8 Great Books I Recommend
It’s so hard to narrow down book recommendations because I read about one book a week. People have been asking me for years if I keep a list of all the books that I read.
Short answer - I do not.
I don’t have a Good Reads account, there isn’t a master list, and my Amazon order history is kind of incomplete.
I really should have started the list years ago, but I was just into reading and not keeping track of all the books I was getting through.
But - I did start a list last year and have gone back through some of my books and today's post is about 8 Great Books I Recommend in no particular order.
Team of Teams by General Stanley McCrystal absolutely blew me away with all the leadership strategies and ideas that he talked about. Military tactics, strategy changes, and the importance to all the organizations that we all work in and consult with.
Even if you’re not in the military, what General McCyrstal did with the Join Special Operations Task Force will help you envision change where you are!
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas is WOW WOW WOW! I’ve read a few of her other books and this one has over 3,200 four and five star reviews on Amazon! So much happens in this book with character development, relationships and I can’t recommend it highly enough!
Five stars for sure!
How The Words Is Passed by Clint Smith is a book that all Americans should read. The research, detail and personal stories that Clint gathered to write this book are absolutely phenomenal. The awards and recognition for this book are absolutely endless and speak for itself.
I’m a firm believer that we have to understand our past and the history that got us to where we are today, in order to move forward. From monuments, cemeteries, state prisons and the coast of Africa, this book is riveting and so very important!
Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes is a book that I could NOT PUT DOWN and it has over 42,000 ratings on Amazon. The ‘book women’ of Appalachia are real and such an important part of our history and so important to the literary journey of this country.
The characters that JoJo develops are complex and beautiful and I even cried at the end, which never ever happens. You’ll going to love this book for sure!
No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen was a recommendation on social media and I was completely enamored with the story, characters and real life situation that so many people have with housing instability, especially kids.
The stories and events that take place in this book are sometimes funny and oftentimes sad, but it’s a powerful story to connect with.
Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros is another social media recommendation and I actually picked up this book at our local public library, and my eleven year old daughter said that she’d already read it and LOVED it! How awesome is it to get a book recommendation from your child.
What happens with Efren and his family is a story that we should all know about and work towards finding a solution to. It’s such an amazing book and the author is a current classroom teacher in Southern California!
Moneyball by Michael Lewis is one of the most game changing books that I’ve ever read, period. It chronicles the true story of the Oakland A’s and how Billy Beane completely revamped how the organization thinks, recruits, talks, prepares and plays the game of baseball.
There are so many parallels to education in this book that we should be talking about and how we can continue to create schools and districts that are innovative and doing what’s best for kids.
Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho started off as a YouTube channel after George Floyd was murdered and my entire family watched every single one of the videos.
Oprah called Emmanuel and asked him to write a book about it, so that’s what he did. Important, pivotal and a great book to learn and start conversations about race that we should be having in our communities.