Standing at the back is the best. From there you can see everything you leave behind. However it is not Jesper steering the tram. Not even the conductor is steering. It is the rails. It is the people who laid the rails, who perhaps died years ago, who are still steering the tram.

“Let us continue, not that there is any rush; on the contrary we have plenty of time. But to those who wish to accompany us, please adjust to our pace. That is the custom here.”

I missed the May entry for Norway of #foodandlit. But a cold slow holiday season seemed the perfect match for this slow paced family saga. I like that the prologue set the mood and the pace while giving a rich description of the place and time.

This was marketed as a thriller which it is definitely not. It‘s a good mystery, especially if you‘ve ever tried to parent a teenaged daughter. She really captured the angst and apathy of a teenaged girl. I enjoyed this a lot and the audiobook narration was excellent. We listened to it in one day on a long road trip and it kept us guessing and engaged the whole day.

Good plot, great pacing, intriguing mystery, Grisham is the best! Unfortunately the narration on the audiobook was horrible. 1.2x made us at least understandable, but she used the same voice for every character and lacked the necessary pauses between sections which made it very difficult to follow who was speaking.

Such an unsettling build up and a disturbing end, in the best way possible. Excellent writing. I liked that the pace was so quick. I couldn‘t settle into the story. Much as Blythe could never settle into her motherhood role.

Such a fun and entertaining ride. An accidental hitman borne of a conversation misinterpreted from eavesdropping at Panera. Can‘t wait for the second book in Feb 2022.

Not my normal genre but off to a rousing start. Finley is a harried mother going through a divorce, already months behind on all the bills with the ex threatening to take the children. And then a woman misinterprets a conversation and offers her a lucrative offer to take out her own horrible husband. In only two chapters, I can feel the desperation and am ready to watch her become a contract killer!

I enjoyed Evelyn, all her husbands, lovers, directors, the users and used alike. I didn‘t understand Monique. She wasn‘t developed strongly enough and added little to the story for me. She isn‘t even mentioned in the book club guides so she feels very unnecessary and somewhat distracting. The rest though was exquisite. I‘m not one to read celebrity news, but this is the second of Reid‘s celebrity books that I enjoyed. This 1 was as good as Daisy.

Question for those familiar with #audiobooks. I‘m a recent convert and am enjoying listening to books with my husband. I miss the author‘s notes though. Im using #Libby and #audible. Is there a way to get notes that I just haven‘t found yet?

Towles has a way of building complex characters that you want to listen to, follow, and understand. While I see why some people are comparing Wooly to Steinbeck‘s Lennie, I found Wooly to be more complex and interesting. I appreciate that his novels assume the reader is well read enough to understand complex ideas. The multiple “Schrödinger's cat” moments were an interesting way to build out the theme of life‘s choices. Highly recommended.

Starting on this one after looking forward to it for some time. Just a little way in and it‘s reminding me of the series Hacks with Jean Smart, who plays an aging comedienne who hires a young no name writer to come up with a new act for her. I recommend the series if you liked Evelyn!

I love when a book lives up to the hype. Excellent writing - “glasses with thin silver frames that boxed in his nervous eyes”. Compelling plot - the exorcist as told by a little sister. And the little sister is a character development trilogy - shows 3 sides of her, a nod toward the holy trinity and a hint that perhaps she‘s a bit of an unreliable narrator. (Picture of Jesus of the Ozark for attention, taken as we left Eureka Springs today.)

They actually wrote the books, but the frustration seems to be the “profile” of the author they built up through interviews. I haven‘t seen these interviews, but assuming they didn‘t give female advice, I think I‘m okay with this. Thoughts on men using female pseudonyms?

Tonight‘s adventure in gorgeous Eureka Springs cabin sleeping, donkey tail over the master bed.

Gorgeous fall day in the woods, reading the tagged book. It‘s a lot of scare for a chilly October day. Excellent afternoon. #13 #halloween

Staying in a cabin in Eureka Springs this weekend for a wedding. (Picture - every girl obviously wants a dead deer watching her in the hot tub.) Gorgeous area and beautiful cabin. But so many dead animals! Fortunately I didn‘t bring a scary book to read or anything. 😏 (see tagged book for irony). Bring on Halloween!

Very slow start. I had a very hard time liking the main character. Once the story and plot picked up, I did find it compelling and enjoyed the last third of the book. A mild recommend.

1.0 ⭐️

No. Just don‘t. Much better options out there. Her speeches are so good and motivational but the book is plodding and unhelpful. Look for her Ted talk instead. Or any of her speeches. She‘s an excellent speaker. Just not a good writer.

5.0 ⭐️

A great well researched treatise on why you can‘t organize your way out of email overload, with some helpful ideas on how to change the company culture to eliminate the ridiculous volumes of daily email in many organizations. Highly recommended.

Small little book, basically a compilation of what we know about virtual work since the pandemic started (and even some prior history). Well balanced explanation of the challenges and opportunities facing businesses and things leaders should evaluate as they make decisions about returning to the office.

I see this book getting mixed reviews and I think I understand why. This is not your mother‘s Stephen King. Horror novels are apparently too easy for Mr King now, but his writing is so strong that he doesn‘t need horror anymore to build amazing characters. If you are looking for Cujo, read his old canon. If you are looking for an author who has grown past all that, and you enjoyed 11/22/63, this is one amazing and heartbreaking ride.

Finally got to finish this audiobook. As always, I live traveling to Three Pines to visit the whole gang. I got a little lost in the middle of this but Armand is always good about tying it all together in the end.

I've been searching for some practical examples of how a board can behave more strategically. This describes 3 modes of behavior, thought, & agendas: fiduciary, strategic, and what they call "generative" but I've seen discussed more often as "sense-making". While the subtitle notes "nonprofit boards", I found the examples pretty well balanced and the advice as applicable to for-profits as nonprofits.

Definite pick. Just enough gore to make me say “ewww” at least twice, plenty of twists with a great consistency story line, and a satisfying ending.

Excellent book, based on interviews with ten CEOs on what it takes to lead. Michael Useem is a great writer and excellent researcher.

Excellent book, based on interviews with ten CEOs on what it takes to lead. Michael Useem is a great writer and excellent researcher.

First, I‘m shocked no one else on Litsy has read this! The first half was good, exploring what it‘s like to be a young girl and trying to understand what men want. Interesting capture of the cultural issues girls face growing up. Then her mom dies and she gets married and has a baby and it just gets weird. I think she probably just needs to mature another decade so she finishes understanding what it means to be a woman.

Love me some Koontz. Nice quick reading palate cleanser after a bit of a slump. Great reminder of how a book can suck you in.

3.5⭐️
Good Cold War spy novel. Interesting characters and intriguing plot. A little romance, two estranged sisters who find their way back to each other, with some maternal heart string tugs thrown in. I wish I‘d read the author‘s note first. The ties to a true story would have kept it moving forward for me. The writing style dragged for me though. Too many unnecessary and overly detailed descriptions. Needs a good strong editor.

In a bit of a reading slump. We are in the middle of this one but it feels like it‘s dragging. I like the characters and am curious about what‘s next but not “gotta listen to the book!” curious, which is stalling me out on everything. Hopefully it picks up.

If you‘re in the mood for some arrogant self aggrandizing, this is the book for you! In addition to ending every story with “I was right and everyone else was wrong”, he takes no responsibility for any of his own actions or inactions. After noting how horrible conditions were for women at the beginning of the book, he ends with this flippant “too bad” attitude. The above quote sums it up nicely. He saw and did nothing because he was so important?

So excited about the new Armand book! My library just listed on Libby so I was able to put a hold on the audiobook before it‘s even out! 6 month wait ☹️but it‘s on the list!

Excellent road trip audiobook. A good mystery surrounding a haunted roadside motel was just the thing to listen to right before stopping to sleep at a (hopefully) not haunted roadside motel! Good characters and well structured with solid pacing that kept things tied together and moving forward. Recommended.

I‘m enjoying this but I‘m right at half way and really don‘t want to read one more “I had this awesome idea that no one would let me do so I whined to whomever would listen to me They finally let me do it and we won this amazing award because of it.” Really hoping for some emotional intelligence to emerge at some point. Surely it can‘t all be this arrogant.

Interesting mix of two characters defining moments creating a solid road trip, both literally and figuratively. I enjoyed the character development and the nod to the Kennedy assassination, this was set well in a time when life was less complicated but just as complex for the people going through it.

This is one of the best Adam Grant things I‘ve read. Well researched and thoughtful. It includes plenty of old and new stories about how we fall into patterns and fail to see what‘s right in front of us. Broken into 3 parts: rethinking our own views; opening other people‘s minds; creating communities of lifelong learners. I took away usable information from each section. (My key takeaway quotes are in prior posts organized by chapter.) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ch 11
Our happiness often depends more on what we do than where we are. It‘s our actions – not our surroundings – that bring us meaning & belonging.
… passions are often developed, not discovered…entrepreneurs, the more effort they put into their start ups, the more their enthusiasm about their businesses climbed each week… passion grew as they gained momentum & mastery. Interest doesn‘t always lead to effort and skill; sometimes it follows them.

Ch 10

How do you know? It‘s a question we need to ask more often, both of ourselves and of others.

What leads you to that assumption? Why do you think it is correct? What might happen if it‘s wrong?

What are the uncertainties in your analysis?

I understand the advantages of your recommendation what are the disadvantages?

Ch 9.
Even captivating lectures fall short…not designed to accommodate dialogue or disagreement; They turn students into passive receivers of information rather than active thinkers.

Achieving excellence in school often requires mastering old ways of thinking. Building an influential career demands new ways of thinking.

Ch 8
Binary bias. It‘s a basic human tendency to seek clarity and closure by simplifying a complex continuum into two categories. To paraphrase the humorist Robert Benchley, there are two kinds of people: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don‘t.

…psychologists demonstrated that when news reports about science included caveats, they succeeded in capturing readers‘ interest & keeping their minds open.

Ch 7:
This is a common problem in persuasion: what doesn‘t sway us can make our beliefs stronger.

Summarizing: Explain your understanding of other people‘s reasons for change, to check on whether you‘ve missed or misinterpreted anything, and to inquire about their plans and possible next steps.

A good guide doesn‘t stop at helping people change their beliefs or behaviors. Our work isn‘t done until we help them accomplish their goals.

Ch 6:
A rivalry exists whenever we reserve special animosity for a group we see as competing with us for resources or threatening our identities.

When we meet group members who defy a stereotype, our first instinct isn‘t to see them as exemplars and rethink the stereotype. It‘s to see them as exceptions and cling to existing beliefs.

I often find Adam Grant to be a pompous academic. It appears though that he‘s maturing. At several points in this book, he calls himself out for biased thinking and points out where he‘s been wrong in the past. Because of that humility, I‘m enjoying this book much more than much of his earlier writing.

Ch 5
They lost ground not because of the strength of their most compelling point, but because of the weakness of their least compelling one.
Most people immediately start with a strawman, poking holes in the weakest version of the other sides case. He does the reverse: he considers the strongest version of their case, which is known as the steel man.
When someone is losing control, your tranquility is a sign of strength.

Ch 4
People are more receptive to criticism when told “I‘m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know you can reach them”.
Starting a disagreement by asking “can we debate?” sends a message that you want to think like a scientist, not a preacher or prosecutor, and encourage other person to think that way too.
Agreeableness is about seeking social harmony, not cognitive consensus.

Ch 3:
Kahneman: he genuinely enjoys discovering that he was wrong, because it means he is now less wrong than before.
Dalio: if you don‘t look back and think “how stupid I was a year ago” then you must not have learned much in the past year.
Beugoms: I started out just wanting to prove myself. Now I want to improve myself-to see how good I can get.

Ch 2
You can be confident in your ability to achieve a goal in the future while maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present. … What we want to attain is confident humility: having faith in our capability while appreciating that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem.

Ch 1
As we think and talk, we often skip into the mindsets of three different professions: preachers, prosecutors, and politicians.

I‘m surprised by the mixed reviews on this. I found the characters engaging and the plot well executed. The end was a bit abrupt but closed the key character development and plot lines well. I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery, and I will pick up more of harpers work.

I love Storygraph but keep my Goodreads account for the authors notes. Amor Towles just added some comments to The Rules of Civility that are fascinating looks into his writing process. Also included are some ties from his own life that show up in the book (white Christmas wrapping paper!) and some preludes to his upcoming The Lincoln Highway.