Monday's Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. The Ledge by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughn
2. The President’s Club by Nancy Gibbs
3. Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright
4. The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
5. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
6. Hunger Games (trilogy) by Suzanne Collins
7. River of Darkness by Buddy Levy
8. The Green Mile by Stephen King
9. The Campbell Series (starts with Highland Warrior) by Monica McCarty
10. The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker

Monday Recommendation List

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins
2. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
3. The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz
4. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
5. Fire in the Ashes by Jonathan Kozol
6. I Killed June Cleaver by Deborah Werksman
7. The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer
8. Gabby by Gabrielle Giffords
9. The President’s Club by Nancy Gibbs
10. Love Wins by Rob Bell

Monday Recommendation List

Monday Recommendation List

I’m going to post a random list of 10 books each Monday. I have read and enjoyed each one enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly! Stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

Let me know what you think!!

This weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Read with a child: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
2. Presidential Prestige: The President’s Club by Nancy Gibbs
3. Memoir of strength and perseverance: A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
4.  Spirit Stirring Classic: The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
5. Improve yourself: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
6.  Makes you ponder: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read all three in the series! Don’t watch the movies!!!)
7. Dramatic/Emotional: Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
8. Historical Romance tearjerker: Forbidden by Elizabeth Lowell
9. Strong female lead: Shelter Me by Juliette Fay
10. Life changing: Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

The Presidents Club

The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

This book had me from the introduction. I read this during the 2012 election season and the intro quoted Theodore Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat." I was nodding my head and saying "Exactly!" as I read this quote. I have the utmost respect for the office of President and the history and the men who have filled the role fascinate me.

This book was just amazing. It follows the relationships built amongst former Presidents; beginning with Truman and Hoover on the day of Eisenhower's inauguration. Told in intimate fashion, the book humanizes these great men. I learned something about each President featured in the book that I didn't already know. I saw sides of them I hadn't considered.

I don't remember the earlier Presidents in this book. But in my lifetime, I have had the most admiration for past presidents George Bush (the first one) and Bill Clinton. Reading about the relationship they have built  was really refreshing to me. It gives me a sliver of hope for the future of our country that is so torn right now.

This book was not political, at all. The authors were straight-forward and unbiased. If you enjoy presidential or American history I definitely recommend this one. I loved it!