Comments on: “MY CIRCLE OF TRUST BOOK CLUB” Women Love Books & Want to Share Them

By: Karin Lippert

Karin Lippert — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:01:00 +0000

I have just finished reading “The Winter Vault” by Anne Michaels. I lovd her book “The Fugitive Pieces,” and this book was a real gift from an intelligent and skilled novelist. Her two main characters became my intimate young friends while reading the book. I feared the ending, but was rewarded.

By: Karin Lippert

Karin Lippert — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:07:44 +0000

“The Brain That Changes Itself,” sounds terrific especially at a time when so much of education is focused on testing and standardization. It is difficult for many chilren to adjust to the demands made of them by our traditional educational system. Of course, this is also to true for women whose post-menopausal intellectual capacities were underestimated throughout history…Our brainse in fact still change as we grow odler (and in some respects get better).

It’s good to know people are thinking outside the box when it comes to the capacities of our brain.

By: susan crowe

susan crowe — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:05:51 +0000

My recommendation is “The Brain That Changes Itself” By Dr Norman Doidge. It’s about neuroplasticity, but don’t let that stop you from reading this book. It’s so utterly readable. I think it’s the most important life-changing book of the decade, maybe the century. It has given me such enormous hope, about myself, about my children, about ourselves as humans, and about the potential we have to change ourselves and the world. It’s so readable, with incredible human stories of people who have actually benefitted from the newest research on the ability of our brains to change.

By: Kathy Ferrier

Kathy Ferrier — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:25:10 +0000

I read such a wide variety of books. Right now, I am reading “On Hallowed Ground” The Story of Arlington National Cemetery. I won the book, and didn’t think I would read it, but I decided I needed to honor the men and women who call it their final resting place. I’ve been there, but never thought about it’s history. This is a very well written book.

My favorite book this past year was “The View from Dephi” by Jonathan Odell written in 2005. It takes place in a small town in Mississippi in the pre-civil rights era. The story of two women, one black and one white, their struggles and how their paths cross. I highly recommend it.

By: Karin Lippert

Karin Lippert — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:41:30 +0000

I was eager to Google Kay Redfield Jamison seeing her latest book on the list, and found a wonderful lecture – she gave at a meeting for teachers – on exuberance. It was insightful and a pleasure to watch her. I ran out and bought the book: “Exuberance: The Passion for Life”…Am reading it and ENJOYING it tremendously. I have admired her for years – “An Unquiet Mind – A Memoir of Moods and Madness,” was deeply moving and brilliant as was “Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.” After reading “Exuberance..” I may wait just a bit to tackle the book about her husband.

link to lecture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXAK9qbRh4

By: Eileen Williams

Eileen Williams — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:38:56 +0000

Dear Suzanne,

Thank you so much for spreading the word about my book, Land the Job You Love! 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50! http://bit.ly/8xi4Oo I wrote it to provide a step-by-step, easy to follow guide for those who’ve found themselves unemployed in midlife and need to successfully compete in today’s difficult market. The job search has changed a lot over the years and, with some insider tips and strategies, experienced workers truly can turn their age into an advantage.

Your list of recommended books looks like a super selection of great reads. I’d like to add a book from a woman we can all admire, Eugenia Lovett West. I came to meet her because I was asked to interview her on my radio show. This amazing woman began a new career as a mystery writer at the age of 81. She entered a contest and was discovered by Ruth Cavin, the highly regarded mystery editor at St. Martin’s Press.

Eugenia’s first book, WITHOUT WARNING, was hailed by the late Dominck Dunne as “a fast-paced page-turner” and by Rebecca Sinkler, former editor of the “The New York Times Book Review,” as a “snappy, fast-paced work that will keep you reading late in the night.” Her second book in the series just came out and is entitled: OVERKILL.

When I asked Eugenia to share her thoughts on remaining happy and healthy in our later years, she replied: “Do something creative–something that makes you get up in the morning with a sense of joy and purpose.” And, I’m sure your readers will agree, that’s not a bad way to live when you’re 86!

By: Claire

Claire — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:19:21 +0000

Thank you so much for the book advice. I’m going to dig out some of those, particularly the Audacity to Win, as I’m also a West Wing fan. (Addict, really.) And as an aspiring writer, “the Anthologist” also sounds great.

My current personal favourites are:
“the Poisonwood Bible” – particularly for the characterisation, which is superb;
Obama’s “Dreams from my Father” (I never knew biography could be so readable and so interesting!);
“State by State” which is an anthology of writings about each state – “greater than the sum of its parts”, someone has said, and I concur whole-heartedly: it’s also a way of discovering writers like Jonathan Franzen and Dave Eggers if you haven’t already done so.
I also very much enjoyed “Then they came to the end”, by Joshua Ferris, last year, so I’m looking forward to reading his new one, “the unnamed”.