Oh The Glory Of It All (2005)

Mom was a diva-like San Francisco columnist; Dad, an emotionally stunted butter tycoon. To make matters worse, when Sean Wilsey was 9 his parents divorced and his dad wed socialite Dede Traina, whose hobbies consisted of compulsive remodeling, pricing diamond necklaces, and tormenting her stepson. Wilsey exacts his revenge with this delicious memoir, Oh The Glory of It All. Though it's about twice as long as it needs to be (you can skim through his misadventures at a series of private schools), the book soars with Wilsey's cool and damning depiction of Dede (''small, 'petite,' almost reduced, like a sauce or potion — and her smallness seems to grant her an added potency'') and his more loving portrait of his childlike, flamboyant mother.