April Monthly Challenge: Earn Your Bookworm Badge!

Lauren Henderson

@Crystal Bruce The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. I can't remember how many times I've read it. The BBC made the first book into a narrative installment series that was very well done!

Dawn Alonso

@Crystal Bruce
This is really tough on for me! I have been the type of avid reader that as a child I read the box of cereal boxes if I did not have a book at breakfast.

I tend to like Robin Cook, James Patterson, and Stephen King. When I head to the beach I need mind candy; Rachel Hanna and other romance series type authors.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series is great if you want something you can literally laugh out loud while reading.

My all time favorite….I guess I would have to say the Nancy Drew series.

For Professional Development-MANAGING & COLLECTING STUDENT RECEIVABLES-by David Glezerman and Dennis DeSantis was what I used when I first started in my Student Account Position 5 years ago, with no previous experience.

John Bozek

@Crystal Bruce favorite book will always be a series of unfortunate events : The Penultimate Peril

as far as PD books i have been inspired to begin reading Database Internals by Alex Petrov.

Delphine Rocher-Lewis

@Crystal Bruce Pride & Prejudice!

Recently read Managing Major Gift Fundraisers: A Contrarian's Guide by David Lively & thoroughly enjoyed it.

Vicky Lopuchowycz

@Crystal Bruce

I remember falling in love with Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in elementary school and solidifying my love of reading - Harry Potter has to be my favorite series hands down but I've really become a fan of Sarah J. Maas and The Throne of Glass series recently.

For PD, my favorite is How to Win Friend and Influence People by Dale Carnegie - you can't get anywhere in life alone and knowing how to treat and speak to and with people is very important!

Lisa Olscamp

@Crystal Bruce I would also have to say To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. My favorite quote was when Scount says about Bo “you never really know someone until you step inside their shoes and walk around awhile”.

That is from memory so please forgive me if it is not exact!

Michelle Hanning

@Crystal Bruce
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. The audiobook was on repeat during the pandemic and was a peaceful treat!

Beth Broomall

@Crystal Bruce I am a local history buff. I recently read Wicked Newport: Kentucky's Sin City by Dr. Thomas Barger, Dr. Gary W. Porter and Jenna Meglan.

Miki Martin

@Crystal Bruce I always have a selection of books in my Kindle app on my phone because it's just so much easier to carry books that way. I love fiction. I just finished Shadow Box by Luanne Rice, my first read of hers, and was completely captivated from the beginning. @Beth Broomall I think I need to get that one! It sounds so interesting.

I have never been a great PD book reader, but I have to concur on Bill Connors' book. That helped me so much when I was first learning RE.

Crystal Chouinard

@Crystal Bruce I hate picking favorites! For this I will pick Winnie-the-Pooh. It makes me so happy and I loved getting to read it with my son.

Out of my current reads my favorites would be Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum and Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. I love to read and really just want to rattle off a bunch of other books too but I will stay strong.

As for a professional development book Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen by Zoe Chance I think it is a great read for database managers.

Rachel Cavalier

@Crystal Bruce
My favourite book of all time is “Only Forward” by Michael Marshall Smith - it's a science fiction book set in a city with very distinct neighbourhoods that each have their own theme.

While maybe my favourite quote from one of his books is probably from “The Lonely Dead,” the one I like from this is as follows:

Everything you’ve done, everything you’ve seen, everything you’ve become, remains. You never can go back, only forward, and if you don’t bring the whole of yourself with you, you’ll never see the sun again.

Coco Parham

@Crystal Bruce Fun challenge! I love all sorts of books but a favorite?? Here are some I have reread I love them so much: Fried Green Tomatoes, Harry Potter series, Outlander series, The Glass Castle, any book by Barbara Kingslover, too many!

Great Quote from The Deathly Hallows: Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it."

Markella Balasis

How can I choose just one?? ? One of my favorite authors is Elin Hilderbrand, so I'll choose her book Beautiful Day.

Lee Grisham

Really a fan of the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. British literary humor in spades!

For professional development, did some Tony Robbins and all that stuff when I took a leadership class in college, but some that inspired me more were the biographies of Jim Henson and Walt Disney. Two of the most creative, visionary minds of the past century that got me thinking more about what our hope for the future could be and the importance of having a clear vision.

Kimberly Pierce

@Crystal Bruce Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

Kimberly Pierce

@Crystal Bruce My favorite personal development book is Critical Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High by Joseph Grenny.

Tineke Hage

@Crystal Bruce I love to read and would spend my summer vacations as a kid reading. I always have a book with me and pack several when traveling. My favorite books growing up was The Lord of the Rings and Terry Brooks series The Sword of Shannara.

For professional books I have more of the a personal development book that I love - The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. So much wisdom in just saying yes to opportunities for a whole year instead of turning them down. Inspired me to accept opportunities that I might have otherwise said no to and missed out on moving forward in my life.

Jennifer Wuchner

@Crystal Bruce I like the National Park Books by Nevada Barr. They are murder mysteries set in National Parks. It is fun to read about the parks and then go to visit them. I also enjoyed the series of alphabet books by Sue Grafton. But as a child, I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. All. The. Time…..“I mentally shake hands with you for your answer, despite its inaccuracy.”– Jane Eyre

Currently reading Atomic Habits by James Clear!! How is that for professional development. “Problem #1: Winners and losers have the same goals.” ― James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Jessica Howard

@Crystal Bruce

As a lifelong bookworm who reads more than 200 books a year… this is nearly impossible to answer!

I will go with my most reread books as my ‘favorite’ – that would be just about anything by Georgette Heyer. She wrote more than 60 books, but some of her best titles are Frederica, False Colours, and The Grand Sophy.

As for professional development – I love James Clear's Atomic Habits. I reread it every year or two, usually in January when I have all that new-year energy! And stacking habits has definitely been helpful both personally and professionally.

Tami Goertzen

@Crystal Bruce I love my library and I'm always reading something new. I don't really have a favorite of all time, but growing up, I loved the Anne of Green Gables series.

For personal development, I recently read The Comfort Crisis, and really enjoyed it.

Angel Lawrence

@Crystal Bruce the Harry Potter series every day!

Katie Farkas

@Crystal Bruce
One of my favorite books is The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner! I read it so long ago and definitely need to reread it but it is such an incredible memoir. One of my favorite authors is also Malcolm Gladwell. His books (The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers) are somewhat work related, they definitely have helping me to think in different ways and expand the ways that I look at things that we find monotonous.

Amy Barker

@Crystal Bruce
This is like asking me to pick my favorite cat (I only have one kid, so that's easy). I think I am going to have to go with “Written on the Body” by Jeanette Winterson.
My favorite professional book is “Fundraising with the Raiser's Edge” by Bill Connors!

Sara Niemiec

@Crystal Bruce, I would say my all-time favorite book is Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. I picked it up when I was in middle school, and I have read nearly everything this author has written since. She's fantastic.

Professionally, I don't think I have a favorite professional book. I'm an Operations person, so any recommendations in that realm of things would be fantastic. I'm pretty new to the field (less than 5 years), so I'm still learning the ropes of this industry.

Carrie Powell

@Barbara Pottorff, my stepdad is Osage, and we had the opportunity to visit his hometown (where the murders took place) for the annual dances after the pandemic. I had read the book before visiting, so it added another dimension to the story … seeing their gravestones and hearing from family members who lost people during that time.

Liz Hackett

@Marie Stark
It has a quote for every situation !

Laura Kramer

@Crystal Bruce My favorite is Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and any novel by Michael Creighton, Robert Ludlum, or Barbara Kingsolver. For professional/personal development, Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point was very impactful.

Tracey Harrow

@Crystal Bruce A Catcher in the Rye…my all time favorite book. Totally represent the angry , moody teen that we all aspired to be during teenage years

Don Burrhus

@Crystal Bruce Clifford W. Ashley's Book of Knots. It not only is a great reference, it ties together (pun intended) some history, trades, professions and helps one learn some about what life and commerce were like in the age of sail.

Wendy Ramroop

@Crystal Bruce There are a few series of books that I love and have read several times that include the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldan, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings and the Dan Brown series of books featuring the character Robert Langdon. ?