Unmentionable: the Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill

In this snarky, casual book, the modern reader receives a no-holds-barred look at what hygiene, fashion, and society were REALLY like for women in the 19th century.

BBC melodramas, romance novels, and the balm of time have worked a true magic: the past has become so sanitized and glossy that we pine for the days of chivalry - completely forgetting that there was poop everywhere, the ownership and operation of your vagina was a medical mystery, and a stricter-than-strict social code of mores meant you were hardly allowed to speak.

This is a funny book that puts you right into the action. The author is speaking directly to YOU the reader, and even responds to your questions and complaints as she imagines you'd be having them. Not in any way scholarly, but certainly educational!

The Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater ... That Grandma Knit by Debbie Macomber & Mary Lou Carney

For his birthday, Cameron's Grandma Susan made him a bright, colorful sweater with big buttons. That he will never, ever wear. So he spends a lot of time over the course of the year trying to hide it, get rid of it, ruin it, and otherwise ensure that he'll never be seen wearing it.

Until Grandma comes, and he finds out why the sweater is so special. Carter gets a wider view of the love and care that went into his birthday present, and maybe a wider view of the world.

Sometimes your gifts aren't received with the grace that was intended, and this is a cute book with a lovely ending. But the text is a bit awkward in places, and once I was even convinced that I must be missing a page because the transition was so abrupt. Overall, it's an interesting book, but could have used better editing.

Undateable by Ellen Rakeiten & Anne Coyle

An illustrated guide to "311 things guys do that guarantee they won't be dating or having sex" - things like overly groomed facial hair, socks with sandals, using slang for female body parts, and whipping out the coupons while on a date.

I especially enjoyed the grading system: red flag, storm clouds on the horizon, not getting any, and the kiss of death. Some things are just a little bad - others go beyond the point of no return.

Funny, and fun to flip through - although I'm not sure I'd recommend buying this one. Check it out from the library (like I did) ... or maybe give a copy to someone clueless who needs it!

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs

Jacobs has made a career writing about his social experiments: his first book was about reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica from A-Z, and his second was about living for a year following all the rules in the Bible. Each chapter in this book is a smaller experiment - outsourcing your life, absolute truth-telling, impersonating a movie star, etc.

I didn't realize when I ordered this book that I'd actually read his first book too; I didn't know it was the same guy. Jacobs is funny and, as he's told all the time, his wife Julie must be a saint for putting up with him.

Because he limits his social experiments to a month each, you don't really get bored with the idea. You get a taste of the benefits and drawbacks, then A.J. moves on to the next project. Many of the experiments are really interesting, and would be worth implementing into your own life, albeit on a more limited, reasonable scale.