Gap Year for Grown-ups
What Would You do With a Year Off?
 
 
 
Obviously, very few of us have the time
(or privilege) to take a year off
from work or family obligations.  
But we can read about people who did.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : a Year of Food Life
 
by Barbara Kingsolver

Follows the author's family's efforts to live on locally and home-grown foods, an endeavor through which they learned lighthearted truths about food production and the connection between health and diet. 
Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology
 
by Eric Brende

An MIT graduate working through an Institute program to study the effects of technology on society describes his year-long residence in a Mennonite-type community and recounts how his wife and he experienced reduced stress levels, weight loss, and overall life satisfaction throughout the course of their stay.
The Big Year : a Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
 
by Mark Obmascik

Follows the 1998 Big Year competition between Sandy Komito, Al Levantin, and Greg Miller during which the three rivals risked their lives to set a new North American birding record, an event that took them to such locales as Del Rio in search of the rufous-capped warbler and British Columbia in pursuit of the Xantus' hummingbird.
Buzz : a Year of Paying Attention
 
by Katherine Ellison

A Pulitzer Prize winner recounts her journey to understand and reconnect with her high-spirited preteen son — a story bound to beguile parents grappling with their children’s bewildering behavior.
 
Coop : a Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting
 
by Michael Perry

The author recounts his haphazard forays into farm life and parenthood, an effort marked by his Christian fundamentalist upbringing, his wife's decision to give birth at home, the death of a close friend, and a pair of backside-biting pigs.
The Geography of Bliss : One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
by Eric Weiner

Draws on the author's experiences as a foreign correspondent and reporter to evaluate more than three dozen countries for their happiness potential, in a lighthearted survey that includes profiles of such locales as the American shores, glacial Iceland, and the Bhutan jungles.
I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had : My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High
 
by Tony Danza

Danza spent a year teaching the 10th grade at Philadelphia's largest high school.  He recounts the challenges he encountered keeping today's  alienated students engaged.
Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen ...
 
by Julie Powell

The author escaped the doldrums of an unpromising career and lackluster Queens apartment by mastering every recipe in Julia Child's 1961 classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a year-long endeavor of humor and accomplishment that transformed her life. 
Living Oprah : My One-year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk
 
by Robyn Okrant

Chronicles the author's efforts to live for a year as Oprah advises on her TV show, in her magazine and on her website, with each monthly entry including a running tally of the financial and time costs required to do each assignment, reflections on the results and revelations the author experienced. 
MWF Seeking BFF : My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend
 
by Rachel Bertsche

A web producer documents the year she spent looking for a new best friend after relocating to Chicago, a search marked by weekly girl-dates and her observations on current social research about the friend-making challenges faced by modern adults. 
No Impact Man : the Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries he Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process
 
by Colin Beavan

Describes a one-year experiment with minimizing his impact on the earth, an effort for which he eschewed technology, processed foods, and other negative-impact products while evaluating the plausibility and actual value of sustainable living. 
Our Black Year : One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy
 
by Maggie Anderson

Describes the experience of two successful African American professionals who embarked on a year-long public pledge to “buy black” in an attempt to mobilize the black community but instead found little support and criticism of their efforts.
Plenty : One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
 
by Alisa Smith

Concerned over the vast distances food travels before it hits the dinner plate, the authors describe their determination to eat only foods grown locally or produced within a one-hundred-mile radius of their home, sharing their reflections on the satisfaction of eating home-grown food, and the benefits and pitfalls of local eating.
Sorry I'm Late I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes
Jessica Pan

<ON ORDER>
The Tao of Martha : My Year of LIVING, or Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog
 
by Jen Lancaster

Searching for domestic bliss, the author embraces the word of Martha Stewart and attempts to follow her in all things, from closet organization to stain removal, to laughably disastrous results.
A Year in Provence
 
by Peter Mayle

An amusing account of an English couple's first year as residents of rural Provence, from the unpleasantness of the winter mistral to the transgressions of summer tourists.  
A Year of Biblical Womanhood : How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on her Roof, Covering her Head, and Calling her Husband "Master"
 
by Rachel Held Evans

The author spends a year exploring traditional Biblical roles for women, including such activities as interviewing a polygamist's wife, visiting an Amish school, abstaining from gossip, and corresponding with an Orthodox Jewish woman.
The Year of Living Biblically : One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
 
by A. J. Jacobs

Documents his improbable adventure of living one year in literal compliance with biblical rules, a quest during which he adhered to famous and lesser-known scriptural laws, from being fruitful and multiplying to growing a beard and avoiding mixed-fiber clothing. 
Year of No Sugar : a Memoir
 
by Eve O Schaub

Chronicles one family's 12-month no-sugar experiment and the positive results it yielded. 
A Year Without "Made in China" : One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy
 
by Sara Bongiorni

After she and her family spent one year not buying any products from China, the author offers revealing insights into the complex relationship between the American standard of living and the numerous Chinese imports that are necessary to maintain it.