Julie Wheaton had lived in tract houses for ten years when she came across a phrase that worried her: Architecture influences behavior. Would her kids turn out different somehow for being raised in a cookie-cutter house instead of a custom house? No. The kids were fine, but Julie was another story.

Which House is Mine Again? tells how one woman tweaked cookie-cutter culture to suit her sensibilities. Set mostly in Southern California, this memoir of mastering a master-planned community lays out Julie's odd rationales, her clever workarounds, and the ridiculous descriptions builders dream up to sell tract houses, like "harmonious floor plans" or "a generous array of standard features."

Told in vibrant, funny, and razor-sharp anecdotes, this guided tour of sardine-packed subdivisions reveals who's lying when friends say they're "building a house," the pranks that neighbors play, and the terms that truly describe sprawl-town life, such as welcome wall, guessed suite, and college-prep bedroom.