Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'd Play Hooky With

 
Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish


Well I'd have to say that if it meant sitting in a comfy chair drinking coffee and just lazing the day away, almost any book would do. But for the purpose of Top Ten Tuesday I'll just list the books I WANT to read. Here goes:

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

 Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)
3.Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)by Jenny Lawson (To Be Released April 17th)

Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives—the ones we’d like to pretend never happened—are in fact the ones that define us. In Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Lawson takes readers on a hilarious journey recalling her bizarre upbringing in rural Texas, her devastatingly awkward high school years, and her relationship with her long-suffering husband, Victor. Chapters include: “Stanley the Magical, Talking Squirrel”; “A Series of Angry Post-It Notes to My Husband”; “My Vagina Is Fine. Thanks for Asking”; “And Then I Snuck a Dead Cuban Alligator on an Airplane.” Pictures with captions (no one would believe these things without proof) accompany the text.
4. Hilarity Ensues by Tucker Max

Tucker Max’s third and final book in his series of stories about his drunken debauchery and ridiculous antics. What began as a simple sentence on an obscure website, “My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole,” and developed into two infamously genre-defining books, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell and Assholes Finish First, ends here.
But as you should expect from Tucker by now, he is going out with a bang—literally and figuratively. In this book, you’ll learn:
* How to live and work in Cancun, while still enrolled in Law School,
* Why Halloween is really awesome,
* How to subtly torture a highstrung roommate until he explodes with furious anger over a misplaced condiment,
* What really happened when a dirty pageant girl tried to sue Tucker because he told the truth,
* Why you should never accept a homemade treat from a hippie with a van, and
* What happens when Tucker turns sexting into a sport.
He’s still Tucker Max, and—for one more book—he’s still an asshole.
5. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--a Love Story by Ree Drummond

That’s when I saw him—the cowboy—across the smoky room.
I’ll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne Western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn’t looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I’d been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.
This isn’t just my love story; it’s a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.
It’s the story of a cowboy. And Wranglers. And chaps. And the girl who fell in love with them.
6. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.
7. Emails from an A**hole: Real People Being Stupid by John Lindsay

When John Lindsay launched DontEvenReply.com in June 2009, it became an instant sensation. With 60% of the book featuring entirely new material never before available on the website, Emails from an Asshole offers fans a fresh opportunity to revel in people's gullibility. Posing as a customer or seller, Lindsay responded to a variety of classified ads, making ridiculous offers to unsuspecting victims. Their responses, and the ensuing conversations, will have readers simultaneously laughing non-stop and gasping with disbelief.
8. Cross Currents by John Shors

Thailand's pristine Ko Phi Phi island attracts tourists from around the world. There, struggling to make ends meet, small-resort owners Lek and Sarai are happy to give an American named Patch room and board in exchange for his help. But when Patch's brother, Ryan, arrives, accompanied by his girlfriend, Brooke, Lek learns that Patch is running from the law, and his presence puts Lek's family at risk. Meanwhile, Brooke begins to doubt her love for Ryan while her feelings for Patch blossom.
In a landscape where nature's bounty seems endless, these two families are swept up in an approaching cataclysm that will require all their strength of heart and soul to survive...
9. Calico Joe by John Grisham

Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.

In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.

Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…

In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes CALICO JOE a classic.
10. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Book 2 of the Millennium Trilogy) by Stieg Larsson

Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel.

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

Happy reading,
Angela
 
 
 
 



83 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed The Girl Who Played With Fire.
    I had to make sure I had a copy of the final book in the series could I could pick it up and read as soon as I finished #2.

    - Kate

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    1. Hi Kate,
      Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my Top Ten. My daughter and I watched The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Friday night. I was caught by surprise because I hadn't read the book. Can't let that happen again!

      Delete
  2. I'd love to cuddle up with 5. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--a Love Story by Ree Drummond I borrowed it from the library a few months bavck but never read it and I regret it! Now following your blog! Here's my Top Ten Tuesday Post :)


    - Kimberly @ Turning The Pages

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    1. Hi Kimberly,
      Thanks for stopping by and the follow (following you back). I read the chapters Ree had posted on her website, but she said she added stuff to the book. One of these days I'll get to read it.

      Delete
  3. I've never read any of these-I've heard of them though! Thanks for stoping by my blog!

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  4. Hi Abbi,
    Thanks for stopping by to check out my Top Ten.

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  5. Your top ten list is fantastic. I am now adding pretty much all your picks to my TBR pile; I am always on the lookout for non-fiction recommendations. Bossypants was great, although I did enjoy listening to the audiobook more. Something about Fey's reading just made it all funnier.

    Thanks for stopping by my top ten :)

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    1. Hi Michelle,
      That's great! Now I want to hear Bossypants. Thanks so much for stopping by.

      Delete
  6. Wow I love how detailed your post is! Steig Larsson was on my list too- I have yet to read the last book in the trilogy though! I also love Tina Fey and have recently watched a LOT of '30 Rock'- she is awesome. I might read her book but I don't generally like autobiographies. Great List!

    I am also a new follower :-)

    My TTT: http://pocketfulofbooksblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/top-ten-tuesday-playing-hooky-with.html

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by, your kind words, and following my blog. I'm following you back. After checking out your Top Ten I feel the need to read Beloved. I love Toni Morrisson, she is such a gifted writer.

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  7. Yes it does! I checked out John Lindsay's website. Very funny. Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  8. I'm reading The Girl Who Played With Fire right now! I've heard such great things about Bossypants. I should definitely pick that one up. Great list!

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by. Your list is fantastic as well.

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  9. I like that your list focused on so many non-fiction titles. I'm always looking for something new in that genre. Bossypants was hilarious. I'd also recommend Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling if you haven't already read it!

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    1. Thanks so much for the recommendation. I'll definitely check that out! I read way more non-fiction than fiction. Thank you so much for stopping by.

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  10. I've heard fabulous things about Bossy Pants and want to read it soon!

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    1. I know! So many books, so little time. Thanks a million for stopping by.

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  11. I am also excited for Let's Pretend This Never Happened, it was on my Top Ten Tuesday last week! Here is my Top Ten

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    1. I love Jenny Lawson's blog. I can't wait to read her book. Thanks so much for stopping by. New follower of yours.

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  12. I haven't read any on your list either. lol I have heard great things about Bossy Pants and will be adding it on my TBR List! Thanks for stopping by my page!

    Happy Reading!
    Amanda @ Sisters Unedited

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    1. Absolutely, it was my pleasure. Thanks for stopping by.

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  13. The Steve Jobs book looks cool, I'm adding it to my TBR! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tucker Max!!! He's so freaking funny! I need to read Hilarity Ensues ASAP!

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  14. Thanks so much for stopping by. I love to read laugh-out-loud, funny books as well.

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  15. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'd definitely play hooky with Tina Fey's Bossypants and John Grisham's. Cool list!

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  16. Bleh, I must be honest, I am reading Steve Jobs now and not enjoying it at all. I think it's starting to grow on me (but only because I've reached halfway and can't stop now). Maybe I'm just a brat though.
    I read the Girl with the dragon tattoo ( a little slow but really good), so Larsson's other books are also waiting for me.
    Great list - enjoy!

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    1. Thanks for the heads-up on Steve Jobs. Appreciate you stopping by.

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  17. Ha those look like some really fun books to read. Seriously great list. I have some of them but haven't gotten around to reading them. Thanks for stopping by.

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  18. Brilliant selection!! There looks like there are a couple of really fun books. Thanks for stopping at my blog :)

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  19. I really liked The Girl Who Played With Fire. I want to read Bossypants too. I heard it's really good.

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    1. Hi Amy,
      Thanks for stopping by and the heads-up on The Girl Who Played With Fire.

      Delete
  20. The Girl Who Played With Fire was definitely my favorite in that trilogy, and I have a copy of Bossypants sitting on my shelf at home waiting to be read!

    Thanks for stopping by A Midsummer Night's Read!

    Following Back :-)

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    1. Hi Jessica,
      You'll have to let me know if Bossypants is as good as I hope it will be. It was my pleasure. Thanks so much for the follow.

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  21. Great list. I need to start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. I saw the Swedish and English versions of the first movie and really need to start the books! Thanks for visiting :)

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    1. I saw the first movie and hadn't read the book. I don't want to be that caught off guard with the second one! My pleasure, thanks for stopping by.

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  22. Thanks for checking out my Top Ten!

    I just finished "Girl Who Played with Fire" a few weeks ago. Didn't play hooky to read it, but it was still a great read. Can't wait for the movie version!

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    1. That's great to hear. I'll have to get on reading that one. Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  23. Great list, I have heard such good things about the Steve Jobs book and love Bossypants. I haven't read the Larsson books yet, but have TBR.

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    1. Hey Alex,
      Thanks so much for stopping by. BarefootMedStudent commented above that she doesn't think it's that great. :(

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  24. Lots of memoirs! It would be fun to spend the day off in someone else's shoes!

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    1. I agree. Especially if they happen to be funny! Thanks for stopping by.

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  25. Great list! I've read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but I have yet to read the others in the series. And I've heard great things about Bossypants and the Steve Jobs biography! Thanks so much for stopping by my TTT!

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  26. The Girl Who Played with Fire is so good! And I really want to read the Pioneer Woman book.

    Thanks for stopping by! I am following you back.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for stopping by, the follow, and the heads-up on The Girl Who Played with Fire. I really appreciate it.

      Delete
  27. Angela,

    Thanks for checking out my list :-). I have wanted to read BossyPants and keep passing it by in the bookstore. I think it will be my next splurge! Let's Pretend it Never Happened sounds great...adding it to my lists. I am torn about Calico Joe thought. Grisham is one of my favorite authors, but I am not a huge fan of baseball stories.

    BTW - great name ;-)
    Angela

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    1. Back at ya, Angela,
      It was my pleasure stopping by your neck of the internet. I really liked Grisham's Playing for Pizza (football theme) and I don't like football, so I think I might like Calico Joe. Thank you so much for stopping by.

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  28. Great list! Now I really want to read Let's Pretend This Never Happened, even thought it's not my normal type of book.

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    1. That's great! One of the best things about Top Ten are seeing all of the great books you might not have otherwise. Thanks so much for hopping over.

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  29. What a fantastic list. So many titles on there that I hadn't heard of before but I now want to read. Oh and Girl Who Played With Fire is brilliant. Hope you get the chance to read it. Thanks for following me, I'm following back.

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    1. Hi Karen,
      So do I now. Everyone seems to rave about it. Thanks for stopping by and the follow.

      Delete
  30. Yes, fabulous list! I just got Let's Pretend in the mail a few days ago and I read Bossypants recently.

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    1. You'll have to let me know how Let's Pretend is. What did you think of Bossypants?

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  31. I really want to read the Steve Jobs book, and the Tucker Max books look hillarious. I have the first 2 just haven't gotten to read them yet. Great choices.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog, I'm following you back =o)

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    1. Thanks! I appreciate you stopping by and the follow.

      Delete
  32. Great list. Thanks for stopping by. Following back!

    Amber @ Fall Into Books

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    1. Hi Amber,
      My pleasure. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and the follow.

      Delete
  33. This list reminds me... I still have the Steve Jobs book sitting on my shelf. I really need to get to reading that... Thanks for visiting my Top Ten!

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    1. Jenna'
      Absolutely. My pleasure. Thanks so much for stopping by.

      Delete
  34. Hi there, I'm your newest follower! Thanks for stopping by :) This is a great list, Steve Jobs would be an interesting read for sure.

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by and the follow!

      Delete
  35. Haha I totally was thinking of putting Bossypants on my list too! :)

    Emails from an A**hole looks HILARIOUS!!! I'm going to have to check that one out. It reminds me of the hilarity of David Thorne (If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend "Missing Missy".. SO FUNNY.)

    Thanks for stopping by! :)

    Michele | Top 10

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    1. Thanks so much for the recommendation of David Thorne! I LOVE funny. Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it.

      Delete
  36. I've heard of Tucker Max but didn't really know what his books were about. They sound hilarious!

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    1. Enjoy! Let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it.

      Delete
  37. I loved Bossypants! Tina Fey is hillarious!
    Great books to play hooky with.
    Greetings from Austria :)

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    1. Hi Karin,
      Thanks so much for stopping by! I really appreciate it.

      Delete
  38. You seem to really like memoirs and biographies. I've recently been getting into them more so I'll have to check some of these out! I love the list. :) And Bossypants is quite a wonderful book. I really liked it.

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    1. I generally tend to gravitate toward non-fiction. Thanks so much for stopping by.

      Delete
  39. Great list! I really want to read Bossypants, I love Tina Fey but haven't gotten round to it yet!

    Thanks for stopping by! :)

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    1. Tina Fey is great. She's so darn funny! The pleasure is all mine.

      Delete
  40. Great list, I want to read Steve Jobs and Bossypants. Also Crosscurrents looks really interesting and you have reminded me I need to get back to The Girl Who Played With Fire. I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo forever ago and meant to start the next one, but never had. Also I'm a sucker for anything by John Grisham. Have been since the beginning. Great list and thank you so much for visiting and following my blog. I'm a new follower to yours as well!

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    1. Hi Crystal,
      Thanks so much for hopping by and the follow.

      Delete
  41. Aww I love the Pioneer Woman!! I had no idea she had written a novel! I have a big thing for Cowboys, so that sounds right up my alley. Lots of great books on your list! I think you're hooky day will be awesome!

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    1. Pioneer Woman is fantastic. Black Heels is her non-fiction account of how she met her hubby, Marlboro Man. I read her installments she posted on her website, but she said she added more to the book and includes their first year of marriage. I can't wait to read it! Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  42. Great list right back at ya! I so want to read the Steve Jobs book - great list item! And, Wild sounds pretty interesting!!! I'll have to add it to my reading list!

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    1. Hi Milda,
      Thanks so much. I really appreciate that you stopped by.

      Delete
  43. I haven't read any of these - I need to check some of them out.

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  44. Love your list! I'm such a fan of The Pioneer Woman, the writing on her blog is so full of wit and charm. I can only imagine how much fun Black Heels to Tractor Wheels is!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Casee Marie,
      Oh, I KNOW! She's great. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete

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