A. J. Jacobs

Speaking of "trivia-lovers", The Know-It-All is a memoir of the year the author spent trying to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.

A writer for Esquire magazine, A.J. Jacobs is the archetypal 30-something New Yorker, and his writing reflects this. I read this book in 2007, the year in which I became pregnant with my older daughter, which made reading about the author's encyclopedia quest alongside his sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating tales of his and his wife's attempts to have a baby all the more enjoyable.

I eagerly bought Jacobs' follow-up book, The Year of Living Bibically, his memoir of the year he spent following the bible as literally as possible. Again very relevant to my own life because the book included musings on his toddler son, and I read this around the time my older daughter was turning one. In addition, my husband and I were starting a dialogue about when and how to expose our daughter to religion (he's Christian, I'm Buddhist).

It seems so flippant to learn about Christianity from a humor writer, but after reading this book, I really gained a better understanding of my own feelings and opinions regarding Christianity, religious belief and spirituality.