Books to Read This Summer « advicesisters.com for life, love and happiness

Looking for a great book this Summer. Here is a selection you may find intriguing:

117 Days by Ruth First (Penguin Classics 2009) is a first-person account of the author’s arrest and incarceration in solitary confinement in South Africa. The author is a journalist and political activist, who wrote this book to “help focus world attention on the plight of the growing number of victims of the regime’s physical and mental torture chamber.” The author somehow managed to keep a clear head while being moved to several jails and dealing with interrogation tactics that would make anyone frantic. But I never really understood how she could keep herself in check, even in isolation, day after day. And when her family comes to visit, she implies that they play the part of informant, but there is never a holistic view that shows you how all the players, political or not, come together. In the end, I don’t feel that I knew the author’s motives or feelings any more than I did in the first chapter…and I really did want to know more. Perhaps there’s a sequel, here.

After reading, Why Loyalty Matters by loyalty experts Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy, I’m still not certain what a “loyalty expert” is. But the author combine their researched in a potpourri of subjects (sociology, psychology, economics and management) in a heavy read about hat loyalty is, what it isn’t and how to unlock its power in your personal and professional life. I have to be honest — I’m a big reader and certainly by no means a duncil, but while the subject is fascinating, the writing was dry, and the premises, a bit obscured by this fact. The authors use economic charts that will glaze over many an eye, and quote Jefferson and deTocqueville. If you are an intellectual who really likes to dig deep into a subject, Why Loyalty Matters will keep your attention!

Off the Beaten Path (Readers Digest Books 2009) is an impressive, coffee-table sized book full of beautiful, glossy, full-color photos of more than 1000 scenic and interesting places to visit in the USA. The book is well organized by state, with easy to read maps showing where each “attraction” is. What constitutes a great tourist stop, however, is highly subjective. The book is heavily focused on state parks and museums. Those might not appeal to every age group or interest. In fact, while I love museums and state parks, I’d also hoped for more unique, “kitchy” suggestions, such as the world’s largest gopher, or the world’s largest teacup gas station, or muffler men locations. No matter, there some suggestions every will enjoy. With so many people taking “staycations” or indulging in car trips reasonably close to home, a book like this can be very helpful for it’s $30.00 cover price. It’s a way to get adults and children excited about the unique character of the United States. Armchair travelers will never be bored, checking out what’s in the area, state by state. For example, who knew there was a Kangaroo Conservation Center not in Australia, but in Georgia? And if you’re in Illinois you can visit Abe Lincoln’s birthplace, along with the John Deere Historic site (see some of Deere’s original tools that were excavated there).

Why Don’t I Do the Things I Know Are Good For Me? by BJ Gallagher (Penguin June 2009) turned me off at the title. But I had hope that it would be a self-help book that would provide a few kernels of how-to that you can actually do. The author is a motivational speaker, and she uses lots of real-life stories to illustrate the points in her book (the idea is that self care is necessary and important, and not selfish). Alas, there’s nothing much here to hold on to. The ideas are very basic. They may inspire you for a moment. but won’t really bring about lasting change if you’re truly a doormat, or put yourself last. Still, I gamely rambled through the book, and then the author totally lost me. She suggested creating a “God Box” into which you can put all of your troubles and challenges, and then forget about them because “he” will take care of these issues for you from now on. This just offended me no end. As an advice columnist, I have always told my readers never to abdicate responsibility for their own lives –that’s just misguided. To truly care for yourself is to understand that only you can change what’s not going right in your life and no one else can do it for you. I would never surrender this right and responsibility. Neither should you.

First Lady Michelle Obama was dubbed a modern style icon even before her husband became President of the United States. She posed for a Vogue cover, for example, when his political victory was still unsure. Mrs. Obama is an intelligent, highly-educated lawyer, not just a clothes horse, and her personal style is classic and business oriented. She has managed to capture the attention of the fashion world, and ordinary women want to emulate her. Michelle Style by Mandi Norwood (William Morrow 2009) helps them do so, by nicely breaking down “Michelle style” into do-able pieces that any woman can copy. The full color photos read more like a fan magazine of Mrs. Obama’s time on the campaign trail and in the White House, rather than a fashion manual. The pleasant combination of the two will make it a keepsake book as well as a how-to. The style tips are easy to understand, and easy to implement. The book will benefit any businesswoman looking to add a little more personality into her wardrobe, while still appearing businesslike, Whether you’re just a first lady fan, or want to know how she pulls everything together, this book is a must-read.

Bought by Anna David (Harper 2009) is fiction account of young women in Tinseltown who don’t accept cash (for the most part) for their “services,” but who make a living accepting expensive gifts from men in exchange for their “attention.” The book follows Emma Swanson, a struggling writer as she attempts to work her way up the ranks of an entertainment magazine in Hollywood. Emma stumbles upon the idea of chronicling the lives of girls who offer sex for gifts, and gets pulled, bit by bit, into their world. While it’s a fictional account, it appears that the author must have done some deep research into the lives of these “sad eyed ladies.” The sex for gifts barter arrangement is not fiction. The plot (struggling career girl in glam profession, meddling mother, bad boss, breakups with boyfriends, etc.) is predictable, but the author does a good job of providing a true-to-life account of what moves these girls to get into “the life” and how they operate, once in it. It’s a fast-paced, fascinating read

Avon Inspire is a new imprint of fiction book from excellent, Avon Books. This line provides “novels Christian readers can trust.” Alas, Texas Heat by Debra White Smith (Avon Inspire 2009) was clumsily written and the “Christian” messages seemed forced into the book in inappropriate places. The plot was “reliable” (girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy –with a bit of a murder mystery thrown in). The “mystery” was transparent and the characters were not formed enough to form an opinion or a bond with them. Another problem I have with these types of books is that the reader may not realize Avon Inspire novels are Christian based. The references to religion that seemed thrown in all over the place just didn’t seem to fit really were a downed. If I didn’t know Inspire was a Christian-oriented imprint, I really would have been annoyed. For all these reasons, I just didn’t warm up to Texas Heat

I didn’t previously read any of Joan Anderson’s books about how women can re-awaken their creativity and zest for life, in mid-life, but I was impressed with The Second Journey the Road Back to Yourself (Voice June 2009). In this book, the author realizes that her life wasn’t working well, even though she had inspired other women to move ahead and realize their dreams. She was stressed-out with no time for anything but obligations. In fact, she wasn’t even following the advice she gives to her own readers. To remedy this, she spends some time alone on a remote Island off the coast of Scotland. There, she finds that by re-connecting to her past, she is ready to go home and face her somewhat undefined, future. The book is charming, the characters she meets along the way. kind and inspirational. It wasn’t an earth shattering revelation that she shares in this book, but a personal account of how one woman finds her way back to her own vision of herself. Joan’s journey is filled with memories to share, and you are sure take take away a memory of two of your own by the time your each the end.

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