I crave books

Subtitled: Seven Steps to creating your most successful self.

I’ll admit I mostly skimmed this. It’s an interesting combination of information on how companies create strong brands (with good case studies on Tide, Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson) and how you can apply the author’s seven step approach to creating a strong brand for yourself. So on one hand it’s a good business book with interesting information on how to brand, and on the other hand it’s got this self-help feel to hit. WIth worksheets and exercises to discovering your brand and creating an action plan. Which I found quite intesting and useful.

This little book caught my attention because I’ve been trying to eat healthier lately and this simple format (no mention of the dreaded d word) appealed to me. After reading through it (and finding out I’ve been ordering the totally wrong thing at Jimmy John’s) I think I might have to buy it (and I don’t buy a lot of books).

For a small book (it’s a square format - I think to make it easier to take with you) there’s a lot of information packed inside. In addition to the “Eat this, not that” choices for many restaurants, there’s an “Eat this, not that” section for holiday meals and for at the grocery store. Each page also has a “did you know” fact, and sprinkled throughout are “guilty pleasures” (for example, on your burger have a few pieces of bacon, just skip the cheese - as bacon as less fat and sodium) and “Weapons of Mass Destruction” which are those innocent sounding things on the menu that are chocked full of calories or fat.

This is quite the informative book and I would recommend it to everyone.

This is an excellent business book for anyone who presents ideas at work, owns a small business, attends networking events or is involved in any type of selling. It’s subtitle is: how to sell yourself (and your ideas) and win over any audience.

The first section I skimmed a lot but once I got to the second part I really started to understand what Palmer was driving at and went back and re-read the first few chapters. Based on her experience as a movie studio executive who was pitched ideas day in and day out she tells you how to handle presentations. This is full of great practical tips and provides excellent examples through the use of four fictional case studies. A particular thing I liked was later in the book when discussing how to write an effective pitch email she footnotes the email to explain why something was good or bad. Very good advice and this book goes the extra step by showing you specifically how to apply it.

Definitely going on my recommended list.

Subtitled: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life.

Since “going green” is all the rage, I was thinking about picking this for book group; however, it came too late to be a pick, but I decided to read it anyway. I’ve never seen the show “Living Like Ed” and I don’t think I get it on my cable lineup, but I was fascinated by how green Ed lives.

The book is broken down into Home, Transportation, Recycling, Energy, In the Garden & Kitchen, Clothing/Hair & Skin Care. The book also includes a workbook at the end so you can try out Ed’s different suggestions and see how much you save (both money and energy). This was a good practical book of how Ed & his family live green. I appreciated his wife Rachelle’s asides which added some reality/practically since while I’m interested in being more environmentally conscious, I’m not quite as dedicated as Ed is. I was particularly intrigued by Ed’s discussion of electricity and gardening. We haven’t done any landscaping at our house, but I think we will soon and I want to make sure we plant native plants, and also I’ve toyed with starting a vegetable garden for the past two years so perhaps next year we’ll finally do it.

Anyway, I would recommend this book for an interesting read on what it means to be eco-friendly.

I confess. I’m a fan of Tori Spelling. I was a huge fan of 90210 (oh Dylan) and now my guilty pleasure is Tori’s reality show, Tori and Dean: Inn Loveon Oxygen. So of course I wanted to read her autobiography. And I was not disappointed. It’s short (276 pages with acknowledgements) but covers her childhood, the alleged feud with her mom, her first marriage, her relationship with Dean, basically it’s her side of everything we’ve seen play out in the tabloids for the past 3 years.

Her writing style is direct, she doesn’t pull any punches and it rings true to me. Also I totally appreciate how she didn’t just name drop the entire time. And I appreciated her candor about money. I would’ve liked to hear more about how she feels about “her gays” and being a cult figure in the gay world. Her brother Randy is conspicuously absent. This isn’t a trashy tell-all. This her really her side of the story, focused primarily on the past 5 or so years. When talking about her relationship with Dean McDermott, (who was married when they met & fell in love) she says nothing negative about why his marriage broke up/wasn’t working/the custody battle basically nothing negative about his ex-wife. And I totally respect her for that. As she says, it’s not her story to tell.

All in all this book just made me like Tori more and confirmed what I’ve thought for awhile - she’s smarter than everyone gives her credit for.

The title of this book cracks me up. And it’s a book club pick. So don’t read too much into the fact that I’m reading this book. We thought it would spark some good conversations at book group. The subtitle: inside the hearts and minds of people in two relationships led me to believe that we might understand more about people’s motivations in having affairs. And it seems that in most of the books I’ve read lately (Tenth Circle, Beach House) so I was interested in learning more about the thought process.

However, while I thought this was an interesting read it was not what I expected. What this book is really about is how 1/3 what the psychology of an affair is and then 2/3 how people in a love triangle can select the appropriate solution (stay with spouse, pursue lover, choose neither) so they’re not in two relationships. The decision making process was interesting and I think it contained relationship advice that people could use in evaluating their own long term relationships. Also, there’s a short chapter on “Building the Future” which contains good general relationship advice.

An interesting topic and should make for good discussion this month.

I loved this book. I was totally inspired while reading it.

Publisher’s Synopsis: The award-winning design and development firm IDEO, which brought the world the Apple mouse, reveals its secrets to fostering innovative, out-of-the-box thinking across the world of business. In this handbook, the author outlines the steps IDEO and other successful companies use to achieve successful problem solving.

Includes information on brainstorming, teams and prototyping. Totally cool book with practical easy to implement ideas. Also, it turned my thinking on teams around as the author devotes time to discussing their “hot teams” approach and how the myth of the lone inventor is a just that a myth. I didn’t realize Edison had a team of people who worked with him, but he did and they all collaborated to come up with some of his patents.

So very inspiring. A must read business book.

Subtitled: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America.

This memoir tells about the life of Emmett Till, who at 14 was murdered during a vacation to Mississippi. His crime: allegedly whistling at a white woman. The time: August 1955. His case became a cause celebre for the early Civil Rights Movement-especially when the white killers were acquitted.

The most gripping part of this book was the description leading up to Emmett’s attack and the aftermath from trying to get the body back to Chicago from Mississippi and the trial.

I skimmed the first and last thirds of the book but found the part related to the crime and trail to be a fascinating and horrifying glimpse at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.

This was a read for book group. I can’t decide what this was supposed to be about; it’s either a memoir of a drag queen or a love story gone wrong. Not sure. It was a quick read. I didn’t dislike it, but I wasn’t sure what the point was, and (unlike the other memoirs we’ve read this year) I felt the author didn’t share enough emotionally.

Plus the book I had included some “extras” in the back, one of which was an interview with the author. In the interview when the author mentioned knowing James Frey and his wife, I immediately began doubting everything I’d just read. Especially because the author candidly shares his battle with alcohol and how he frequently blacked out.

subtitled: One Man’s Humble Quest to become the smartest person in the world.

One word: funny.

Read this one for book group. It was my pick. I really enjoyed his humor and the amount of useless information he obtained. And I learned a few things along the way.

Basically the book chronicles A.J.’s attempt to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A (or a-ak) to Z (Zywiec). Not to ruin it for anyone, but he succeeds, and along the way inserts various vignettes about his family and other tidbits from his life.