Allegra Goodman, "The Cookbook Collector: A Novel"

As its description promises, this book is "rich in ideas and characters." The many characters include the girls' father back in Boston and his young new wife and their two little girls, the various other founders and staff of Emily and Jonathan's dot coms, and George's wealthy friends. Also, two rabbis, one on each coast, play important roles in bringing the sisters' story together. The major ideas are about learning what's important in life, and how we make substitutions, such as reading cookbooks instead of cooking, because we think what we really want is unattainable.