April Monthly Challenge: Earn Your Bookworm Badge!
Comments
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@Crystal Bruce My favorite book is actually a play (I hope that counts!) - - Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. Steve Martin (also a favorite of mine!) made it into the movie “Roxanne” in the early 1990s. It features the power of love and the power of words. ?
As for personal and professional development, one of my faves is “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell. I find body language, especially micro-expressions fascinating.
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@Crystal Bruce I love books! Some of my favorite fiction includes Anne of Green Gables, Sherlock Holmes and the Number One Ladies Detective Agency (yes - they are all series…).
For personal growth, a book that I've been working on is Boundaries by Townend and Cloud.
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@Rachel Kauer Neil Gaiman is awesome!
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@Crystal Bruce The Bible is the most influential. Frankly, for my personal development it has been instrumental in guiding my ethics and personal growth. The golden rule applies! Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!
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@Crystal Bruce The book that has had the most influence on my life is the Bible. I read it daily.
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@Crystal Bruce, I'd have to say all-time personal development book would be the Bible. It's controversial but I personally believe in it. Outside of that, I am not a huge reader, but will occasionally muddle my way through a great fictional novel from time to time. Recently, I harkened back to a book I was required to read in high school but never actually finished reading! It is, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. It is a very compelling story with many parallels to the conflicts we face in today's culture.
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@Crystal Bruce
One of my favorite books is Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Also Neil Gaiman's books.2 -
@Crystal Bruce
The Three Body Problem Trilogy! I read this years ago and love it.2 -
@Crystal Bruce - My favorite professional book is The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford. It's a great introduction to the world of DevOps, and how to think through all the pieces involved like work flowing through a manufacturing plant. It's a simple and straightforward read, I cannot recommend it enough.
Favorite quote from the book: “Any improvements made anywhere besides the bottleneck are an illusion.”2 -
@Crystal Bruce So many to choose from and so different throughout the years. My first favorites were to Kill a Mocking Bird and the Color Purple. Both were required reading in middle school but that's when my love of books started. From then on, I will try almost anything. Including Harry Potter and Twilight series. They were coming out just as my kids were hitting high school and that began their love of reading.
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@Crystal Bruce There are too many great books to pick just one! The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is one of my favorites for personal development and self-reflection. Since it is National Poetry Month, I have to recommend Shel Silverstein's Where The Sidewalk Ends. The book is full of silly poems guaranteed to brings a smile to your face.
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@Crystal Bruce Oh what a tough question. I enjoy reading and have gone through multiple phases of genre/authors. Read most all children's books to our boys, love a good mystery, get lost in historical fiction, and occasionally challenged by some non-fiction. I will select the New Testament book of Philippians as one of the most encouraging books.
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@Crystal Bruce I am big fiction reader – anything by Jhumpa Lahiri. I had the opportunity to learn about her books when I walked into a random book store in Chicago one day. Another great (airport find) is Elamin Abdelmahmoud author of “Elsewhere”. His story of being an immigrant really resonated as I traced our family tree.
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@Crystal Bruce I used to love to read autobiographies/memoirs. One of my favorites that I still think about and quote is Gilda Radner's book It's Always Something.
My favorite professional development book is Fundraising with The Raiser's Edge: A Non-Technical Guide by Bill Connors.
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@Crystal Bruce
My favorite book of all time is All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Her quote “We do not remember days, we remember moments.” is everything to me. In terms of professional development, it has to be Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's so applicable in every area of your life, not just professionally!0 -
There are so many great books out there! One of my favorite reads was, “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls! Great read, interesting perspectives and outlooks on life in a small family.
Professional development books, I will have to echo some of my peers here, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear… excellent, so insightful.
Another great professional development book is, “Its the Manager” by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter! Learning the strengths of team members helps managers improve - and use their team members strengths to work harmoniously rather than getting frustrated. Really great - and can't recommend enough taking the CliftonStrengths Finder, if you haven't already.
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@Crystal Bruce My favorite is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I love to read all the adaptations and Movies that have been made too
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@Sunshine Reinken Watson I love Gilda Radner! Great book!
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@Nicole Riggs Where the Sidewalk Ends is one of my life-long favorites! I have gifted it to pretty much all of my friends at their baby showers. It was such a joy reading those poems to my own son! ?
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I fell in love with Everything Matters by Ron Currie Jr. about 10 years ago. It is still at the very top of my recommended reads for everyone I meet!
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@Crystal Bruce
It's really hard to pick a favorite. I love the pure music of words like in Edgar Allen Poe's poetry, The Raven … the mental gymnastics presented in science fiction like Octavia Butler's Imago … the inspiration of uplifting verse by Helen Steiner Rice ... the emotional depth of fantasy works like Tolkien … the real-life grit in histories like The Worst Hard Time. But I'm going to go a little darker here and cite a quote from a book that remains timeless to the human condition and remains a must-read for students: Animal Farm.All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
If this quote doesn't sum up the eternal struggle of secular civic life, politics, and humanitarian aid causes, I don't know what does.
As far as professional books, I was going to name Bill Connor's book on Fundraising with the Raiser's Edge – but somebody beat me to it. ?
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@Crystal Bruce A few of my favorite books, which I see others have similar taste:
- Fried Green Tomatoes (Towanda!)
- A Man Called Ove - I love this line, “And when she giggled she sounded the way Ove imagined champagne bubbles would have sounded if they were capable of laughter.”
- All the Light We Cannot See
- Night Circus
- Project Hail Mary
I will be combing the list to see what other folks are reading that I might add to my next up list!
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@Jen Hammerstrom Fried Green Tomatoes is one of my favorite books and movies!
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@Crystal Bruce I'm a huge Stephen King fan and I think The Stand is one of my favorites. Specifically the unabridged version. It is LONG which makes it very enjoyable. Another favorite was 11/22/63, also by King. It is very different from his typical “horror” books. Folks who think they don't enjoy King's genre should give it a try!
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@Crystal Bruce a day late ? but one of my favorite books is A Man Called Ove, and of course all of the Harry Potter books I've read multiple times and watched the movies annually. I haven't seen the Tom Hanks version of the book but the German movie was pretty on par with the book.
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@Crystal Bruce
This truly is a CHALLENGE! Just ONE book? I love politics-based fiction, especially Brad Meltzer. My favorite is The Tenth Justice. A favorite professional read is “Pinpointing Affluence” by Judith Nichols.0 -
@Crystal Bruce I really loved “The Woman Destroyed” but it has been a while since I've had more time than a graphic novel to be honest. For Personal Development I would say that one too to be honest
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@Crystal Bruce
My favorite book of all time is any and all Happy Potter books. I can read these on repeat.I would have to say, my favorite professional development book would be “Philanthropy Revolution: How to Inspire Donors, Build Relationships and Make a Difference” by Larissa Kostoff and Lisa Greer. They give great insight and prospective on fundraising.
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@Crystal Bruce
My favorite book is “Carrie” by Stephen King. It was the first of his that I read, and I am still a fan all of these years later.My favorite professional book would be “Who moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, M.D. It is about dealing with changes in your personal and professional life.
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April's monthly challenge is underway! This month, we are asking YOU what your favorite book of all time is. Feel free to also share a quote or passage from your favorite work of prose. You can earn 200 bonus points if you add a professional development and/or personal development book along with your favorite work of literature. Leave your favorites in the comments below!
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ***** 5 stars
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