| The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. This was his last work published in his lifetime. You get a glimpse into Hemingway's soul. It is the tale of an old man, like Hemmingway (he was 50 years old in 1950) who still wants to fight back against the inevitable. This is a clever story of making the most from loss. There is a bon mot that says, "When you lose, don't lose the lesson." I read this book when I was about 14 years old. It is still a favorite. | |
On the Road by Jack Kerouac. On the Road is based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. | |
| The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard. This is an easy read management guide to successful team building. It delivers clear and straightforward methods that help build leadership skills. (Of course you should also read The 59 Second Employee.) | |
| The Orientalist: The Many Lives of Lev Nussimbaum by Tom Reiss. This is an awesome tale of a Jewish man born in the middle east. He is 5 years old at the time of the Russian Revolution. He escapes to Persia first then as WWII breaks out he seeks refuge in Germany. | |
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen. A memoir by Isak Dinesen, a pen name used by the Danish author Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on Blixen’s life on her coffee plantation, as well as a tribute to some of the people who touched her life there. It is also a vivid snapshot of African colonial life in the last decades of the British Empire. Blixen wrote the book in English and then translated it into Danish.
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| Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a mysterious and suspenseful tour de force in the sci-fi fantasy genre. It often reminded me of a smart version of Flash Gordon which was a popular movie serial at the time. |
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