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Today’s must-read is a Pulitzer prize winner – Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge

by Elizabeth Strout.

Strout won The Pulitzer Prize for her collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine. The Pulitzer judges commended her for work that "packs a cumulative emotional wallop" held together by the "blunt, flawed and fascinating" character of title character Olive.

Strout's book was a finalist for this year's National Book Critics Circle award for fiction.

“Hell. We’re always alone. Born alone. Die alone,” says Olive Kitteridge, redoubtable seventh-grade math teacher in Crosby, Maine. Anyone who gets in Olive’s way had better watch out, for she crashes unapologetically through life like an emotional storm trooper. She forces her husband, Henry, the town pharmacist, into tactical retreat; and she drives her beloved son, Christopher, across the country and into therapy. But appalling though Olive can be, Strout  manages to make her deeply human and even sympathetic, as are all of the characters in this “novel in stories.” Covering a period of 30-odd years, most of the stories (several of which were previously published in the New Yorker and other magazines) feature Olive as  their focus, but in some she is bit player or even a footnote while other characters take center stage to sort through their own fears and insecurities. Though loneliness and loss haunt these pages, Strout also supplies gentle humor and a nourishing dose of hope. People are sustained by the rhythms of ordinary life and the natural wonders of coastal Maine, and even Olive is sometimes caught off guard by life’s baffling beauty. Strout is also the author of the well-received Amy and Isabelle (1999) and Abide with Me (2006). --Mary Ellen Quinn

Available in:

hardback, paperback, audio,ebook

from

--Amazon--Australian (Fishpond.com.au)--Random House--eBooks.com

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Today’s must-read is an eco-thriller – Zodiac

Zodiac

by Neal Stephenson

Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil -- all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate. Closing the case with the aid of his burnout roomate, his tofu-eating comrades, three major networks, and a range of unconventional weaponry, Sangamon Taylor pulls off the most startling caper in Boston Harbor since the Tea Party. As he navigates this ecological thriller with hardboiled wit and the biggest outboard motor he can get his hands on, Taylor reveals himself as one of the last of the white-hatted good guys in a very toxic world.

You can buy Zodiac online...

Editorial: The Book Is Not Dead


Print is dead, nobody reads anymore, the web rules, blah, blah, blah…. The throngs packing the aisles at the recent BookExpo America prove that the book is not an endangered species and that, in fact, online tools and digital formats bring readers and writers together as never before. » » »

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Rowling’s Originality Under Question Again

I don’t even want to think about the possibility that J.K. Rowling ripped off the work of another author in creating her beloved and top selling Harry Potter series of books. However, since everyone else is thinking about it, I don’t have to. Here are some of those links: The New York Times, Coventry Telegraph, E! Online, CBC, Sky News, Entertainment Weekly and The Daily Mail who go to the trouble of encapsulating the whole mess:

more..

Book Spotlight – Karma Queens, Geek Gods and Innerpreneurs

 

What really makes consumers tick?

It's a question every marketer, innovator, entrepreneur, or trend-watcher strives to answer-especially in an age when certain types of consumers are increasingly instrumental in shaping national and even global buying habits.

Karma Queens, Geek Gods and Innerpreneurs is your hands-on guide to getting inside the minds of the people who are setting the trends in art, music, technology, fashion, health, and every kind of consumer product and service. Based on thousands of hours of consumer research conducted by Consumer Eyes, a prominent New York-based marketing firm, this book uncovers nine influential consumer types and reveals how to connect with them, market to them, and create the products that will not only win them over, but their entire social networks as well!

Consumer Eyes founder Ron Rentel takes an entertaining yet serious look at today's most emblematic consumers, analyzing everything from the products they buy, to the activities they enjoy, to the behaviors and attitudes they exhibit. You'll meet such real-life characters as:

  • Karma Queens-women of a certain age who combine a desire to be in harmony with the universe with an appreciation of material pleasures
  • Parentocrats-who act out of love to assure their kids security and happiness, yet often deny them the classical joys of childhood
  • Denim Dads-for whom family involvement means more than climbing the corporate ladder
  • Innerpreneurs-chief managers of their own “brand,” they find their inspiration within themselves

By using C-Types-rich, three-dimensional consumer portraits combining quantifiable data with expressions of personality-Rentel identifies and illuminates the consumers who set the trends. He not only helps you understand Karma Queens, Geek Gods and other consumer types on a deeper level in order to reach them more effectively in your marketing and advertising, he also offers fresh insight into managing your brand and your business.

From the Back Cover
Get to know the consumers who count.

"This isn't a book about marketing. It isn't a book about business, as such. It's much more. It's a book about people-the real, fascinating, complex, multifaceted people called consumers. Funny and insightful, Karma Queens, Geek Gods and Innerpreneurs takes a fresh look at how specific, colorful and influential consumer types are shaping tomorrow's marketplace now.”-David Granger, Editor-in-Chief, Esquire

“Consumer Types are an entirely new way to classify consumers, brought to life with fascinating real world stories, backed up with supporting data, and going far beyond demographics.”-Bennett L. Brenton, Ph.D., Director of Innovation, PepsiCo

“An insightful, impactful book that speaks to a sensibility, passion, and drive for understanding the 'consumer heartbeat.'”-Todd Cunningham, Senior Vice President Brand Strategy and Planning, MTV Music Television

“Don't let all the talk about marketing fool you-identifying C-types helps you communicate better on an everyday basis with absolutely anyone. The possibilities (read: profits) are endless.”-Stephanie Young, Health Director, MORE Magazine

“Ron Rentel has synthesized findings from a powerful, highly sensitive new market research approach into a brilliant chronicle of nine new subcultures that will inform and excite any reader. It is an anthropological thrill ride through the 21st Century's first decade. Highly engaging and readable, it is a MUST for anyone who recognizes the bankruptcy of mass marketing and who understands that our modern “world” is in fact a confederation of niches.”-Gary Hirshberg, President and CE-Yo, Stonyfield Farm

“An interesting exploration of new slices of our fragmented psyche. Filled with useful insights and amusing anecdotes.”-Edwin Schlossberg, Founder, ESI Design

“Ron Rentel captures the essence of consumer habits in this engaging insider's view of interesting personality types...a must-read for consumers and marketers everywhere.”-Madelyn H. Fernstrom, Ph.D., CNS, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
About the Author

Ron Rentel is the founder of Consumer Eyes, a leading brand and innovation consultancy, which creates customized methodologies that can encompass both long-term strategy and pipeline work and/or highly specific near-in product execution and tactics. He is also cofounder of BuzzBack Market Research, an online market research company. Visit Ron Rentel at consumereyes.com.

 

Buy from Amazon

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The Two Worlds of Annie Barrows


Did you know that Annie Barrows, author of the popular Ivy and Bean series of children's books (Chronicle) and Annie Barrows, co-author of the bestselling adult novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, are one and the same person? "Bless the booksellers’ hearts, but you could knock some of them over with a feather when I tell them about the connection,” says Barrows, currently wrapping up a 15-city tour for the paperback release of Guernsey. more » » »

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Today’s must-read – The Snowball

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

by Alice Schroeder In this startlingly frank account of Buffett's life, Schroeder, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley—and hand picked by Buffett to be his biographer—strips away the mystery that has long cloaked the word's richest man to reveal a life and fortune erected around lucid and inspired business vision and unimaginable personal complexity. In a book that is dominated by unstinting descriptions of Buffett's appetites—for profit, women (particularly nurturing maternal types), food (Buffett maintained his and his family's weight by "dangling money")—it is refreshing that Schroeder keeps her tone free of judgment or awe; Buffett's plain-speaking suffuses the book and renders his public and private successes and failures wonderfully human and universal. Schroeder's sections detailing the genesis of Buffett's investment strategy, his early mentoring by Benjamin Graham (who imparted the memorable "cigar butt" scheme: purchasing discarded stocks and taking a final puff). Inspiring managerial advice abounds and competes with gossipy tidbits (the married Buffett's very public relationship with Washington Post editor Katherine Graham) in this rich, surprisingly affecting biography.

Buy from Amazon

Buy from Random House

Buy Australian (from fishpond.com.au)

Buy the eBook

Download the audio book

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Today’s must-read – Always looking up

Always Looking Up.  The adventures of an Incurable Optimist

by Michael J. Fox

There are many words to describe Michael J. Fox: Actor. Husband. Father. Activist. But readers of Always Looking Up will soon add another to the list: Optimist. Michael writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that has served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson's disease. Michael's exit from a very demanding, very public arena offered him the time-and the inspiration-to open up new doors leading to unexpected places. One door even led him to the center of his own family, the greatest destination of all.

The last ten years, which is really the stuff of this book, began with such a loss: my retirement from Spin City. I found myself struggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD? Parkinson's had consumed my career and, in a sense, had become my career. But where did all of this leave Me? I had to build a new life when I was already pretty happy with the old one..

Always Looking Up is a memoir of this last decade, told through the critical themes of Michael's life: work, politics, faith, and family. The book is a journey of self-discovery and reinvention, and a testament to the consolations that protect him from the ravages of Parkinson's.

With the humor and wit that captivated fans of his first book, Lucky Man, Michael describes how he became a happier, more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.

Michael J. Fox gained fame playing Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties. His many other acting successes include the Back to the Future trilogy, and his award-winning lead role in Spin City, from which he retired in 2000. That same year, he launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which has leapt to the forefront of the effort to find a cure. He is the author of a previous book, the #1 bestseller Lucky Man, and lives with his family in New York City.

For more information about the Michael J. Fox Foundation, please visit michaeljfox.org.

Best Price $12.49
or Buy New $16.55

Audiocassette $41.26

Paperback $30.98

CD audio $19.79

Year-round inspiration

 

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is a bit of folk wisdom that illustrates a powerful truth: the remedies that provide true health come in daily doses! You can’t work out one day a month for twelve hours and expect to get in shape. But if you work out thirty minutes a day, you’ll see definite results.

Spiritual life is the same way. Going to church on Sunday and attending an occasional seminar or special service might be great for a growth spurt, but we still need to practice a daily “walk with God” if we want to mature and develop as people of faith. That daily walk needs to include time in God’s Word, prayer, and giving thought to those things that matter to God—so that they will increasingly matter to us.

Inspired Faith 365 Days a Year is just what the doctor ordered for your spirit. Simple and profound new writings are combined with a weekly selection from one of the great devotional writers from history like Spurgeon, Wesley, and Tozer. Each selection includes a Scripture verse, a suggested Scripture reading, an inspirational quote, and a prayer starter.

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How to reinforce a positive attitude

After a speech one day, Zig Ziglar was approached by someone in the audience who said:
"Zig, it was a great speech, but...motivation doesn't last."

Zig said, "Bathing doesn't either. That's why I recommend it daily!"

Like me, Zig loves quotes and believes that the right quote can provide "a-ha" moments and can help to reinforce a positive attitude. Here's what he said:

"Reading has been my fuel for motivation. If the "a-ha" I get when I'm reading is not already reduced into one or two sentences, I'll take the essence of what I've read and chunk it into easily remembered bites of information. That information is what becomes "quotable." You would not sit still for me to read every book I've ever read to you. But if you're the least bit like me, you'll jump at the chance to bypass all the churning and scoop the cream right off the top - that is what quotes are...the cream of our learning."

Sixty Minutes said, "He's a legend in the industry. He's the Bill Gates, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison of enthusiasm." What we love about Zig, however, is his heart. His ability to help people realize their potential is unsurpassed and his belief that, "You can have everything you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want," has been the foundation of all he's accomplished.

Inspiration 365, is a beautiful, 160 page, coffee table book that will be a perpetual source of inspiration for years to come. It's a collection of 365 quotes (each day of the year) from Zig himself, and many others that have motivated him over the years.

To read 20 of Zig's favorite quotes, and to watch his beautiful 3 minute inspirational movie, just click here.