Christine

Forever by Pete Hamill
As someone who loves fictional New York history, this book did not disappoint. A man gets granted eternal life but can't leave the island of Manhattan, so he sees it change from the 1700s up through September 11th. It's obviously got a mystical element that I loved, but the New York stuff, from native Brooklynite and Daily News writer Pete Hamill, is well researched and super interesting.

The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
This was the best book about the birth experience that I read, and I think that every soon-to-be parent and birth partner should read it.

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
Recommended by an Italian friend who read it in the original Italian and loved it, this book is a very intense, very quick read. You are living inside the head of a woman scorned, but it's nothing like the stereotypical melodramatic portrayals of this kind of story. It's gritty and dark and you go a bit crazy along with the main character. It's amazing.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
If you're going to read one book about our food system and how you can make small differences in your own food choices, this is the one to read. Kingsolver is an amazing writer to begin with, but this personal journey of her family to eat only what they grew or their neighbors grew for one year is a really life-altering story. It won't scare you to death like other books on the subject, but it might make you want to move to a farm and start growing your own food, stat.
 
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
This is one of the most unique books I've read, it really is about one person's ordinary life but told through diagrams and charts and illustrations and it's funny and poignant and great. Read it.