Loved this! Former army intelligence officer Dan Chase has lived in a small Vermont town with his two dogs for 35 years.  A widower, he's been in hiding after allegedly stealing $20 million during a mission in Libya.  He's been preparing to have to make a run for it for decades when he notices an unfamiliar car trolling his neighborhood.  This is it.  They've found him, and he's suddenly off and running, with his two wonderful dogs (don't worry--they're safe), his multiple identities (think … [Read more...] about The Old Man

What does a hospice chaplain really do? In her touching and inspiring new book, On Living, Kerry Egan, shares incredible stories of people she has listened to and comforted as they confronted their own deaths. Trust me, this is not a downer--just the opposite. Egan says of her own job: “Hospice chaplains are sort of the opposite of storytellers. We’re storyholders. We listen to the stories that people believe have shaped their lives. We listen to the meaning they make of those stories.”

Like … [Read more...] about On Living

Rash is a great storyteller.  This novel is the tale of two brothers whose lives are forever altered by the sudden appearance of a beguiling young woman.  I read it one sitting. Fast-paced and engrossing. … [Read more...] about The Risen: A Novel

Love, love, love this book.  They are so wise and wonderful.  So much to glean from these pages! … [Read more...] about The Book of Joy

In this beautiful translation of  Colombian writer, Vasquez, the reader is treated to a provocative story about the role the artist wields to influence lives.  Reputations opens with the "crowning of a rebel," Javier Mallarino, a famous political cartoonist who can make and break reputations, especially of politicians. But what if the artist was basing his or her creation on a faulty piece of information or on something mis-remembered and a person's life is destroyed in the process?  Mallarino … [Read more...] about Reputations

Rosling, a Swedish statistician and academic who died last year, wrote the book with his son and daughter-in-law. The book delves into human tendency to incorrectly guess global trends and lays out several human instincts that cause such a distortion in perspective.

“Although I think everyone should read it,” Bill Gates writes, “it has especially useful insights for anyone who’s making the leap out of college and into the next phase of life.”

Gates concludes by sharing a quote from Rosling … [Read more...] about Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World

Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who for the past 30 years has been running Homeboy Industries in L.A., a social enterprise that has helped thousands and thousands of gang members get job training and, more importantly, love and acceptance. His stories and take on life left me enthralled. Boy, do you want to meet this man and hear him speak!  He writes, “We want to live our lives ‘out loud’—for all the world to see—not with the volume cranked high but with our lives speaking for themselves.  … [Read more...] about Barking to the Choir

What do you want to be when you grow up?  How would you have answered that question when you were a kid?  Lindy West, the brilliant, funny, and insightful author of Shrill, is my new author crush.  She literally changed my view about so many things as I read her book.  She was asked that same question as a kid, but her reminiscence is both hilarious and biting with a big dose of (from my perspective) “wow, I never thought of that before.”  She writes: “Thanks to a glut of cultural messaging, I … [Read more...] about Shrill

When George Washington was a lad of sixteen, he copied down all 110 rules from "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." He knew he had a fiery temper, a trait he worked hard to control all his life. Many of the rules he copied were about restraint, patience, and dignity, and according to the authors of Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and In Life, these lessons of Washington’s youth were invaluable during the Revolutionary War and … [Read more...] about Treating People Well