Good Books to Read for Business & Pleasure * March 2015
Books That Have Nothing to Do With Earth Day
April 22 was Earth Day and I wrote absolutely nothing about it and even though I am certain there are many excellent books about climate change (which I learned you are not allowed to say in the proud state of Florida), I have not read them. Still, I wanted to at least create another touchpoint for those whose consciousnesses might be raised high enough to take action on environmental issues.
So let’s turn to books I did read.
Business
Who’s in Your Room by Ivan Misner and colleagues.
I have to warn you: For a business book, Who’s in Your Room is kind of scary. It doesn’t ask you to plot and plan or understand numbers. It asks you to take a deep look at your life and the people in it.
This book is a quick read and it’s for you if you’d like to do some serious soul searching and kick your life up yet another notch. I’m warning you, though, that it might require you to change. And who likes that?
If you would like to have this book for your very own, purchase Who’s in Your Room? at the BNI online bookstore.
Pleasure
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.
This books fell into my lap just when I needed it. I have been thinking lately about purpose and the difference between what I thought or hoped might happen in my life and what actually has. It very conveniently covers a range of outcomes from moral bankruptcy to elevated ethics. In that way it is probably a little list like (I love lists) and obvious, but for a reader like me that doesn’t matter.
The Interestings follows the paths of a groups of six slightly unlikely friends and the slightly unlikely (in my world) endurance of their friendships. Having friended a few people on Facebook I hadn’t spoken to in over 30 years has been in some ways revelatory. I can see the value of that kind of continuity despite the fact that my primary goal in my childhood was to escape it. Although that is not a perfect reality, it’s kind of better than looking back and thinking that the past was better than the present.
An element of The Interestings that I really enjoy is a central mystery. For a book that is primarily psychological in nature, it’s fun to have a mystery that keeps you turning the pages. I was dying to find out how the author would resolve a key question in the book.
I’ll leave it to you to explore the mystery and discover the results.
If you would like to have this book for your very own, purchase The Interestings at the Anna Colibri Amazon shop.
Children
The Giver by Lois Lowry.
As you know, I love reading books to children that have meaning and help them questions their lives beyond baseball, video games, and YouTube videos. The Giver is one of those books. It is about a young boy who, like everyone in his culture, goes through rite of passage but, unlike his friends, he is given an assignment that sets him apart and forces him to question his culture just as we must question ours.
This Newberry Prize winner is a gem.
If you would like to have this book for your very own, purchase The Giver at the Anna Colibri Amazon shop.
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