I've reviewed these books on the blog or on Amazon/Goodreads which for the most part means they are worth a read. Titles link to Amazon, and are affiliate links; links to my reviews are in brackets. For more on all this book hoo-ha, and why I put this page together, please refer to "The Whore of Babylon has some books she'd like you to buy." I do read far more good books than, alas & alack, I have time to review.
As my general rule is to stop reading a book if it sucks (for me!), you may also find worthy things to read in my lists of books read annually: 2014 (still in progress); 2013; 2012; 2011; and 2010.
If you're looking for help on getting more reading done, here's a post I wrote on how I finally accomplished reading 52 books per year. Happy reading!
Communication
- Confessions of a Public Speaker, by Scott Berkun [review]
- How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish [review]
- On Writing, by Stephen King [review]
- On Writing Well, by William Zinsser [review]
- Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds [review]
- Writing About Your Life, by William Zinsser [review]
Creativity
- 52 Projects, by Jeffrey Yamaguchi [review]
- The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp [review]
- D.I.Y. Design It Yourself, by Ellen Lupton [review]
- Ignore Everybody, by Hugh MacLeod [review]
- Improv Wisdom, by Patricia Ryan Madson [review]
- The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield [review]
Memoir & biography
- About Alice, by Calvin Trillin [review]
- Holy Land by D.J. Waldie [review]
- Ill-Equipped for a Life of Sex, by Jennifer Lehr [review]
- My Misspent Youth, by Meghan Daum [review]
- Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin [review]
- The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion [review]
Self-improvement
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey [review]
- The Career Clinic, by Maureen Anderson [review]
- The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz [review]
- The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin [review]
- Linchpin, by Seth Godin [review]
- The Little Book of Moods, by Jane Eldershaw [review]
- The Shadow Effect, by Chopra/Ford/Williamson [review]
- Simple Abundance, by Elaine Ban Breathnach [review]
- Walking on Water, by Derrick Jensen [review]
- The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman [review]
Self-improvement :: De-cluttering
- Clutter Busting, by Brooks Palmer [review]
- Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life, by Karen Rauch Carter [review]
- Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee [review]
Specific Carbohydrate Diet
- Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, by Elaine Gloria Gottschall [review]
Business, marketing, etc.
- The $100 Startup, by Chris Guillebeau [review]
- Design Is a Job, by Mike Monteiro [review]
- Escape from Cubicle Nation, by Pamela Slim [review]
- Freakonomics, by Stephen J. Dubner & Steven D. Levitt [review]
- Influence: The Power of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini [review]
- Tribes, by Seth Godin [review]
- Work the System, by Sam Carpenter [review]
Fiction
- Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen [review]
- The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold [review]
- Mildred Pierce, by James M. Cain [review]
- The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri [review]
- Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout [review]
- Requiem for a Dream, by Hubert Selby [review]
Graphic Novels/Illustrated
- Clumsy, by Jeffrey Brown [review]
- Cheat, by Christine Norrie [review]
- Love, Loss and What I Wore, by Ilene Beckerman [review]
- The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman [review]
Want more?
For more books I recommend with ultra mini-reviews, check out...
- books to improve your ass, period!
- books to improve your ass if you're an actor!
- books to inspire your ass if you're a writer!
- books of a fictional nature to take you away like a box of Calgon!
And no matter what, remember this:
every time you shop via my Amazon link, a unicorn gets his wingtips!
xxx c
Updated 4/6/14.
Photo © John Schoenfeld