Books books books! That’s what Santa brought me for Christmas this year.

I mean, how did he know? Such a smartypants, that guy.

Babygirl pulled in an impressive percentage of the sixteen total books that the man in red brought me (she’s off to a good start), so here are the newest additions to my To-Read shelf:

The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink

Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way, by Richard Branson

Becoming a Dad: The First Three Years, by John C Gaff

Wait, how’d that get in there? I must have a talk with Hubz about keeping better track of his books.

Continuing on.

Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen

It’s Rising Time!: What it Really Takes to Reach Your Financial Dreams, by Kim Kiyosaki

Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

Every Thing On It, by Shel Silverstein

I’m excited about each and every one of these. For business reasons and fun reasons and feel-good reasons and nostalgic reasons.

Now if you’ll excuse me, there are new paperbacks in the house that have yet to be sniffed.

Yours in Book Geekiness,
AS

What about you? Pick up any good reads over the holidays? Any must-reads on your list for 2012? Do share!

I read. A lot.

You knew this, right?

HA! Ha ha. Ha ha haa ha haa.

Ahem.

I get quite a few odd comments about my favorite hobby. Some share non-verbal opinions with their rolling eyes or pursed lips about how it must be nice to have so much cushy wushy free time to put my feet up with a paperback and eat bon bons. Others simply shrug it off, unable to even comprehend that someone could enjoy a hobby so much, when they can’t even make time to brush their teeth or call their mothers let alone develop a constructive hobby.

Long story short, most think it’s a purposeless hobby, an entertainment. And sometimes, when I’m deep in the throes of a heavy reading week, I believe them. Is this really all worthwhile? Should I tone things down a bit?

But then I walk into my office, or turn into my bathroom upstairs and catch a glance of the extra bedroom in my peripheral vision and the sprawling shelves of paperback overflow it houses, and I’m reminded. I remember. I see all of the books that I love so much, remember the memories they have created, and the doubt disappears.

I look at the Shack and remember how much it shifted my thinking about, and therefore my dedication to, my faith.

I remember how The Book of Awesome made me laugh. Over and over and over.

I remember what Born to Run taught me about real running, and convinced me I could actually do it. I didn’t realize that I needed that boost of confidence until I received it.

I remember how The Slight Edge opened up my eyes to different philosophies on productivity and effectiveness in business and in life, and How Starbucks Saved My Life introduced me to the company culture that the coffee giant has successfully implemented.

I have never not thought about that culture, and appreciating and noticing and admiring it, upon walking into any Starbucks since the day I finished that book.

I remember how Eat Pray Love helped me realize that you could go do something different with your life, and eventually led me to read more about lifestyle design. And it made me laugh. And hug my box of spaghetti.

The Glass Castle reminded me how awful some children have it, and how grateful I am that I had the upbringing that I did. I have never looked at my dog the same after reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, nor thought more about the spiritual aspect of our pets like I did after turning its final page.

I remember how Prep opened my thinking to teenage angst, and curiosly convinced me to evaluate my own experience during those years. It also makes me smile every time I run my fingers over the embossed grosgrain ribbon on its cover.

Textured book covers. Swoon.

I remember how Harry Potter convinced me that I do, in fact, enjoy some fantasy/science fiction-ish reads. And reminded me to daydream more often. And how powerful a human being’s imagination can truly be. Ms Rowling…I mean, wow.

I remember how The Business of the 21st Century monumentally shifted and strenghtened my belief in the network marketing industry. An industry I already loved before cracking its cover.

I remember how Twitter Power, now practically useless in its outdated advice, gave me the confidence that I could actually jump into this social media thing. Where all of my amazingly enjoyable and beneficial networking contacts would have come from without the launch that that book provided me, I have no idea.

I look at those books and I remember.

And then I never allow a reading naysayer to make me doubt my hobby ever, ever again.

Whether you read articles online, full books on your iPad, or the old fashioned paper and glue versions, or even if your hobby is something else entirely, it’s yours. Don’t forget it.

If it opens your eyes or expands your vision or makes you happy, then you know what? It’s worth it.

I have enjoyed my summer. It’s been full of enjoyable work and enjoyable travel and enjoyable, well, everything. And it’s been chock full of light, entertaining, and enjoyable reading.

I don’t know what it is about summer, but I want to set aside the business non-fiction reads and pick up nothing but fiction bestsellers and girly chick lit. And that is exactly what I did with reads like Night, One Day and Have a Little Faith; Bel Canto, Heaven is For Real, and The Blind Side.

Now that fall has arrived and my work space is located more often on the back porch than my home office, I’m moving towards a few more businessy and serious reads. Of those, there are a handful that I am particularly excited about.

Here are three books that are top of my wish list this month:

1.

Having purchased a couple pairs of TOMS shoes, I regularly receive emails from the company. New shoe styles, the release of their line of sunglasses, corporate updates – their marketing emails are timely and enjoyable. They sent an email several weeks ago about their founder, Blake Mycoskie, and the release of his first book. The email included an inspirational video trailer and the promise of donating one book to a child in need for every book sold and, well, let’s just say it was only a matter of minutes until Start Something That Matters was added to my wish list.

Can.Not.Wait.

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2.

I love biographies. I love auto-biographies and business biographies and memoirs, the whole bit. Tina Fey’s Bossypants is one I have picked up half a dozen times during recent trips to Barnes & Noble. I held it in my hands, read and re-read the cover jacket, mulled it over for a moment, and then inevitably placed it back on the shelf. I wanted to read it but for some reason I just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Then I read a review somewhere. It might have been the KC Star or a Goodreads email, I’m not sure. But I read it and I loved it and all of a sudden I was ready to pull the trigger on Tina’s memoir, prepared to laugh with and be inspired by her success.

Really excited about enjoying this book this fall.

—

3.

I first heard Jonathan Fields speak in Portland earlier this summer at the World Domination Summit. He was inspiring, his personal story was unique and interesting, and his rise to success was easy to see.

What really got me about his soon-to-be-released book, although, was the trailer. I mean, honestly, what is it with video book trailers these days? They’re such a joy. If this is a trend, count me in as part of the bandwagon of fans.

I saw Jonathan’s trailer for Uncertainty and it was a done deal. The book is released September 29th and I can’t wait to hear about the Aha! moments and life changes that result from his legion inspired, successful, openminded, book-reading followers.

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So there you have it. Those are three of the many books I’m excited about picking up and reading through this fall. What about you? What should I add to my wish list? What’s on yours?

What are you reading and loving this week that you would recommend? Do share!

Your Friend in Book Geekiness,
AS

Well isn’t this just a lovely, contemplative book trailer for a Monday morning?

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Inspiring. Right?

And lovely. Right?

So let’s grab our TOMS shoes from the closet and add this book to our wishlists. I’ve just added it to mine.

Mmm. There’s nothing like I-was-just-introduced-to-a-new-book smell to really jumpstart your morning.

Right?

I’ve talked (and talked and talked and talked) about my favorite businessy, non-fiction book.

Businessy. Meaning, a book I’m reading for a purpose. Businessy, not to be confused with non-businessy non-fiction books about the Secret Service or Hurricane Katrina or slow carb diets that I’m reading for no business purpose at all.

Well, unless I decide to start a business tomorrow to consult others on how to eat properly while evading the President’s body guards in the midst of a tropical depression.

For simplicity purposes here, novel = fiction OR non-fiction read for purely entertainment purposes. Cool? Cool.

I talk regularly about my favorite business books, but what about my favorite novels? I ran upstairs a few minutes ago to stand in front of the couple bookshelves that hold our non-businessy reads. The business stuff is down here in the office, while the fluffy stuff is tucked away upstairs in a corner of a spare bedroom.

I stood there, staring at the rows of hardcovers and paperbacks, at everything from Jane Green to Jane Austen, and realized something:

I don’t have a favorite novel.

I know. I know. There must be something wrong with me. Ship me back up and return me for a refund.

Everyone has a favorite novel. Everyone! I mean, don’t they? The realization that I didn’t threw me for a loop. It made me feel inferior and lacking in purpose and a bit crazy.

Well, actually, I always feel a bit crazy, but that’s beside the point.

I can’t deny it, there isn’t a single title that rises to the surface as The Favorite. However, there are certainly dozens of novels that have touched me in a certain way, even if they’re not considered the almighty favorite.

Some like Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Secret Life Of Bees stay with me for hours and days, even months and years after turning their final pages. But they’re not my favorite.

Then there are real-life reads like The Glass Castle that make me shudder to picture eating lard sandwiches while simultaneously reminding me that human beings can overcome obstacles far greater than I have ever had to experience. Or Eat Pray Love, the book that, every time I glance at its cover, gives me a jolt of courage to drop everything and move halfway across the world, simply because I can.

Hmm, nope. Still not The One.

Sometimes novels inspire me, reminding me of the power of someone who stands up for what they believe in regardless of the consequences, like in Midwives, or the struggles and joys and beauty in the transitions of life, like in Prep.

I completed One Day several weeks ago and it is still making me think about how I would define my life had I a one-day-per-year snapshot with which to do it. I love it for that, but I wouldn’t call it my favorite.

There are books that shifted my reading life and fueled the fire for my love of books like the Harry Potter series or anything by Roald Dahl.

Dahl reminds me of sitting in my bedroom as a child with the door closed, trying to keep cool in the summers by blasting the ceiling fan as I nestled into my chocolate brown bean bag chair and read all afternoon. But I wouldn’t say any of his books are my favorite.

What makes something a favorite then?

If it opens my mind to new pieces of our world and our history like Digital Fortress or American Wife or Little Bee or The Help? What if it taught me about relationships like Bel Canto or the inner workings of the minds of others like The Devil In The White City or The Art Of Racing In The Rain?

Does it make it my favorite if I credit it for adding bits and pieces to my faith like The Five People You Meet In Heaven or The Shack or 90 Minutes In Heaven?

And where do classics fit in like The Catcher In The Rye or Where The Red Fern Grows or Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry? Do I love them because they are classics or are they classics because they are so widely loved?

Surely my favorite would not only be a book that I enjoyed reading from a purely entertainment point of view, but one that also made me think. Right? A book that altered the way I see myself or those around me, or maybe even my part in this world. But what do I do if the book made me think but I didn’t enjoy it at all? Wishful Drinking and The Last American Man and Traveling With Pomegranates all fall into that category. Surely they wouldn’t be my favorite.

Perhaps my favorite novel is still out there, waiting to be discovered. Or maybe I focus so much on squeezing every ounce of useful juice out of the businessy books I read that by the time I get to something I’m reading for fun I’m too far gone to get enough out of it to even allow it to impact me like I expect my future favorite would.

(Run-on sentence alert. Take cover.)

Who knows. What I do know? I do know that I love a lot of books. I love a lot of novels for a lot of different reasons. I love a lot of entertainment non-fiction for a whole host of other different reasons.

Looking at their covers make me smile, flashes a few remnants of their story lines across my eyes, and reminds me how they affected my view of the world in some teeny tiny way.

And that? That’s all a book geek can ask for.

—

All links are Amazon affiliates. I love Amazon. You love Amazon. You love books. I love books. All is well. Over and out.

Sometime during the spring of 2000, sitting in the sixties-themed basement of Burge Hall on the University of Iowa campus, I was handed a book that would spark one of the biggest themes of my life; personal development.

The book was eye opening for me, and it wasn’t just because of the advice and information in that specific book, although it was pretty wonderful. (It was Rich Dad Poor Dad. Remember?) Reading and digesting author Kiyosaki’s philosophies on money and business opened my mind to a myriad of possibilities that I never even knew existed. For me, it was a game-changer. A HO.LY.CRAP. moment that forever altered the ideas I had for my life.

With the exception of a few rebellious years during middle school – I’m sorry, Mom. I’m really, really sorry. – I have always been a big reader. But RDPD launched me into a whole other planet of reading.

I didn’t just read for entertainment anymore. I read for entertainment and education and inspiration and curiosity.

Keep up that habit for the better part of 12 years and one will start to accumulate quite the list of Have Reads. Having such a list, I get asked regularly about what books I’d recommend.

Hey Annie, I’m going on vacation to the beach, what fluffy novel shall I take with me?

Annie, I like non-fiction! What do you recommend?

Hi, I’m a personal development newbie, what can you throw at me?

Hi Annie, I’m a Type A, coffee-drinking, overly driven, tidy but sometimes disorganized, perfectionist but laid back, tomboy who likes to fish and watch Star Trek with her Dad and get drunk on New Paperback Smell who wears too many hats and is snobby about her pedicures and IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR ME?

Ok. Just kidding on that last one.

Sort of.

Of everything in the massive genre of Self Improvement and Personal Development, I think the books that generally but forcefully open your mind to new ways of thinking – and new ways of living – can be the most powerful.

These books aren’t specifically business-related. They’re just, well, they’re just life-related. Take a look at ‘em if you need a jolt of creativity or inspiration, an excuse to think a bit bigger and reflect on your life, or just want to be introduced to a new idea.

They’re usually shorter reads, and the kind that keep you pondering long after you’ve flipped the last page.

Here are my top 5 recommendations for books that will rip open your mind and force you to think differently than you ever have before:

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1. Poke the Box, by Seth Godin

Oh Seth. Everyone knows that it’s often more difficult to make an impact with a shorter piece of writing than a longer one, and you are the master at this. Short, concise, powerful. Yum, yummy, and yummier.

Poke the Box introduces a new way of thinking about how you can change the environment around you, take personal responsibility for that environment, and make it bigger and better.

It will inspire you to stop assuming that the way things work now is the way they always has to work, or that the way they work for others is the way they have to work for you. This book is revolutionizing in the way that only Godin knows how – with the simplest, most profound of ideas.

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2. The Slight Edge (Revised Edition): Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success, by Jeff Olson

I know, I know. I’ve mentioned this book before. But with good reason!

It’s just so.darn.good.

The Slight Edge is very similar in concept to a few other books out there. Notably The Compound Effect and 212: The Extra Degree. In my opinion The Slight Edge the best of the three for the simple reason that it’s applicable to any area of life – business, relationships, home, everything.

This is one of the books I find myself recommending to people over and over and over again. It’s enjoyed by and applicable to personal development first-timers, business first-timers, non-fiction first timers, all sorts.

It’s. It’s just wow.

The examples that Olson uses to powerfully support his theory – that the smallest of differences in effort and execution, exponentially added over time, are what makes the difference between success and failure, between the majority of average and the minority of extraordinary – are perfect. They are detailed enough that you can imagine and understand, yet still generic enough that they can relate to anybody in any situation.

I dare you to read this book and not turn the volume up on your work one tiny notch today for the possibility of what it can do for your tomorrow.

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3. The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World, by Chris Guillebeau

You know what this book gives you? Permission. And ohh, what a grand thing that is to have, especially when it comes to ideas about business or life that shy away from the mainstream.

The confidence and determination that having permission to feel a certain way provides is indescribable. And powerful. And infectious.

After all, isn’t it fear of change and what others will think the reason that the vast majority of people simply hope for something better, instead of taking action towards something better? Permission to act anyway is huge.

You also have to give Guillebeau props for the last bit of the sub-title; Change the World. Who doesn’t want to figure out how to be a part of that, right?

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4. The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Timothy Ferriss

Oh Tim. Timmy Tim Tim.

I struggled with whether to include this book in this list, as it’s pretty specific to Ferriss’ views of lifestyle design. To His Way of doing things. However, when I first read this book three or four years ago, it did significantly alter my thinking. Or, it altered the limitations I had in my thinking. It really, really did, and I can’t deny that.

With the expanded and updated edition, Ferriss includes dozens and dozens of stories and testimonials from followers of his. How they have made the impossible possible for their lives and their lifestyles. If nothing else, ignore the specifics and use their stories to enlarge your mind. They provide the real proof on how these elements of lifestyle design can realistically be applied.

You need facts and details while you’re dreaming. This will give it to you.

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5. The Book of Awesome, by Neil Pasricha

I mentioned this book, and the blog that’s behind it, a couple weeks ago in an edition of Feature Friday. After reading it, my mother-in-law called me and mentioned how much she liked the site.

What stood out to me as I read this book was the humor and awareness of the everyday things that Pasricha points out.

Kind of like comedians, you know? They point out the mundane, make you think twice about your surroundings and the facts of life that you take for granted, and often make you laugh about it. That’s what I noticed, anyway. But my mother-in-law immediately picked up on the stronger message behind the book – gratitude.

Gratitude!

Because if you suddenly open your eyes to all of the amazing – read: Awesome! – things that happen during our day, you acknowledge you gratitude for the fact that they even exist.

After all, popping bubble wrap is fun, the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk is yummy, and waking up and realizing it’s Saturday is so satisfying. (Also satisfying? Fixing electronics by smacking them! Brilliant, Neil. Absolutely brilliant.) We should more often open our eyes to appreciate those little things, and shower our gratitude upon them.

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So there you go, my top book recommendations for opening your mind. Read ‘em and be prepared for your brain to swell.

What mind-bending books would you add to the list?

They’re random, the items on this list. But I’m random. And random writing about writing is a good thing…right?

Right.

Here goes…

If you like to write, and you occasionally do write, I say you can call yourself a writer. You don’t have to complete a marathon to call yourself a runner or get through all the American classics to call yourself a reader, so why do you have to be paid to write or have published a book to be considered a writer?

If you love it, go for it. Give yourself the title.

I am.

Most of the moments you sit down and want to write, you won’t be able to. Most of the moments that the words come easily, you won’t be in front of a computer or near your notebook. In other words, you can’t plan your moments of productive writing.

Don’t let it concern you that you can’t turn the words on at will. Adapt. Embrace the moments that the faucet does turn on.

I “wrote” the majority of this post while out running in the 95 degree July heat. I was overheating, decided I better stop running lest I pass out, was bored with the 2+ miles I still had to walk home, started daydreaming, and out it flowed. I am now drafting/recording this post, and notes on a couple others, while collecting a pile of sweat on the dining room floor. Not really what I planned to do, but at least I’m writing.

Don’t limit yourself. One time, while recording a few things in my notebook about six months ago, I looked down and the words I’d scrawled on the page halfway resembled a poem. I was shocked. Poetry?! Seriously? I have never, ever read poetry, let alone written it. What the heck is this? I almost scribbled it out, but decided at the last minute to leave it, and I’m glad I did. Since removing the personal stigma that “I don’t do poetry,” a few dozen more poem-like pieces have come out of me. Whatever. It is what it is and I’m not going to fight it. Writing is writing, even if it’s not what you expect.

The notebook helps. The notebook is essential. If I didn’t have it, nine-tenths of the things I write, wouldn’t be. They would have been forgotten; the moment passed, the opportunity lost. I’ve found that even the simplest one or two sentences can serve as a reminder and spark the memory of the larger thought I had earlier, so I can sit down at my convenience and expand on it. The notebook is with me always. Always always always.

A notebook doesn’t have to be a notebook. A voice recorder would work fine. The memo function on your cell phone. The back of your hand. Whatever.

A physical, made-of-paper notebook has legacy, though. I think you know where my vote lies.

Just sayin’.

Writing forces me to observe the world around me in a totally different way. Perhaps because writing about something is essentially expanding on a simple thing, which requires more astute observation on, well, simple things?

(Huh?)

Embrace your inner monologue. The more I write, the more it talks. By listening to it, I feed it, and I keep it going. The more it goes the more easily I write. Around and around it goes. Stop feeding it and the writing voice is gone, along with the majority of my creativity. If it starts rambling at inopportune times, the notebook comes in handy to record the subject matter so I can satisfy it, but still get on with what I was doing in the first place.

Good writing doesn’t have to be good writing, it just has to be you. Just because it’s your best writing, doesn’t make it good. Just because the writing is good, doesn’t mean it’s your best. Or that it’s you.

And that’s ok.

The more you read, the better you’ll write. I learn something about vocabulary and grammar and style, my voice and my interests and my purpose, every time I read.

Writing rocks. I heard it from you first.

This one:

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Ford County: Stories, by John Grisham

I read so much non-fiction that when I’m away from home on vacay, I crave nothing but fluffy, daydream-inducing novels. The couple that I stashed away in my suitcase for our recent trip to Mexico didn’t disappoint.

First, Grisham. Now just you wait. Don’t judge me yet! Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.

Was this written by John Grisham? Yes.
Is it anything like his most recent, fulfilling-contractual-obligation- esque books? Not in the least.

I typically don’t enjoy short stories, as I find that I don’t like the feeling of having to remotivate myself to start the same book a dozen times. I start the story, I quickly finish the story, and then I have to start over. Ugh.

So perhaps it was the fact that I was on vacation that that didn’t bother me this time. Or perhaps I just enjoyed Grisham’s stories.

Either way, this is a great read. Seven short stories, each centering around fictional events and characters in Ford County, Mississippi. They’re very Grisham.

They are all very A Time to Kill. You follow? Yeah. That.

Bonus: At 40-50 pages a story, they’re individually perfect for that short plane ride or an evening in the hotel room or the first hour sitting in the poolside lounge chair when you still contain the ability to sit still.

Ford County: Stories, Rating: 4 (out of 5) stars

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Second, Life As We Knew It. I stole this one from my Mom’s bookshelf the week before we left. It caught my eye because a) it had an enormous moon on the cover, b) the physical book was square, and…huh?, and c) flipping it open, the font was well-spaced and visually pleasing, a huge factor in my fluffiness determination.

I know. All awful reasons to pick up a book, but ’tis the truth, my friends.

I didn’t know this until after I had read it, but this is the first book in a series of three. If you’re like me and simultaneously get excited and frustrated when you realize you’ve read a book that’s a part of a series – frustrated because that means the remaining members of the series are immediately and automatically added to your Must Read list, hanging over your head until you complete them, and excited because, well, the book’s not over! THERE’S MORE! – consider yourself warned.

The plot centers around the improbable (but strangely not completely unbelievable) possibility of a massive meteor crashing into the moon, altering its orbit, and sending Earth into a horrible, life-altering chain of events. Weather, economics, disease, etc.

It’s told from the point of view of a sixteen year old girl in diary-entry fashion, which lends itself to most of the comical lines in the book. Teenagers are weird, man.

The audience for this one might be tipped a bit in the direction of female readers, but barely. If you enjoy light, sci-fi novels, it’s one for your list.

Life As We Knew It, Rating: 3.5 (out of 5) stars

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Happy vacay reading! Here are the Amazonian details on both:

Ford County: Stories, by John Grisham

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

(All links are Amazon affiliates. Cool? Cool. Over and out.)

Phew. Did that title wear you out, too?

I’m really excited for this one:

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

It was a gift from my Mesa, Arizona buddy Danny King and, well, just check out that title!

Survival. Resilience. Redemption.

And it’s non-fiction.

Swoon!

So, I wanted to ask you, what’s occupying space on your shelf that you can’t wait to dive into?

Share share share!

I just might need to come over and steal it away from ya.

You guys.

You guys, this place…

YOU GUYS.

I can’t, I can’t even, I can barely even talk about it.

It’s in Portland, Oregon.
It’s the size of an entire city block.
And they hand you a floor map – a map – when you walk in.

I just…you just have to…I can’t…it’s…

Sigh.

Can you just put walking through its doors on your life list? For my sake? Pretty please?

That’s all I ask.

Bookity bookity boo,
AS