Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Do you need a last minute gift for a friend? How about a stocking stuffer for your sister or sister-in-law? Or maybe you just need a good book to read and relax with on December 26th? Friends have I got the book for you! Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple is a perfectly quick, clever and fun read. Just the kind of book that will be great to read once all the holiday rush is over.

Amazon says: Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle -- and people in general -- has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

This book is a must read for anyone that likes an "off-beat" story. Think The Royal Tenenbaums or I Heart Huckabees, creative geniuses trying to make their way among the rest of us. Trust me - it really is a great read!