Jessica recommends:

". . . And Ladies of the Club" the title deeply irritates my husband, because of the punctuation. I can look beyond those things, to what is one of the finest novels I had read in a long time. It's a wonderful story of a small town over four generations (and 1400 pages). Also, I really like to say the author's name: Helen Hooven Santmyer. It's the 'Hooven' that gets me.

I also recommend Sarah Vowell's "Take the Cannoli". Vowell was the voice of Violet in "The Incredibles" and is an NPR music reviewer. She has a sly, dry wit and is hilarious. Rather like a female Dave Sedaris.

And in movies: Constantine was wonderful. Beyond the Sea was great for Spacey's singing, but rather confusing narration-wise. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was simply sublime. "Daddy, I want another pony."