The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (Vintage International)

[description of book]: Investigative journalism for the mundane. Looking around us, at the parts of our life we never question – how food gets into the grocery stores, how television signals are broadcast, what exactly a career counselor does at work, how accountants find fulfillment in their jobs – and digging deeper than any of us would have assumed was possible.

I’m not sure I liked this book. It was an interesting concept, but I think the author and I had clashing personalities. When our Reader Guild met to discuss it, I was trying to convince them that he had made a woman cry. But it turns out he may have just been making a joke at his own expense – she excused herself because he was weird, not so that she could go cry in the bathroom.

The discussion of this book was rich, as we revealed our strong (if unformed) feelings about capitalism, market research, biscuits, HR policies, electricity, and dead fish.

I maintain that, if every chapter had ended with a quote from an 8-year-old, I would have enjoyed the book much more.