The Art and Technology of Photography

Even with all the modern technology, taking a great picture is an art.

I took a few moments to talk with photographer Scott Hewitt about his art and some of the new technology that is added new demensions to his work.

For more information about 360 degree phtography, visit Scott's websites. 

http://www.scotthewitt.com/


http://www.dgree360.com/

The 6 Aspects of Beauty

Amanda Schwab has written a book to help women attain greater understanding about beauty. All aspects of beauty.

For more information about Woman Beautiful, visit the website at www.womanbeautiful.us

"The Celebritizer"

You know I love a great interview. When it comes to this blog, I want to be sure I am being a good interviewer. In addition, in those times I am the guest, I also want to make a good impression.

If you do too, you should take a few tips from Gayl Murphy, "The Celebritizer" who has done more than 14,000 interviews and has literally written the book on how to be a great interview that the media seeks out.

For more information about Gayl and her book, visit her at her website.

Dignity Through Underwear: An Interview with Socks'n Undies Sunday's Jennifer Maulsby

Remember what your mother used to say about always putting on clean underwear?  Well for some it is not always possible to do as mom said. 

For those balancing the challenges of homelessness, in addition to trying to obtain shelter and food each day, many must also deal with how to maintain a semblance of normalcy in their personal attire.

In many homeless shelters, next to the food pantry is also a clothes closet that continually needs replenishing.  This is where people like Jennifer Maulsby and the Socks'nUndies Sunday Program comes to the rescue.

I recently had an opportunity to talk to Jennifer about her organization  -- Everyday Philanthrophy -- and its signature program, Socks'n Undies Sunday.

For more information about the Socks n Undies Program, visit their website at http://www.socksnundies.org/

The Power of CARE and Co-Parenting

I had the pleasure of being a guest on Co-Parenting Matters -- a blog talk radio program about co-parenting.  Thank you to Deesha and Mike, the co-founders of coparenting101.org and to Talibah who started the WeParent.com website.

This was a chance to use the Power of CARE framework on the subject of co-parenting.

Listen to internet radio with Co-Parenting Matters on Blog Talk Radio

Two Daughters' Efforts To Increase Access to Healthcare and Empower Women With Cancer

I know all too well what it means to lose a mother to cancer.  Terry Kaye and her best friend experienced this loss too.  And like so many, they wanted their mothers' deaths to have a greater meaning.  But unlike most people, they put that desire into effort.  The result was the founding of the Saralee and Carol Foundation -- an organization whose mission is to increase access to health care and to ensure that all women living with cancer are empowered to be their own best advocates.

For more information about the SareLee and Carol Foundation and to learn more about their project to gain a Pepsi Refresh Grant in the month of October, check out their website.

And for more information about the Mad As Hell Doctors event on October 1st, visit their site.

What's Your Type?: Interview With Author Berit Brogaard

A few years ago, the line to use to describe that guy who just didn't seem to be the one to everyone but you was, "He's just not that in to you."  It even spawned a book and a short lived talk show for its author.

College professor Berit "Brit" Brogaard is taking a new approach to the topic of one sided "relationships" in her upcoming book Lovesick Love.  In it she describes serveral "types" of both men and women that epitomizes those who make the mistake of thinking they are in a relationship when they are really not.

For more information about Berit, visit one of her websites.

Making Wishes Come True: An Interview with Shimmy Mehta of Angelwish

When you were a child did you have a special wish?  Was there one toy you were desperately hoping to receive for a holiday or your birthday? 

In A Christmas Story we empathize with Ralphie's childhood desire -- borderline obsession -- for the "it" toy. By contrast in Jingle All The Way we sympathize with the parental angst and guilt associated with working to get said "it" toy for our child.  Now imagine this childhood desire and parental angst in the context of a family dealing with a chronic illness. 

I had the pleasure of speaking with Shimmy Mehta about his organization, Angelwish, which seeks to connect community angels with children and families with wishes.

Angelwish believes that who knows better what an 8 year old child might like than another 8 year old child. Therefore, they take monetary donations and place them in the hands of volunteer youth shoppers during "Giving Sprees" at toy stores. Here is a great video about one of these wonderful events.



Kyra Sedgwick hosts the the 2nd Annual Angelwish Giving Spree from Angelwish.org on Vimeo.


For more information about Angelwish and how you can help make a wish come true, visit their website.

Everybody Wins When Everyone Can Read Well: An Interview with Everybody Wins! Executive Director Rich Greif

Literacy is so important not only in academic success, but success in life. Organizations like Everybody Wins! not only address the issue of increasing literacy and appreciation for reading among young students, in the process, they are creating lasting relationships.

I had a great talk with Everybody Wins! National Executive Director, Rich Greif about this special organization and his own personal story of building long term relationships with young students.

In addition, Rich -- being the master at communication through social media -- gave some insight into how non-profits can use this powerful tool to attain and maintain relationships with partners and prospects.

For more information about Everybody Wins!... Follow them on Twitter. Connect with them on Facebook. Link up on LinkedIn. And check out their website at http://everybodywins.org/.

Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Haaaaap-py Anniversary!

Today is my 10 year wedding annniversary.  Happy Anniversary to my Tin Man!  Who does have a heart.

I love you honey!



The 10th Anniversary is tin or aluminum by the way.

Creating a Powerful Brand -- An Interview with Paige Arnof-Fenn

What is your brand? Have you taken the time to think about what is means to craft and cultivate a powerful brand? It doesn't matter if you are a corporation, a small business, or just an individual professional, your brand is your reputation, the calling card that precedes you.

What is your brand? Is it working for you or against you?

I had a great conversation with marketing expert and founder of Mavens & Moguls, Paige Arnof-Fenn about creating ones brand.

Enjoy.

For more information about Paige and her business, visit Mavens & Moguls online. http://www.mavensandmoguls.com/

Preserving Their Childhood Through Pictures -- An Interview with Photographer Oana Hogrefe

What does every parent tell you about their children?  "Oh they grow up so fast!" 

So preserving our memories of our children through photgraphs becomes oh so important.  Today's talk with photographer Oana Hogrefe will help you take better pictures of your children.

If you are in the Atlanta area, you can just call Oana and have her take your pictures for you.

http://www.shutterview.com/

The Family Dinner

When I got married, we were a blended family. I got a bonus daughter along with a husband. I have a friend who doesn’t like the term blended family, but I don’t have a problem with it. It is rather an apropos word I think, because we had to learn to blend so many ways of doing things. For us, one of the more challenging subjects was the family dinner.

Now I must admit, in this case, when I say blend, what I really mean is I had to get my new husband and daughter to convert to my way of thinking. Many a time I ended up sitting at the dinner table by myself, because they had gobbled down their food and just got up and left me. Or in the middle of dinner one of them would get up to answer the phone. That just wasn’t how I was raised. In my house we had dinner together most nights and it was as much a family ritual as it was a routine.

Even though my father had many evening meetings with clients, he did most of the cooking and we all had dinner together prior to his going out. You did not leave the table until everyone was finished and dinner time was an opportunity to catch up with everyone, laugh, debate and communicate. Sunday dinners were an event. We usually had friends or relatives over for a big Sunday meal after church.

When we were old enough to get chores, each of us kids would do our job cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. As my father used to say, “Why do I need to buy a dishwasher? I have three.” Whoever washed the dishes cleaned the stove, counters and kitchen table. Whoever dried took out the trash to the garage and swept the floor. There was a system. If you were washing, it made sense for you to wash everything down; you already had the wet cloth. If you were drying, it made sense for you to sweep the floor; you were the last one in the room and could sweep without people in your way.

It wasn’t until I visited other people’s homes or we had friends over that I realized, yet again, we were different. I can remember one particular Sunday dinner. We were in the dining room having a wonderful meal and conversation and one of my sister’s friends from middle school was there. Without a word, when she was finished eating, she got up from the table walked out of the room, through the kitchen into the den, sat down on the couch and turned on the television. For a few seconds we all just looked at each other in silent astonishment.

I never investigated her rational for just up and leaving the dinner table, but I suspect that in her household, family dinners were not commonplace. Dinner time might have been more of a solitary event and not a time for family bonding. Maybe she was used to eating in front of the television and she was looking to get back to the familiar.

Fast forward through more years and more living experiences, I am again and again reminded of how to many, the concept of the Family Dinner it not commonplace, but something that is relegated to Thanksgiving or one of the major religious holidays. Yet, I’m here to tell you, there is more to the family dinner than just food. If it’s been awhile since you put forth the effort to make it happen for your family, now’s the time.

Take Back the Family Dinner

“It’s time to take back dinner. Put it on the front burner (pun intended) and basically stop over-scheduling your kids and start scheduling mealtimes together. We multi-taskers somehow manage to meet our work deadlines and get to our kid's baseball games on time, so why can't we actively work hard to plan our weekly meals?” says, Jeanne Muchnick, author of the new book, Dinner for Busy Moms.

Muchinick is not alone in her call to take back the family dinner. Even major brands have incorporated it into their marketing campaigns to get families together…hopefully over a serving of their product. For more than a decade there have been various calls to action by children and family advocacy groups.

The good news is, for some, there was no need to make the call. It was a part of life for Parenting and Life Coach, Barbara Desmarais. “I grew up having family dinners every night. It was the norm and when I raised my own children, it was also the norm.” For Jessie Nagel, it was so much a part of her life that it never occurred to her that not every family ate dinner together. “You might think it crazy, but I was truly surprised to learn as an adult that many families do not eat together. I was raised in a family that ate dinner together every night, with rare exception, and also enjoyed food as the center for many forms of socialization,” says the Hype, Special Agent.

For Ms. Desmarais, coming to the realization that not every family ate dinner together was a long time coming. “When my children entered high school it was the first time I found out that what we were doing was not the norm for everyone. In fact my kids felt very inconvenienced when they had to come home for dinner at a certain time and most of their friends were just eating what was in the fridge and at no set time. It saddened me that this was now a fact of life.

But if you have a protesting teenager, don’t let it get to you. You have to think long term. “Everyone benefits from family dinners. Even if a teenager complains, she or he benefits from a sense of belonging to the family group. As soon as children are old enough, they grow in self-esteem and character by taking on some responsibilities associated with the family dinner. Even a small child feels a sense of pride by performing as simple a task as placing a napkin at each place setting,” says Psychotherapist, Marcia Naomi Berger, LCSW.

Research

“Research supports that families who have dinner together several times a week have less substance abuse, better body image, do better in school,” states Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Director of Wasatch Family Therapy, Julie Hanks.

So is it that families who eat together already had the benefit of strong parenting skills and higher levels of communication? I say, in part, Who cares! If this is one of those chicken and the egg kind of scenarios and you are one of those families that are not having the family dinner on a regular basis…then start!

Maybe that will start positively impacting other family dynamics. Unless eating your mother or father’s cooking could literally be a danger to your health, only good can come from having dinner together. So order Chinese and still set the table for a family meal.

Do’s and Don’ts of Family Dinner

The family dinner table it a great time for teaching and learning, but parents still have to work at doling out those life lessons with moderation and tact. “There is so much to gain by the family dinner as long as certain ground rules are created by the family. Negotiating the ground rules and practicing them is enormously helpful in teaching children responsible behavior and in enhancing their social skills. An example would be how do we make sure everyone who wants to speak is heard without interrupting another family member. In discussion, parents can teach and model the practices necessary for good communication - seek to understand before being understood, no shaming or insulting,” says Parenting Coach Dr. Richard Horowitz.

Some of the ground rules, or do’s and don’ts of the family dinner table include respecting differences and agreeing on what will and will not be discussed. “It is important that parents do not use this mealtime to either interrogate the kids (Did you pass your test? Did you behave yourself at daycare? etc) or harangue them”, says Kathy Lynn of Parenting Today Canada.

Berger agrees. She says, “Make it a general rule for the conversation [to be] pleasant while eating. Doing so encourages healthy bonding among family members as well as good digestion. The more difficult topics and disciplinary matters can be addressed at other times. During the meal, everyone can be encouraged to share their feelings about whatever is on their mind and about how their day went.”

Raising Healthy Eaters

If you take a look at the average grade school child, you realize that we are in the midst of a childhood obesity epidemic. Even the first lady has picked up the mantle of helping our society make better choices for our children. One of those healthy choices is having more nutritious family dinners. It is at the dinner table that parents help establish a child’s relationship with food and good eating habits.

Many of us grew up being told to “clean our plates” and “not waste food”. It is at the dinner table that we either succeed or fail at helping our children learn about portion control and stopping when we are full. “At the meal table, children take important cues about healthful eating from their parents and witness what a nutritious, well-rounded meal looks like,” says Registered Dietitian, Christen Cooper. Likewise, they learn the balance between not wasting food and not encouraging over eating.

According to Nancy Piho, the author of My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus: Raising Children Who Love to Eat Everything, “Eating together as a family is vitally important in starting young kids off on the right foot of being healthful, adventuresome eaters!”

Many nutritionists and pediatricians will tell you, it can take up to 10 or 11 exposures to a food before a child will decide they like it. In many a household, including mine, parents have instituted the “No Thank You Bite” rule. Basically, it means you don’t have to eat a lot of something new, but you at least have to try it. Then you can say no thank you. It took my son about four or five “no thank you bites” before he learned to love his favorite fruit…kiwi.

As children get older, the ritual of the family dinner can be expanded to include the children in the preparation. Janet Max relishes that fact that she and her teenage daughters have made dinners together an event, one where her daughters are beginning to flex their culinary skills. Her oldest, Tasha “likes to cook, so she helps prepare meals a lot, even makes some on her own. Lately both my daughters have an obsession with sautéed onions. It’s hilarious. Tasha will cook up a whole pan full and they will fight over them.”

Encouraging children to be a part of the planning and making of the meal not only helps their self esteem, but also prepares them for a more self sufficient future.

Family Dinner as Backdrop of Family Dynamics

For so many families, the significance of Sunday (or Sabbath) dinner was magnified exponentially when interplayed with other family characteristics. When Judy Woodward Bates was very young family meals were not just about the food, it was a social event that cemented familial relationships. “My parents would always take me and my sister to a huge Sunday dinner gathering at my dad's parents’. Since I was number 34 of the 34 grandchildren and my dad was the youngest son, my grandparents were in their late 60's when I was born. Their health declined rapidly and these fun times ended by the time I was 7, but I'll never forget the organized chaos of those Sunday afternoons.

The kids were ordered to stay outside and play until the grownups had eaten and play we did! I don't think Big Mama (my grandmother) ever sat down - she was like a bustling whirlwind - running between the kitchen and dining room with mounds of fried chicken, homemade "catheads" (as my Papa called her huge fluffy biscuits) and cornbread; baked sweet potatoes; fresh field peas; sliced tomatoes and onions; and gallons of sweet tea. All that was generally followed by cutting a watermelon (and the subsequent seed-spitting contests among the grandkids) and churning homemade ice cream, with all us grandkids vying for a chance to be the one who sat on the ice cream maker while one of the men cranked it.

For Claire DeRosa, the truth of her internal family drama that was happening around the dinner table was not clear at first glance. "I grew up in a family of six. Our household included my parents, grandmother, sister and brother. We did not have much of anything. My father ate before any of us and my mother would serve him. When he was finished we would then have our dinner. My mother never sat down with us to eat. When we were finished she would then scrape the plates into hers and then eat. My mother passed away when I was 15 years old. Now years later I realize she never sat down with us because there wasnt enough food. As kids it never entered our mind what the true picture of this dinner drama was in reality."

My Blended Family

In my family, even after ten years, we are still in a continuous game of negotiation around the dinner table. My husband still eats faster than the rest of us. Now my son is the slow poke of the table, far surpassing my slow pace in the family. And my bonus daughter, who is now in college, seems to have the most challenge with the no phone rule. But just recently, after a few subtle and not so subtle hints, she left her cell phone in another room. And when I could hear the tell tale pings of her text message alerts and she didn’t rush to go pick it up, I said thank you. My son asked what I was thanking her for. I simply said, “She knows”, and smiled.

Next up...teaching her how to cook.

Marketing Strategically -- An Interview with Mustang Marketing's Scott Harris

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Doing it well requires you to put forth some effort. To make the choice to be in goal mode and think and act strategically. This is so true when it comes to developing and implementing your marketing plan for your business or project.

I had a great talk with Scott Harris of Mustang Marketing, a full service marketing agency serving the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, California.

If you want more information about Scott and Mustang Marketing, visit their website at www.mustangmktg.com

My Book Love Story

With this being the week before Father’s Day it is ironic that several of the stories I am working on make me think of my father and my childhood. I was blessed with two great parents from whom I learned a great deal. Their greatest legacy is the sum of the lessons they taught me and my brother and sister that we are instilling in our own children; not the least of these is a love of learning…a love of books. And I have my father to thank for my general love affair with books, but in particular my true book love story -- The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Education was very important in our household. Even during the summer months it was not unheard of to have a book report required by my father. He was always giving us books that he felt we needed to read. Some stick out.  Others are vaguely familiar.  I couldn't tell you the general plot of Jonathan Livingston Seagull if you paid me; but I remember all three of us being required to read it and our appreciating its shortness.   However, The Good Earth is one I remember and one that became my favorite book of all time.

Not only is the book a great story full of life lessons, the story surrounding my discovery of it is a lesson in "father knows best". I was a teenager in high school. My dad gave me the book and told me I should read it. Several days later, he asked if I had started it. Nope. I got one of those disapproving looks and was reminded to begin reading it...soon. He gave me a little more time. A few days later he asked me if I had started the book. Nope. Okay, now he’d had enough. At that moment I was ordered up to my room and I had to begin reading the book. After a few pages of Buck’s wonderful story telling I was hooked. Oh, crap! My father was right...again. The book was great!

Over the years I have read it over a dozen times. It speaks to my love of a good story, my love of learning about cultural differences, my love of history, my love of examining the human condition and interpersonal relationships. The book just has so much to offer.   I think it was an influence in my desire to learn more about Asian cultures.

In college I learned that it was in fact the first in a trilogy, but was saddened to find out that books two and three were out of print. In grad school I found book two in the university library and tried to read it, but it just wasn’t as good as The Good Earth.  So I read that again.  I’ve never even sought out book three in the trilogy.  Wow, I think it may be time to read it again.

In thinking about my love of The Good Earth, I thought I would ask a few folks to talk about their favorite book. The one they have read over and over again…their book love story. 

WHAT IS YOUR BOOK LOVE STORY?



My favorite book, the one I've read every few years for the past 25 years, is J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories. He's known, of course, for Catcher in the Rye, but I find Nine Stories so much more subtle, and so thought-provoking. It centers me, reminding me of who I am as both a person and a writer.

I gravitate toward the various philosophies, both Western and Eastern that inform the book. He's never in the reader's face about them, but they're quietly at work in almost all of the stories with a message of mindfulness, and of appreciation for the connections we make with each other as humans.

As well, each story is simply so entertaining as a study of character, body language, setting, and theme. I teach both high school and university writing classes, and I never fail to recommend Nine Stories as my favorite book and one which I hope my students will read. Most of them find that they love it as much as I do!
Melissa Hart
Author, Journalism Teacher
http://www.melissahart.com/    








I keep returning to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

In 2002 this boyfriend and I broke up, but for Christmas a few months later he still got me a gift, this book. The first time I read it was on a road trip from Southern California to Arizona and back over a weekend. At first I thought it was his way of saying he would someday come back to me. I soon realized he wasn't coming back but I kept reading it over and over. For me the book has become a foundation for my beliefs, that the world ever so gently coaxes us toward what we are supposed to do, suppose to become, in life. If we listen closely enough, and look for signs we can choose to follow our dreams and fulfill our purpose in life, but all too often we get carried away in the day to day and lose our purpose, lose our way. Whenever I'm starting to feel like my life isn't moving forward, like I'm losing my way, I re-read this book. I've given it as a gift over a dozen times. It's written so simply, but so elegantly. It's like the peoples poetry, using words everyone can understand but no one else can put together quite like Coelho. As an atheist, this story is akin to my bible, it has morals and representational characters and lessons about how love makes up the fabric of the universe. This book got me addicted to Coelho and while I will buy and read all of his books, nothing quite compares.
Sierra Webb
Town of Apple Valley
Public Relations Specialist
www.facebook.com/AppleValleyCA



Looks like you aren't the only one who loves it.


My favorite book is The Alchemist.

Everyone has their own interpretation, but to me, it isn't just a wee man wondering around in the desert. It's a giant (well, 100 page) metaphor on a successful way to approach life. It should be mandatory reading - once you've gotten out of school/university though. And you'll probably have to read it again later, so you appreciate it for what it is.
Andrew Hayes
http://www.twitter.com/andrewghayes

There are handfuls of books that I would certainly say that I've read many times over the years. And though it's hard to name just one, I'll name the one that popped into my head first. The Stand by Stephen King.

Yes, I know it may be an odd choice. I don't remember when I read it for the first time and I certainly couldn't tell you how many times over the years I've read it. The biggest reason is the comfort factor. I've reread it so many times for the same reason I aways eat chicken soup when I have a cold. Or crave hot chocolate on a cold rainy day. The comfort factor. When things aren't going right in my life I know I can count on the Stand to make me forget for awhile. And if I'm just lacking a better book to read, I can rely on the fact that the Stand will entertain me.

I read it while I was a lovelorn angst ridden teenager. I read it while my boyfriend, the man I would later marry, spent the first two years we were together on the road. When I miscarried my first child I crawled in bed and read the Stand. When my parents divorced. While I was in labor with my son. Camping in the mountains, lounging on the beach, or cooped in a hotel room far from home. The Stand has always been my companion and friend. Always there with the promise that no matter how bleak life may look at any given moment, that there is always a future to look forward to. And that no matter how much evil there is in the world, it will never outweigh the good.
Meghan Harvey
http://meghankharvey.wordpress.com/






My favorite book: The Magic of Thinking Big


Because it’s simply amazing and ever so inspiring to strive for the best in me!


LOVE IT!
Steffany Boldrini
www.ecobold.com






My favorite book is The Awakening by Kate Chopin.


I first read it as required literature reading in college, and have read it at least 10 more times since then. Even though the book was written in a different time/place, I always feel the struggles for the main character has remained timeless. Whether you have children, don't have children, work, don't work, it doesn't matter; you can identify with her thoughts and feelings throughout the book. The ending may not be a happy one, but it's one of the few endings I truly feel completely fits the book. To me, there is no other way to realistically end the story. We miss out on that in current literature and fiction writing. It seems writers are afraid to end the book with a solid ending. They look either to wrap it up in a cute, happy little bow or leave it open for possible sequels.

Each time I read it, I'm reminded to embrace my own personal "awakenings".
Jill Heisterkamp
Director of Media Relations
Heiste Communications
www.heiste.com

One book which really deserves a lot of recognition is Shadow of the Sword by Jeremiah Workman. This really is a powerful book of a Marine who was awarded the Navy Cross (The second highest award that can be given.) This book truly helped me through a rough period of my life after I returned home from Iraq. It really takes you into the world of PTSD and it let me know that I was not alone during my struggles reintegrating back to civilian life.
Daniel Hutchison
Author
www.nowheretoturnbook.com






My favorite book that I have read over and over is The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. My father recommended it to me when I was in high school because I was scared of storms, I think. Anyway, I have re-read it during every crisis and happiness. It's a book that I find hope and guidance for life's curve balls.


P.S I am 52 now and still have my copy from high school. I have never loaned it out but prefer to buy friends their own copy.
Cindy Giles

I read Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited every year - and it seems strange that this dusty relic of a vanished world means so much to me. It’s a story about an aristocratic family in England in the 1920s and 30s, but it’s narrated by a friend of that family, Charles Ryder, during World War 2.

It is a magnificent, beautifully-written and incredibly moving book. I read it for the first time when I was 15 - it had been one of my mother’s favorites and I finally succumbed to her encouragement to read it. I have now not lasted a year without returning to its pages for timely insights into my own journey through life. Every time I curl into whichever battered paperback copy I’ve got closest to hand, I feel like I, too, am coming home.
Van Badham
Author, Literary Manager, Freelance Writer and Dramaturge
www.vanbadham.blogspot.com






I've read, re-read and re-read Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber Series - A total of ten books now available as a single anthology called The Amber Chronicles. Roger Zelazny was an incredible writer in his own right and his swan song is The Amber Chronicles. There are so many elements that make the books re-readable a hundred times over without even a hint of boredom creeping in.

Zelazny wrote endlessly about family squabbles, quarrels and cabals -- something we can all relate to at one point or another in our lives. On a related note -- Machiavelli himself could study the Amber novels to gain new ideas and insights on how to best his opponents politically or otherwise. Zelazny wove the very best elements of fantasy into the fabric of modern-day reality with a very "believable" twist making The Amber Chronicles a fiction series that ANYONE can enjoy. The rich references to a cross-section of our culture - from nouveau riche to old money to ivy leaguers to hippies to royalty to vagrants, vagabonds and viceroys -- there's something in there for EVERYONE.

I first read The Amber Series some twenty-five years ago - when I was a teenager and I can credit Roger Zelazny for schooling me in gentlemanly behavior, philosophy AND real-world grit when I was a youngster. During my 20s and 30s the occasional re-read would leave me wiser and shaking my head in wonder at how many times Zelazny hit home with his writing on a myriad of subjects. Now that I'm past the big 4-0 I can sit down and read the novels again and walk away with even more appreciation, understanding and awareness of just how deep Zelazny's Amber universe ran - and still be endlessly entertained. The Amber Chronicles is on my coffee table and I'm roughly one third through -- yet again.
Howard Sherman
www.malinche.net






My favorite all time book is Rachael Carson's 1956 A Sense of Wonder.

I have 11 1/2 grandchildren and I read it each time another one is born to remind me of my role as their grandmother in nurturing their natural sense of wonder of the world around them. To this day, one of their favorite things to do with me is to go on a nature walk and we try to learn and discover at least one new thing every day. Even my little ones can identify a female cedar tree from a male and it is exciting to see their excitement!

I don't have any one copy that is all marked up....because I keep getting new ones and giving my old ones away. Once I show it to a friend...especially someone who has never read it...it usually touches their heart and spirit like it touched mine so many years ago when I was a brand new mother in 1973 and read it for the first time and oh how I wanted to help keep my child's sense of wonder alive and vibrant! In my opinion, this book will never be outdated....and in fact, it seems to be more applicable all the time! I also like this book because its effects go beyond its covers...it is not completely read unless it is lived....it is what I call a "living" book.
Cathy C. Runyan-Svacina
http://themarblelady.com





Over the winter I read Four Hour Work-Week, which I borrowed from the library. I liked it so much I bought three copies - one for me and one each for my twin 22-year-old sons.


Author Timothy Ferriss details (and I mean details) many extraordinary steps and guidelines for taking one's passion and monetizing it. Most important to me is that it provides a roadmap to earning non-linear income. Linear income has been vexing me for several years now. So this book is now one of my most valuable resources. He also points out the folly of doing things that are not of value to one's personal mission and goals, and that includes working 40 years/40 hours per week for the CHANCE that you get to enjoy some moderately comfortable retirement. I even emailed Mr. Ferriss' VA and, through her, sent him my thanks. BTW- EVERYone would benefit from his policy on handling email correspondence. Though I admittedly have not been able to bring myself to implement it! It is brutal. I am happy to share more about my love for this book, certainly one of the best of the dozens I have devoured over recent years.
Ron Kaplan
Surf Ohio LLC
www.surfohio.com

The book I cannot get enough of is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

It’s usually always classified as an all-American novel, but to me it has a deeper significance of my American teenagerhood and trying to grow into myself. I read it the first time my sophomore year of high school, and trust me; the book is covered with class scribbles, highlighting marks, and post-its. The symbolism is amazing with the green light and its parallels to money, but it’s more symbolic towards the awkwardness of being a teenager while reading it. Whenever I had to read that book for "homework" (and it definitely didn’t feel like homework), I was able to escape to a land of reshaped American dreams and ideals. To this day, I read this book once in a while and I can image the certain passages I am reading and the certain feelings I was feeling in my life. It truly is a book love story.
Caroline Radaj
Student
University of Wisconsin - Madison


 When I was in my late twenties, I went on vacation to Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) Canada. I was only tangentially aware of Lucy Maud Montgomery's writing (she wrote the Anne of Green Gables series). I visited her childhood home, where she wrote the series and purchased several of her books, most of which were not available in the U.S. My very favorite book, after devouring most of her work, has got to be The Blue Castle.


The main character, Valancy, is a spinster, living with her disapproving mother and spinster auntie. Everything Valancy does, says and thinks is suspect. She's constricted on all sides by her society and family roles. Then, after suffering mysterious chest pains, Valancy secretly goes to see the doctor who leaves her breathless with a diagnosis that her condition is fatal and she only has one year to live. THAT's when the story gets interesting. I love, love, love the change in Valancy at this pivot point in the story. I also love the feeling I get when I reread this book. I'm left with the feeling that if Valancy can change her life that drastically, I can, too.

Every time I open those yellowed pages, I'm swept back to a picturesque island beach, while my two sons make sand castle after sand castle as the sun drops into the Atlantic Ocean. My sons were five and seven when we visited P.E.I. They're now twenty seven and twenty nine, but I still remember those golden days we spent together. The races across the kitchen floor with Abbott and Costello (their lobster dinners), the times just spent hanging out together, and the never to be forgotten times when they were both small.
Cherie K. Miller
Wisdom Creek Press
http://wisdomcreekpress.com/



My favorite books to reread to my kids are by E.B. White: Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte's Web & Stuart Little. I read all three when I was a child in the 70s and have read all three to my oldest 3 kids. Number 4 needs a couple of years, but I have the originals saved for him.

My favorite book to read to myself is Great Expectations. The heartbreak and redemption is overlapped on stark reality and neurotic love is breathtaking.
Jules Zunich
Z Group PR
www.zgrouppr.com


I first read Gravity’s Rainbow during a backpacking trip through Europe at age 20. In London, in fact, where much of the book takes place. I’m reading it now, at age 50 for the 3d time, which is unusual in that I read so much I have only read one other book twice.

Gravity’s Rainbow is (something its virtually never given credit for) soulful, hilarious, a searching meditation on our contemporary condition and what got us here, encyclopedic, and endlessly mind-blowing, a trait that makes my current re-read incredibly gratifying. I see it now, I think, something that at age 20 I couldn’t possibly presume to understand while understanding nonetheless for certain that within its endless digressions into matters I never had even imagined but knew were vital to know
Peter Friedman
Associate Professor, Legal Analysis & Writing
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
http://blogs.geniocity.com/friedman/







There is one book in my life that I keep returning to at different point in my life. I have ended up reading it every couple of years over the past 15 years.

The book is The Little Prince by St. Antoine Exupery. I first read the novel (in English) in my French Class when I was 13. On my first reading it seemed straightforward and I loved it. A few years later it was assigned a second time for class. This time it was read on a deeper level looking at the historical context of the story. Again I loved it but for a new reason. The third time I read the book was also for class but this time in French and a whole new level was opened for me.

After high school, there was no need for me to read this book again but I found myself buying different editions of it whenever I would come across one in bookstores and then sitting down to reread in one sitting. Also lending and giving copies as gifts to children and adults alike. Every time I have gone back to reread the book it has illuminated something new that relates to my life in the present, whether it be love, work, friendship, obligation etc. And every time I cry, laugh and fall in love all over again. It is the only book that I continue to learn from and has stood the test of time. It is ageless.

In fact, I think it is time for me to read it again now!
Genvieve Goldstein

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug." Thus begins my favorite book. The book of course is Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women.

I read it first when I was about ten years old. I'd been pestering my mom for something new to read. She rifled through her shelves and handed me a fat old book, a bit tattered around the edges. I was skeptical--then I was absorbed. I laughed at Meg's misadventures in being a governess, got angry at Amy's vicious teacher, sobbed my heart out when Beth died, and sighed with happiness when Jo finally embraced her professor.

As I read and re-read my vocabulary expanded to include words like garret, conservatory, and tarlatan. At times the Civil War era seemed more real to me than my own, and I would worry that Father would never make it safely home.

Little Women accompanied me to sleep away camp, on high school sports trips, and to college. It was the only book I took with me when I went to Russia for a summer study program. Each time I read it I found some new meaning. When my fourteen year old heart broken by my first boyfriend I read Amy and Laurie's love story and took comfort in happy endings. When I was nervous about a new teaching job I reminded myself the students couldn't possibly be worse than the spoiled brats Meg had to teach.

I'm in my thirties and I still read Little Women. The one I "borrowed" from my mom is now much tattered around the edges and retired to my cedar chest. My working copy is a cheap paperback, dog-eared and falling apart. Right now my bookmark (one I picked up in middle school) is at the chapter where Jo leaves home to teach in the city. I think I'll go join her.
Crystal Taggart





My favorite book is The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz .

I love it because it's true, it's a great story, it's about overcoming impossible obstacles, it has one of the oldest stories about yetis in it, it was written by a military man who knows how to observe clearly and closely, yet can also talk about his and others' emotions and why they do what they do. It covers everything: adventure, war, love, nature, survival, man's inhumanity to man, different cultures, extreme weather and habitats, strange situations including luck and torture.

The problem with this book is that I keep buying it to give to friends, but I always reread it, give it away, and then buy another copy!

P.S. I'm a librarian and I've read tons of books! This is still my favorite.
Linda McCracken






My favorite book is The Secret of Inner Strength by Chuck Norris. Seriously.


I first read it in 1989, not long after it was published, and have read it about 6 times over the past 12 years. Each time I have renewed my awe that someone at the absolute bottom of the economic ladder could climb to the absolute top - all while having high integrity, honesty, and resiliency that most of us dream about. More importantly, reading Chuck's story (repeatedly) helped me get through a very, very tough 2 years of unemployment (from 1990 - 1992), as it served as the fuel for my motivation to keep persevering through those hard years.

In 1992, when Chuck was doing a tour for his then-recently released movie, Sidekicks, I brought my dog-eared copy to my local theater, where he was signing autographs. While the rest of the group all told him how much they loved his movies, I quietly thanked him for helping me get through my difficult years, and giving me the strength and courage to start my own business (which was flourishing). He seemed genuinely touched, and as he signed my book, I encouraged him to write another book to continue to share his lessons on pulling ourselves out of difficulties. He laughed and said "I don't know... that first one almost killed me!", but in 1996 he did release another (the first is still my favorite).
Dave Sears
CEO
www.YouFloral.com


I keep re-reading an English translation of Cervantes' Don Quixote because of its universal characters and compelling story.

I read it the first time when I was in junior high school Spanish class. We actually did read parts of it in Spanish. The teacher told us we should read it three times in our life, as a young person, in middle age and in old age because the story changes as your point of view changes. I have far exceeded that recommendation.

When I was in high school, I read it again because I was still taking Spanish and "The Man of LaMancha" opened off-Broadway. I fell in love with the musical and have seen it many times since. The last time I re-read Don Quixote was when I turned 50; he is 50 in the story. I was appalled at how they treated the "old man" especially when I did not feel at all old at that age. I am always struck at how, even in the 16th century, people are people. We have not changed all that much.

I want to read it again, but in Spanish. I need a lot of work to get there. I am still not fluent.
Susan Bender Phelps
Odyssey Mentoring
www.OdysseyMentoring.com




Susan...one of my favorite words is quixotic.  You don't get to use it often in every day conversation though.  :-)


All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates -- it is perfect for reading on a plane, on the beach, or at the pool. This book sits on my nightstand. I've read it about 20 times, and I pick it up whenever I lose faith in dating. (Which is about once a week!)

All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates was a winning and energetic read that I savored like creamy Swiss chocolate! This gal wanted the love of her life to show up sooner than later, so she got off the couch and went out the door to find him. When she ends her engagement in her mid-30s, Elizabeth decides she is going to take matters into her own hands. She makes a list of unswayable dating criteria, or "The Big Ten" as she likes to say, and then gives her friends and relatives the green light to set her up on blind dates. Elizabeth remained determined to carry out her dating rules, and no matter what discards were sent her way, she stayed animated throughout, and ultimately wins her hand by playing close to the vest.

I recommend this memoir because it is a complete hoot, and everyone will for sure roll their eyes at her dates. (Some are pretty wacky!) But mostly, Elizabeth will inspire women to be true to themselves since she is such a fine example of a quality woman who did not succumb to settling for half a loaf.

Can you tell I was inspired?
Melanie Finnegan




The best book ever written - 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

It doesn't matter how many times I read it, there is something I missed each times. The characters are so fantastic and the detailed descriptions are phenomenal. I read it for the first time in my late teens. I am now in my early 40s. It is one of my favorite gifts to give people and while I may not re-read it every year, I doubt 2 years go by without another pass. It is easy to be transported to a totally different world through his exceptional prose and once begun, a very hard book to put down.
Patricia Fragen
Business Consultant / QuickBooks Advisor
www.strategicofficesolutions.net/prstore.html




To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Her descriptions of characters and scenes always ring true, and her action scenes make you feel like you're right there. I can't even tell you how many times I've read this book since first reading it in my 9th grade English class. My original paperback is now just separate sheets, no longer bound together.
Lynn Thompson
Thompson Writing & Editing, Inc.
www.thompsonwriting.com

One of my favorite books is The Hotel New Hampshire.

I loved The World According To Garp and so picked up Irving's next book. It became a sort of bible for my family when my parents divorced and my mother had a nervous breakdown and ended up in a private mental hospital. In fact, my brother had t-shirts made up that said, "camp roth" on the front and "where life is serious but art is fun" an important line in the book. When my husband and I started dating I gave him the book to read as the best way to know me and my family. The book really resonated with me because it was all about a family who was incredibly eccentric and loved one another fiercely. As I write this I realize I am due to read it again.
Debbie Roth Fay
bespeak presentation solutions
www.bespeakpresentations.com




The book that I have read over and over again, even as an adult (I have a copy at my parents house that I sometimes read when I go visit them!) is the Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

I certainly had every little girl's love of horses, and read nearly every horse book I could get my hands on, but none of them really sparked my imagination like the Black Stallion. The Black Stallion had a world where I could completely lose myself, but unlike more fluffy horse fiction, it is a world of consequences. Alec really could have died on the island and not even Bear Grylls could have done a better job at surviving. The Black really was the center of an international legal battle with conflicting documents, claims, and jurisdiction.


All of that aside and before I even knew what legal jurisdiction was, I wrote a short novel about me riding the Black Stallion in the Kentucky Derby and dealing with the horrific situation of losing the tack on our flight. Yes, at age 10 I thought people flew their horses around. It’s like the boat in the original story right? Despite my not quite so realistic story and imagination and my drawings of horses that have funny looking legs (one admittedly looks more like a goat than a horse) my early authorship is still sitting on my parent's bookshelves like I was on par with the Random House and McGraw Hill published writers on either side. So move over highly paid authors, my imaginary horse and I are going to board a plane and fly into a spot above you on the bestseller list.
Martha Ciske
Technology & Social Media Account Executive
PR/PR Public Relations
www.prpr.net


The book I keep going back to is one about how to be assertive without being aggressive -- When I Say No I Feel Guilty by Manual Smith, PhD. When I have to handle a difficult situation and I am afraid I am going to lose my cool, I go back and read the book again.
Marianne


I've read Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor at least ten times.

Its dog-eared pages and highlighted passages are like old friends to me. I like reading and re-reading my notes and even making new notes. It was written as a resource for how to get along with people, how to change habits (theirs and yours), but it's been adopted by dog trainers. It's a bible on how to modify behavior. The basic laws of behavior are written in the book and every time I read it again, I learn something new. Or find something I can apply in a different situation in my life. I couldn't get by without it.


As a dog trainer, I use the principles every day when working with both the dog and the owner. And as a wife, I find it crazy-useful when my husband's habits are getting ready to send me over the edge. I just crack open the book to the right chapter and I'm armed with easy and fun ways to help my husband pick up his socks off the floor -- without nagging! This is one book I couldn't live without.
Laurie Luck
Smart Dog University
www.smartdoguniversity.com


My absolute favorite book is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

I served in the Navy for about five years and that’s where I first read this. It’s a parable about war and how you can never really come home afterward. Home is a place we’ve idealized and dreamt about for so long after serving in the military, that when you return, it can never possibly be as good as how you remember it. Aside from the book speaking to me on a service member level, it’s just a fantastically well written story. The dialogue is moving and you really care about the main character by the end. Plus it's sci-fi, which I love and deals with the effects of near light speed travel (you barely age while traveling close to the speed of light, while everyone on Earth you left behind gets much older or dies during your journey).
Travis Clark
Going to the Sun Marketing
www.gttsmarketing.com


My favorite is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I've read it 10 times or more and love its sense of journey. It's a tale of movement, physical, emotional, chronological. I go with Huck and Jim down the river, threading its tight places, fearing its snags, reveling in its high-noon brilliance, despairing its desolate, blinding fogs. Spirits rise and sink; there is an ebb and flow to the book that reflects Twain's humor and hijinks, his exploration of man's cruelties and shortcomings. The river is life itself, all its changes, captivations, challenges--I journey anew every time I move through the book's pages. The book is so much Twain, cantankerous, doleful, lyrical, uproarious, scruffy and penetrating. I think Huck Finn is the greatest creation of our greatest writer. I'm lucky: I can stop Huck before he lights out for the territories--I can go back to page one and start all over again.
Tom Bentley
The Write Word
www.tombentley.com


The book that I have read many times is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

I have taken it off my book shelves each December since 1985; it has become a Christmas tradition—it just speaks of the Christmas season to me. I love Dickens’ long descriptive passages; the familiar spoken words of each character; the redemptive story of Scrooge; and the hope it gives that all people will one day become good and care for one another.
Judith Lawrence
www.judithlawrence.ca




The 21st Century Guide to Bachelorhood by Brad Berkowitz


I have re-read it several times. This is a must read for men and women because it has humor and practicality. You learn from it and realize you were in some of those situations. You reread this book to learn again, laugh again and suggest it to other people.
Dan


I'm noting a small trend...

One book I just re-read is The 21st Century Guide to Bachelorhood: Lessons Learned Over the Past 20 Years by Brad Berkowitz. I think in these times of dating uncertainty, especially in a big metropolis such as New York, Brad's insight into the world of dating provides to the point advice which is wrapped up in humor and charm. Definitely a good buy and something that has value when going through a second time, third time, etc.
Harry




Hey Dan & Harry, do you two know Brad?  Do you know each other?   :-)


Thank you to all of you who shared your book love stories.  I think my summer reading list just increased.