and three honorable mentions:
The McMasters Guide to Homicide: Murder Your Employer, Rupert Holmes (fiendish convoluted plot follows three people at a "school for murder" with good reason to "off" their boss)
True North: Travels in Arctic Europe, Gavin Francis (from Shetland all the way to Svalbard, a fascinating tour of the northlands; hey, it's me—you didn't expect me to read about gross tropical places, did you?)
Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady, Susan Quinn (Mrs. Roosevelt and the hard-hitting reporter who let the country know about the realities of the Depression)
Did I Ever Tell You This?, Sam Neill (Neill's folksy and informal memoir; like chatting with the chap at a pub)
The Bluebird Effect, Julie Zickefoose (memoirs of a bird rehabilitator, with Zickefoose's stunning watercolors of birds and landscapes)
Revolutionary Roads, Bob Thompson (touring American Revolutionary War historic sites, with the stuff you never learned in history class)
Marmee, Sarah Miller (the diary of Mrs. March from Little Women, the flip side of the classic book)
Life on the Mississippi, Rinker Buck (travels on a flatboat down the mother of rivers; before interstate trucks and the railroad, the rivers and their flatboats were the lifeline of the U.S.)
Together We Will Go, J. Michael Straczynski (a busload of like-minded people, headed for suicide doesn't sound very appealing, but this book is ultimately life-affirming and will make you cry)
The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May (May's journey to understanding her autism)
In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger (if just simply for three stories, including the one where a protagonist reminds me of Robert Goren)
Travels With George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy, Nathaniel Philbrick (Philbrick and his wife, and sometimes their dog, follow George Washington's tour of the United States during his Presidency)
Fabric, Victoria Finley (I hate sewing, but I love V. Finley; typically, this was magic!)
Runners-Up
Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters, Anne Boyd Rioux (is Alcott still relevant? damn straight she is!)
Creatures of the Kingdom, James Michener (a compilation of the nature chapters from Michener's epic novels)
The Secret History of Christmas Baking: Recipes & Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys, Linda Raedisch (who knew gingersnaps and fruitcake could have such historical ancestry?)
