Books! Books! Books!

I’ve reviewed these books on the blog, in my newsletter, or on Amazon, which for the most part means they are worth a read.

Titles link to Amazon, and are affiliate links; links to my reviews are in brackets. For more on all this book hoo-ha, and why I put this page together, please refer to “The Whore of Babylon has some books she’d like you to buy.”

I do read far more good books than, alas & alack, I have time to review. As my general rule is to stop reading a book if it sucks (for me!), you may also find worthy things to read in my lists of books read annually: 2011 (still in progress); and 2010.

If you’re looking for help on getting more reading done, here’s a post I wrote on how I finally accomplished reading 52 books per year. Happy reading!

Communication

• Confessions of a Public Speaker, by Scott Berkun [review]
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish [review]
• Influence: The Power of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini [review]
• On Writing, by Stephen King [review]
• On Writing Well, by William Zinsser [review]
• Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds [review]
• Writing About Your Life, by William Zinsser [review]

Creativity

• 52 Projects, by Jeffrey Yamaguchi [review]
• The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp [review]
• D.I.Y. Design It Yourself, by Ellen Lupton [review]
• Ignore Everybody, by Hugh MacLeod [review]
• Listography Journal: Your Life in Lists, by Lisa Nola [review]
• The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield [review]

Memoir & biography

• About Alice, by Calvin Trillin [review]
• The Blue Sweater, by Jacqueline Novogratz [review]
• The Color of Water, by James McBride [review]
• Epilogue, by Anne Roiphe [review]
• Holy Land by D.J. Waldie [review]
• Ill-Equipped for a Life of Sex, by Jennifer Lehr [review]
• My Misspent Youth, by Meghan Daum [review]
• Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin [review]
• When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead, by Jerry Weintraub [review]
• The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion [review]

Self-improvement

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey [review]
• The Art of Non-Conformity, by Chris Guillebeau [review]
• The Best Year of Your Life, by Debbie Ford [review]
• Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, by Elaine Gloria Gottschall [review]
• The Career Clinic, by Maureen Anderson [review]
• Do the Work, by Steven Pressfield [review]
• The Fire Starter Sessions, by Danielle LaPorte [review]
• The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz [review]
• The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin [review]
• How to Love, by Gordon Livingston [review]
• Improv Wisdom, by Patricia Ryan Madson [review]
• Life Is a Verb, by Patti Digh [review]
• Life Makeovers, by Cheryl Richardson [review]
• Linchpin, by Seth Godin [review]
• The Little Book of Moods, by Jane Eldershaw [review]
• Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell [review]
• The Shadow Effect, by Chopra/Ford/Williamson [review]
• Simple Abundance, by Elaine Ban Breathnach [review]
• The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle [review]
• Walking on Water, by Derrick Jensen [review]
• The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman  [review]

Self-improvement :: De-cluttering

• Clutter Busting, by Brooks Palmer [review]
• Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life, by Karen Rauch Carter [review]
• The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta [review]
• Rightsizing Your Life, by Ciji Ware [review]
• Sweeping Changes, by Gary Thorpe [review]
• Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee [review]
• Unclutter Your Life in One Week, by Erin Rooney Doland [review]

Business, marketing, etc.

• The $100 Startup, by Chris Guillebeau [review]
• Branding Only Works on Cattle, by Jonathan Baskin [review | interview]
• Career Renegade, by Jonathan Fields [review]
• Design Is a Job, by Mike Monteiro [review]
• The Designer’s Guide to Marketing & Pricing, by Ilise Benun & Peleg Top (forward by yours truly) [review | podcasts]
• Escape from Cubicle Nation, by Pamela Slim [review]
• Freakonomics, by Stephen J. Dubner & Steven D. Levitt [review]
• Tribes, by Seth Godin [review]
• Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith [review]
• Who’s Got Your Back, by Keith Ferrazzi [review]
• Work the System, by Sam Carpenter [review]

Fiction

• Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen [review]
• The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold [review]
• Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis [review]
• Mildred Pierce, by James M. Cain [review]
• The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri [review]
• Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout [review]
• Requiem for a Dream, by Hubert Selby [review]
• Shopgirl, by Steve Martin [review]
• Sideways, by Rex Pickett [review]

Graphic Novels/Illustrated

• The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb [review]
• Clumsy, by Jeffrey Brown [review]
• Cheat, by Christine Norrie [review]
• Love, Loss and What I Wore, by Ilene Beckerman [review]
• The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman [review]

Want more?

For more books I recommend with ultra mini-reviews, check out…

• books to improve your ass, period!
• books to improve your ass if you’re an actor!
• books to inspire your ass if you’re a writer!
• books of a fictional nature to take you away like a box of Calgon!

And no matter what, remember this:

when you shop via my Amazon link, a unicorn gets its wingtips!

xxx
c

Updated 5/13/12.

Photo © 2004 John Schoenfeld.