Wine Wars: The Curse of the Blue Nun, The Miracle of Two Buck Chuck, and the Revenge of the Terroirists by Mike Veseth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great read. Veseth doesn't get snobbish about wine or deep into economic theory. It is essentially the story of the global wine market, but the cultural/sociological component of the tale was the most interesting part to me. Learning about grocery giants like Costco and Trader Joe's was fascinating. He writes in a conversational style and suggests wines for you to taste along the way. I learned a lot and I feel a little more confident about approaching the wine wall at the grocery store!

Full disclosure: Veseth is a professor at the college where I work.

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Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You know, after all the hubbub surrounding Weiner's criticism of the media's coverage of Franzen's Freedom, it is interesting how similar these two books are. I've always been a fan of Weiner and bristled a bit about the chick lit label (which she has completely embraced). Weiner and Franzen write about similar things. A couple going through life's troubles and how it impacts their families and friends. Fly Away Home is called chick lit and Freedom is called a great American novel. Go figure.

p.s. I liked both books.

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