GREAT READS

The Cookbook Collector: A Novel

Allegra Goodman.

This is a book about two sisters, Emily and Jessamine Bach, during the heady days of the dot.com start-up blitz which heralded the beginnings of superstars like Yahoo and Google and the continued dominance of Microsoft. Emily, 28, is the CEO of just such a company, Veritech, while her little sister Jessamine, 23, is a grad student studying philosophy and working part-time at a bookstore while distributing leaflets for "Save the Trees". What makes the book so interesting is the way the people that come into their lives are connected in a six degrees of separation type way. The book also brings into question the importance of money and things in a world that increasingly emphasizes conspicuous consumption. Millions, even billions of dollars are made and spent with lightning speed and lost just as quickly. What it shows is that even though wealth can make things easier in many ways it is not the only key to happiness. Things like family, personal integrity and yes, even true love are the real keys.

Recommended by Cheryl Finnan