I knew that I HAD to read this book by Louann Brizendine, M.D. (a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California) when I saw an interview with Whitney Cummings on Live With Kelly & Ryan (confession: I watch that sometimes), where she talked about how this book blew her mind and inspired her to co-write and direct a movie by the same name.
Read MoreReads For The Road: "The Improbability of Love" by Hannah Rothschild
When Annie finds and purchases a small, dingy painting hiding in the corner of a junky antique shop, she has no idea that it is about to expose her to some of Europe's darkest secrets — if you are hunting for the perfect beach read that is smart, entertaining, and well-written I've found it!
Read MoreReads For The Road: "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
I started reading this book because it was recommended to me by a friend that I met while travelling. He pulled it off his bookshelf and told me that it was one of his favourite books in the world. When someone goes to the trouble to tell me about a book that matters to them and recommend that I read it, I do. I find that reading things that people that I know have loved helps me to get to know them better, and the fact that they want to share that with me is pretty darn cool.
Read MoreHave You Read The 10 Most-Read Books In The World?
Based on the number of books printed and sold in the last 50 years, this is the list of the top ten most read (English) books — along with their opening line — on our planet.
How many have you read? (No, watching the movie doesn't count!)
THE HOLY BIBLE
"In the Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth."QUOTATIONS FROM CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG by Mao Tse-Tung
"The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist Party."HARRY POTTER by J.K. Rowling
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
"When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magni- ficence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho
"The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought."THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown
"Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery."THE TWILIGHT SAGA by Stephanie Meyer
"I'd never given much thought to how I would die — though I'd had reason enough in the last few months — but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this."GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were."THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill
"TRULY, "thoughts are things," and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other material objects"THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK by Anne Frank
“I hope to tell you everything that I could never tell anyone until now.”
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Reads For The Road: Starbucked by Taylor Clark
Written by Taylor Clark — a guy who has NOTHING to do with the company itself — Starbucked tells the tale of how Starbucks began.
If you are a supporter of the mom-and-pop, unique cafe around the corner, and make it your life’s goal to avoid the seven Starbucks store that exist in one city block, you might be surprised that Starbucks was started by a few guys who were doing the same thing.
These guys were living in an era before major coffee chains, and when “American Coffee” would have taken paint off the wall. Not only that, the idea of the “cafe” where you could read, study, or visit with friends didn’t even exist.
Fascinated by a specialty coffee shop that popped up where they were living, they started asking questions, doing some research and developing (what was at the time) a very ambitious business.
Combining his own investigations with witty observation, Clark tells the story of how the coffeehouse culture changed everyday life in North America and — as much as we hate to admit it — Starbucks led the way.
Give it a read, you might look at the green mermaid a bit differently if you do!
Reads For The Road: Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venkatesh
Hoping to write a compelling thesis on urban poverty, first-year graduate student Sudhir Venkatesh walked boldly into the middle of Chicago’s most notorious housing projects one afternoon determined to gain some insight.
His boldness — meant to impress his professors — instead impressed a gang leader named JT who, attracted to the idea of being written about, befriended Venkatesh giving him unprecedented access into the gang’s world.
For almost a decade, JT allowed him to observe as the gang operated their crack-selling business, evaded the law, made peace (or war) with the neighbors, and rose or fell in the gang’s complex hierarchy.
Gang Leader For A Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to The Streets gives an eye-opening view of an “outsider looking at life from the inside” (pg xvi), and tells the story of the complicated friendship that developed between two men who — though they have ambition in common — are from completely different worlds.
