If you want to get ahead, you have to hit the books. That’s true in school, and probably even more so once you’ve graduated and nobody’s holding your hand anymore, telling you what to read and giving you good grades for it. Every endeavor or profession has its requisite reading material, but here’s a list of must-reads for success at anything.

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – It’s best to go ahead and get this one out of the way up front. Especially if you’re trying to make your foray into the business world, chances are this book has influenced anyone you’re trying to befriend or influence. It’s really intended to help people in sales and marketing, but these days a big part of success in anything, whether you’re an artist or a web programmer, is being able to promote yourself. It used to be called putting your best foot forward. Now it’s called “building your personal brand.” Whatever it is, this book will help you figure out how to do it.

2. The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho – This is a really great read, and quick, too. This fictional story of a young shepherd’s quest for his destiny isn’t written for professional success, but the personal inspiration you’ll feel after reading it could certainly be applied to your career. Achieving one’s personal best is a major theme of this book, as is the notion that what we want and what we need is not always the same thing. Americans put this book in the realm of literature, but the author is regarded as more of a self-help writer in his native Brazil. Po-tay-to/Po-tah-to. Whatever. I just know it’ll make you feel like you can do anything.

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Some time ago, I found myself at the bookstore, seeking something new and exciting to spice up a reading list that my then attention-less brain couldn’t seem to focus on. As I reached for Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, my husband urged me, “You don’t want to buy that book.” He told me about the interview of Mr. Gladwell he’d seen on the Today Show that morning, in which the book’s exclusion of female outliers was explained in less than positive light.

Intrigued, I put the book down and went home to find the interview online

Malcolm Gladwell’s Disappointing Interview

Matt Lauer: Why no women outliers in the book? And I know you’ve gotten some heat for this.
Malcolm Gladwell: There are. I mean, the last part of the book is all about women. Um, it’s a long story about my grandmother who’s a true, remarkable outlier.
Matt Lauer: I guess people are saying…more recognizable…
Malcolm Gladwell: Yeah. Because I’m talking about…One of the arguments of the book is that…um…successful people are a function of the world in which we operate, the rules of society and the cultures we have. Um, one of the sad things about our world and its rules is that for a long time it held women down. And so I was looking at fields where women just weren’t—the law or computer programming—where women haven’t been allowed to flourish in the same way.

I was saddened by Mr. Gladwell’s explanation, an explanation that essentially equated any successful woman to a fluke. To be fair, I have not read Outliers (and to be honest, I probably won’t), but I do know that Mr. Gladwell’s main argument about outliers is that most successful people fall into certain groups—groups born in a specific year, groups given specific opportunities, etc.—and that it is their inclusion in these groups, rather than individual talent, that makes them successful. I am certain each specific group he highlights in his book contains women, and I am certain that some of these women are successful. A bit more research and a more open mind would have found them.

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Are you sitting comfortably? The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge does it for me every time. I only have to feel winter coming on, or think I might be coming down with something, and I want to curl up under my duvet with some of my favorite children’s books.

There will always be something magical about the stories we read as children. OK, it’s nice to pick up the latest dinner party read, but the minute I turn to one of my old favorites, it’s like having a loving hand pressed against my forehead. For the time I’m reading the book, all will be well.

It’s not just that I don’t have to work so hard to find out what’s happening because every time I’ve re-read one of my favorites, I see something different. I notice things about the characters, about the humor, and also about the plot. It’s a way of slowing down time too, and that always helps in times of stress.

Apart from The Little White Horse, here are a few of my favorites…

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I’m the only person I’ve met who used to want to be Amy, much to my embarrassment now!

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. The bit when Anne dyes her hair green by mistake still makes me laugh.

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.

Absolutely anything by Enid Blyton.

The Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson. I still can’t think of a more glamorous fictional character than the Snork maiden!

What about you? What books from your childhood do you return to again and again?

Photo by: MShades

Some days are tough, bed head that fights back, spilled milk, rain, pesky family members…we’ve all been there. Really though it’s only bad hair, a small clean up job and people living together, it’s all a matter of changing your point of view. A little less Eyore a little more Jeanette Walls.

On the eighth day when God was handing out whining privileges, he came upon Jeanette Walls and said, “For you, an unlimited lifetime supply.”
Chicago Tribune

The Glass Castle is Jeanette Walls’ astonishing memoir of childhood. It’s her account of being raised by a self-absorbed artist as a mother and a brilliant father suitable for a Disney Movie. His downfall is alcohol, though, and drinking binges stamp out everything charismatic about his character.

Still, you love them…and amazingly enough the kids stay loyal to their parents throughout unimaginable hardships. I could not put this story down and if you enjoy a book that fills you with real emotion, you will devour this as I have.

Books, even fictional books, can be such wonderful food for the soul. They bring us perspective, they open our imaginations and offer and escape from the everyday. Stepping away from the mindlessness of television to the stimulating world of reading never leaves me disappointed. Finding several people who enjoy reading the same type of books and forming a book club is a fantastic way to have fun and get a little more out of your reading. I have been part of several book clubs and currently belong one filled with members to whom I can really relate.

Why not pick up a book tonight, and spend some time with new friends.

Within days of finding out I was pregnant four years ago, I was buying books. No matter how much people tell you about pregnancy and birth (and, boy, do they want to tell you about birth!), it’s impossible to understand until you’ve been through it. I wanted, I needed, all the information I could get.

After asking for recommendations, scouring the shops and reading all the five-star reviews on Amazon, I had quite a library. I’m expecting my second child now and, between both pregnancies, here are the five books I couldn’t have done without.

1: The Pregnant Woman’s Comfort Book

My copy is literally falling apart, I referred to it so many times during my first pregnancy. Jennifer Louden’s book is subtitled “A self-nurturing guide to your emotional well-being“, which was enormously important to me. I found that most people seemed to think, because you’re pregnant, you must be thrilled with every development. But I wasn’t. I felt like I was losing myself. I missed my body. I even missed never being “alone.” Louden addresses all of these concerns along with positive issues, like making the most of creativity and spirituality during pregnancy and early motherhood. There’s even a fabulous index, where you can look up a “symptom” such as “Missing my Java” or “Hating my doctor” and be led to the relevant chapters. Highly recommended.

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