Three Books I Highly Recommend
Get ready! Here are three books that will be released this fall and they will all ZOOM to the top of the charts! Happy Reading!
Cadence: A Tale of Fast Business Growth by Pete Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What happens when “doing what you love” doesn’t pay the bills? You read this book and you start pushing levers.
This is a business parable, and it’s an engaging, friendly and clear story. JJ is a great triathlon coach who had one of those light bulb moments and decided to open a high-end cycling shop. Perfect fit, right?
Not really until JJ meets Charlie, a confident and engaging entrepreneur who signs up for JJ’s triathlon training. They come to an agreement to coach each other and so they set goals- in five months, Charlie will achieve Ironman status and JJ’s bike shop profits will double.
Cadence is the pattern of rising and falling sounds in a person’s speech. In business, cadence is a regularly scheduled strategy or plan.
Many times, business success books lose me, because they are either filled with slogans or catchy language- fluff that can be hard to internalize. But Cadence presents solid actionable information in an easy to understand and easy to remember format. The humor and camaraderie between JJ and Charlie helped keep my interest. The summary at the end of the book is useful, too.
I can use this framework in my business, and actually in my personal life, too. I’d like to be 10% better in all areas!
Thanks to NetGalley and Morgan James Publishing for an ARC.
Crave: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Christine O’Brien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Who is Christine O’Brien and what does she crave? After reading her memoir, I’m not sure.
But I do know that I enjoyed getting to know Christine and her family and I took pleasure in the well-tuned phrasing of this story. Although the book blurb promised painful revelations, I found instead the measured thoughts of a careful, good girl. I read this book over a few days, and when I had to put it down, I did so reluctantly and when I had time to read again, I looked forward to getting back to Christine’s world.
Christine was the oldest child of four, and the only girl. Her parents were remarkable. Her father was a successful entertainment executive and the tv shows and movies he produced are iconic. Her mother was raised in the Midwest on a farm and was also creative, intelligent and successful. Christine and her family lived in the Dakota, also iconic, in New York and then moved to Beverly Hills.
At this point in my description of the family you are probably picturing a crazy, out of control lifestyle beset by drugs and infidelity. Not so. In many ways, Christine’s family was typical All-American. Her mother stayed home, sewed Halloween costumes and spent time with the kids. Her father came home for dinner most nights and also seemed connected with his wife and kids. Although the father was high-strung, both parents seemed to love, and show love to their family. They enjoyed peaceful summers at the shore and other pleasant vacations. Christine and her younger brothers were close and enjoyed playing imaginary games together.
So, what was the painful problem? Well, it all began when the juicer bumped across the Formica. Christine’s mother suffered from hard to diagnose medical ailments and so she embarked on a quest to treat herself naturally with food. The juicer was the key to The Program. Christine’s mother bought crates of fresh lettuce, celery, and tomatoes each week and created fresh juice, and blended salads for every meal, for years. And thus began what the author called “the chain of control and rigidity and guilt.”
The author showed herself as a perceptive, quiet and contained girl and woman. As a child, one of her favorite books was The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. I loved the Peppers, a book series that was published at the turn of the 20th century. I also had other feelings of kinship with the author, as I grew up at about the same time as she did, back when parents were strict and mothers tended to have issues.
Crave lets the author tell her own story after the death of her parents. Her story is not dramatic, thrilling, or traumatic. Rather, it is a descriptive poem about her life and times.
While the book is described as the chronicle of a writer’s painful and ultimately satisfying awakening, I did not sense pain, but rather a series of deftly told observations. I am also not sure if she had a successful awakening but the book does end with the author realizing that it is healthy to seek a balanced life.
I enjoy memoirs and slice of life stories, so this book appealed to me and I recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a review copy. This is my honest review.
Lessons From Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog by Dave Barry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Author Dave Barry wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. I read most of them and especially enjoyed his year-in-review feature.
Dave has also written numerous books of humor and parody, and has won prestige awards and honors.
And now I’m going to review his latest book, Lessons from Lucy?
Why not? Just like him, I have a sweet dog, I get impatient standing behind clueless people in line and 70 is my next milestone birthday.
While we know more than our dogs, dogs can still teach us. And one thing they know more about is how to be happy. Dave shares his dog Lucy’s gems with us.
Dave’s quips and knack with words plus his soul-searching wisdom, such as learning about smelling the asparagus metabolite in urine did not distract me from the taking in the merits of Lucy’s seven Life Lessons. Lucy is right- Don’t Stop Having Fun and Pay Attention to the People You Love. Thanks, Lucy. (And another vegetable got a shout-out in the book, as Dave informed us that these veggies are actually the severed heads of Martian fetuses.)
Dave confesses that he is skeptical about self-help books and so he intended this book to be a funny book about dogs, people and life in general. It is.
I didn’t so much read the book- I laughed and gasped and then cornered the folks in my house and read them the latest funny bit.
Dave is a national treasure. So is Lucy. Thanks for a wonderful book.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Simon & Schuster for an ARC.
About the Author
