Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Warm, wise, and funny, this is a book to savor and rush off to someone you think will love it as just as much.  It's a book about parents and children, genius and normalcy, and Seattle... and Antarctica.  A compilation of letters, emails, reports, and a narrative by 15-year-old Bee that stitches them together, the book tells the story of Bernadette Fox, an architect who as predicted by her mentor has stopped creating art and become something of a menace to society; her husband, Elgin, a Microsoft genius and workaholic; and their daughter, Bee, a prodigy and lovely human herself.  It is a wonder of a book.