The Reader in Me

Yep, I love to read. Instead of coming home from work, doing more work and doing more work, I've decided to take a hiatus from nonfiction business and nature books and save a little bit of quiet space to dig into some great stories.

For the past few years, I've been on a quest to go back to a few literary classics I didn't choose on my high school and college reading lists. (I couldn't get to them ALL.) And I've actually found Oprah's Book Club selections to be quite fulfilling. You can't underestimate the power of anything by Toni Morrison or Carson McCullers. And there are so many great stand-alones, like Watership Down and Icy Sparks.

Most recently, I completed What is the What by Dave Eggers, the incredible story of Valentino Achak Denga, a Sudanese refugee who was displaced from his family during the civil war. As one of the "Lost Boys," he literally walked across Sudan to Ethiopia and Kenya searching for food, safety and a temporary home. The story brought me closer than I could imagine to the plight of so many young children who have been made to fight as soldiers, who have seen their friends picked off by lions in the night and who struggle to survive each day despite unbelievable odds.

What are you reading these days? In a recent experiement on Facebook for what I should read next, the most common recommendation was The Kite Runner. Other reported greats: Memoirs of a Geisha, Catcher in the Rye (of course!), and Christopher Moore picks.