Book Lists: Episode VIII

Two months later, and since I took some vacation time, I think I may have actually been able to finish what I wanted to- Yay (to finally not being a slacker) And of course, as usual, half of the books that I finished weren’t even on there to begin with last time, but hey, I got some actual fiction reading in there so I’m pretty happy.

Finished Books:

• Immortals of Meluha
• Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars
• The Well Spoken Woman: Your Guide To Looking and Sounding Your Best
• Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior
• The Finishing Touch: Perfecting the Art of Accessorizing
• What Alice Forgot
• Aftertaste: A Novel in 5 Courses
• Waiting to Exhale
• And The Mountains Echoed 
• The Alchemist

Beautiful Thing was amazing, and I learned so much about Mumbai Dance Bars.  The reason I picked it up was because I read in the paper that the 5 year ban on dance bars had been removed, and it talked about the whole industry, which got me super curious.  Highly recommend the book.  The Well Spoken Woman was actually pretty great- you can skim it because there are certain things that will apply to you and there are certain things that won’t- but I would recommend it as well (for a look through).  Immortals of Meluha was all right, I don’t think I’m going to read the rest of the trilogy (unless I get super bored maybe?) Religious fantasy (is that a genre?) isn’t really my thing, turns out.  Sacred Hoops was way better than I thought it would be- mostly because I related a lot to Phil Jackson trying to lead the 1989 Bulls team, and how he had to manage a lot of people that were amazing individually but didn’t necessarily gel (well, that’s his job and he had some good insights).  The Finishing Touch I could have Googled- shouldn’t have bought it.  What Alice Forgot was an awesome chick lit escapist piece and I bought her other novel too.  Turns out when the summer Hulu shows are finished and Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t started, chick lit is an awesome substitute.  Waiting to Exhale is in that category as well, but I’m not a huge fan.  I’m not going to read any of Terry McMillan’s other books.  And the Mountains Echoed was amazing, and Khaled Hosseini made me bawl (for the third time).  He’s really a favorite- never disappoints.  The Alchemist was a quick read, and it was pretty decent, but I liked Paulo Coelho’s other book, 11 Minutes, a lot better.

And yes, I think I’m going to keep the Graveyard tradition going (one day I will try you again, but sadly you just couldn’t retain my attention):

1. HBR’s 10 Must Reads: On Managing Yourself (15%)
2. The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, And Living The Good Life (10%)
3. The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide To Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex, And Becoming Superhuman (22%)
4. The First 20 Minutes: The Surprising Science of How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, And Live Longer (15%)
5. Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind The Scenes of a New China (32%)
6. Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made (1%)
7. Inside Steve’s Brain (30%)
8. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success (16%)
9. The Essential Drucker (Haven’t Started)
10. Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective (1%)

The Updated Book List

Personal Development:

1. Mastery (8%)
2. Are you Really Listening: Keys to Successful Communication (31%)
3. Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Great Teams, and Why People Follow (1%)
4. Spirit Junkie: A Radical Road to Self Love and Miracles (20%)

• General Non Fiction:

1. Googled: The End of the World as we Know It (18%)
2. Thinking, Fast and Slow (15%)
3. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong: Why We Love France But Not The French (20%)
4. The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (15%)
5. The Art of War (38%)
6. Toughness: Developing True Strength on and Off the Court (43%)
7. Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and LIfe (35%)
8. Flip the Switch and Lose the Weight: Proven Strategies to Fuel Your Metabolism And Burn Fat 24 Hours a Day (17%)
9. Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky: How the Top 1% of Entrepreneurs Profit from Global Chaos (3%)
10. I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales From a  Happy Life Without Kids (1%)
11. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations, and Business (2%)
12. Zen Mind, Beginners Mind (14%)
13. The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth (3%)

• Business:

1. HBR’s 10 Must Reads: Strategy (9%)
2. Startup CEO: A Field Guide To Scaling Up Your Business (10%)
3. Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Compete and Win When the Stakes are High (15%)
4. Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences (14%)
5. Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life (9%)
6. Peter Thiel’s Stanford CS 183: Startup Class Notes, Blake Masters (63%)

• Fiction:

1. Love (43%)
2. The Husband’s Secret (4%)
3. Girl With The Pearl Earring (haven’t started)