportunity to change this. It's a commonplace that the professoriate has become more interested in research, and consequently it has become less interested in undergraduate education. Lewis shows how this has played out in core curriculum requirements, academic advising, grade inflation, access, athletics, and other areas of the academy. He is unhappy with what faculty have allowed to happen, but he believes firmly that they have the ability to change it. The reader may not agree with all of Lewis' suggestions (I don't), but the book will be valuable and challenging to any faculty leader and anyone who cares about undergraduate education.

The tale of the Pentagon includes the political struggle to find a site, secure appropriations, pacify Congressmen, and work with commissions; the race to build the world's largest office building in wartime; the design and construction problems and solutions; the personal stories of the leaders (and many ordinary workers) who got the job done; the story of the 1967 march on the Pentagon; the frightening account of the September 11 attack; and the inspirational effort to rebuild the building. Steve Vogel is dogged enough to do all the reporting and skilled enough to tell all the strands of this tale. He doesn't hesitate to criticize military men or their civilian colleagues and leaders, but he is also willing to show the admirable qualities of the people who work in the Pentagon. The book is exciting, funny, vivid, detailed, and ultimately moving. Specialists will enjoy reading about urban planning, design, construction, and renovation. But it will also appeal to those interested in politics, in World War II, in getting big jobs done, and in the stories of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.

I don't usually like books about animals and their relationships with people, but I was charmed by this one. Most books about animals do too much to sentimentalize and anthropomorphize the animals. But the titular pig of this book is heroic precisely because of his animal nature and the delight he takes in the simple aspects of life -- eating, walking, lying in the sun with a loved one. More than that, he has the ability to communicate this message to the humans in his life, especially the narrator. He's not a pet, but a creature with his own dignity, and that's all to the good. For teens and older.

This is a hilarious, witty, and insightful book about life. It's about being an oddball and being excluded and trying to fit in; it's about standing up for yourself when bosses and coworkers doubt and harass you; it's about the nature of friendship; it's about following your dreams and being true to yourself. Quite incidentally, it is also a book about baseball and the daily life of a baseball player. I reread this book at least once a year and it always rewards me. It's not for kids, but teenagers can certainly handle it; in fact, no book is as appropriate for teenagers who are trying to figure out how to behave in a grownup world.

The story of Jim Thorpe and of the game between Carlisle and West Point are familiar enough to sports fans, but they are only small parts of the story of the Carlisle Institute. Jenkins' engaging narrative, told in her straightforward journalistic voice, skillfully depicts Carlisle and its founder, Richard Henry Pratt. The book shows what Carlisle's gridiron accomplishments meant to the larger culture and especially to Native American cultures. Fans of football history will find much to enjoy, as will fans of Native American history.

McManus is a good player and an even better writer. Unlike many amateurs who sit down at the Big Game, McManus is a touchingly vulnerable protagonist. He knows he really shouldn't be spending the money to enter the tournament, because it could cover several months of his family's expenses; he knows that most of his competitors are better players than he is, including T.J. Cloutier, who literally wrote the book on tournament poker (well, co-wrote it; McManus says he used Cloutier's book as a textbook); and he knows just how big a part luck plays in winning a big tournament. His self-doubts make him a better hero. McManus interweaves his story with the true-crime tale of the death of gambling heir Ted Binion, but the Binion material pales beside the compelling account of his journey to the final table of the World Series of Poker.

If you want to know what it's like to be a world-class poker player -- or to play against one -- then this is the best book to read. The current poker boom is full of rags-to-riches tales of amateurs who use strong skills and stronger luck to win poker's open championships. This story is different: it is the compelling tale of how a wealthy amateur set out to defeat the best poker players in the world. Michael Craig gives us a fascinating portrait of the world where the top pros live when the cameras are off -- their schedules of public tournaments and private cash games, and their complicated relationships with one another. He also enters deftly into the mindset of the challenger, a man who is committed to doing whatever it takes to gain an edge against the pros and who has the time and money to do so. It's a genuine page-turner that will have you rooting for both sides in this battle of will and skill. Highly recommended.

Another winner from Lee Child. Two things make Child an exemplary thriller writer. First, he's an exceptional plotter. The story moves at a breathtaking pace and twists enjoyably, often simply when a character looks at the same facts in a different way. Second, Child is a master at drawing characterizations with a few swift strokes. His style is deceptively minimalist. If you're not already a Reacher fan, go ahead and jump on board. Existing fans of Reacher don't need to be convinced.

This is as funny, and as good, as "Thank You For Smoking." Maybe even better. The big topics in the book -- Social Security, blogging, euthanasia, generational stereotypes, the cynicism of the political process, and a foundering presidential administration -- give Buckley plenty of opportunity for satire. And even the throwaway one-liners are laugh-out-loud funny; jokes about Wheeling, West Virginia, and the name of an aspiring student journalist are just two of the witty references that permeate the book. Buckley is so good that even his lesser works are satisfying. It's a joy to see him at the top of his form, as he is here. Highly recommended, for both the Jon Stewart and Johnny Carson sets.

It?s a relief to say this is a terrific novel, closer to the wonderful "Kavalier & Clay" than "Summerland" or "Wonder Boys," both of which I found disappointing. The story is principally a hardboiled detective novel in the style of Raymond Chandler, but the unusual setting ? a Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska, in a world where the state of Israel died aborning ? allows Chabon to apply the conventions of the genre in fresh and enjoyable, even delightful, ways. The early stages of the novel are slower, with a little too much time spent on character development and not enough on plot or setting. The imaginative setting raises all kinds of questions ? what?s it like to live in Sitka? what kind of TV and movies and music do they enjoy, American, Canadian, or homegrown? is there more than one perspective on Tlingit-Jew relations? how did geopolitics evolve, especially in the Middle East, without Israel? ? that Chabon mostly leaves unanswered. But the plot accelerates nicely about a third of the way in, and the story and the setting collide in satisfying ways. The characters are well drawn, even the minor ones. And Chabon nicely balances the existential despair of the hardboiled genre with the essential optimism-under-pressure of Jewish lore. Chabon invents a number of Yiddish slang words, Jewish sects, and religious concepts in his story. You don?t have to be Jewish, or familiar with Judaism and Yiddish and Israel, to enjoy the novel ? but it helps.