This is a strange book, but it's strange because it's packed with so many great characters. It's the story of a little boy, Owen Meany, who has a peculiar voice and believes he is an instrument of God.

This is a sweeping story of someone new to America who runs into the best and worst of people. The kindness—and the harshness—Lillian finds along the way represents, I think, the real experience of our country.

The novel has wine, guillotines, revolution! It has the storming of the Bastille! It has Madame Defarge, one of the best villains in any literary novel. At the end, it's got a little romantic switcheroo: One man stands in the place of another and dies for the woman he loves.

One of the lines from this book that I love is: "All you can do is show up for someone in crisis. Your there-ness...can be life giving, because often everyone else is in hiding." That's just killer.

Full disclosure: Amy is a friend, and I have tasted her cupcakes. They're really, really good. (And that is not a euphemism.) I Like You is a spin on those 1960s cookbooks about how to make a nice home and how to entertain. I picked it because I love the character Amy plays: a hostess from the '60s, in cheap hosiery, wigs, and crazy costumes.