Following in the footsteps of the six previous series where thought leaders responded to questions here my blog over the last several years for my #SpringLeadershipSeries2025, #HolidayLeadershipSeries (2024), #PostElectionSeries (2024), #OlympicsLeadershipSeries (2024), #SpringLeadershipSeries (2024), and #FallBacktoReadingSeries (2023), since September, I welcomed a dozen thought leaders to share their thoughts about books, reading, and marketing.
This post serves as a recap of the series, but first, here's a wonderful quote from Carl Sagan:
"What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."
SHARE THIS: A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. ~Carl Sagan #FallBacktoReadingSeries2025 #DebbieLaskeysBlog
And now, it's time for a recap of my #FallBacktoReadingSeries2025. But if you missed any of this series' posts or would like a more detailed explanation for the choices, use the SEARCH option and enter the expert's name to find the desired post's link.
JOSEPH LALONDE:
LAST BOOK READ: ORIGINS OF A D-LIST SUPERVILLAIN by Jim Bernheimer and THE E-MIND by Kary Oberbrunner
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: No
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE by Dan Miller
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: Plenty but none specifically
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Email list by Ronei L. Harden
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE by Dan Miller
JEN CARROLL:
LAST BOOK READ: THE BOOK OF CHARLIE: WISDOM FROM THE REMARKABLE AMERICAN LIFE OF A 109-YEAR-OLD MAN by David Von Drehle
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: THE BOOK OF CHARLIE: WISDOM FROM THE REMARKABLE AMERICAN LIFE OF A 109-YEAR-OLD MAN by David Von Drehle
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: LITTLE HOUSE series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, A LANTERN IN HER HAND by Bess Streeter Aldrich, and PRAIRIE FIRES: THE AMERICAN DREAMS OF LAURA INGALLS WILDER by Caroline Fraser
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: THE GIRLS WITH NO NAMES by Serena Burdick
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: The Ezra Klein Show podcast and LEADERS WHO FICTION monthly/virtual book club
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS: TIME MANAGEMENT FOR MORTALS by Oliver Burkeman
ABBIE KIMERLING:
LAST BOOK READ: VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS by Jesse Q. Sutanto
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: COMMUNAL JUSTICE IN SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND: DRAMA, LAW, AND EMOTION by Penelope Geng
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: MATH IN DRAG by Kyne Santos
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: THE KINDEST LIE by Nancy Johnson
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: The Book Riot Podcast
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: THE SIMPLE PATH TO WEALTH by JL Collins
HEATHER HACKETT:
LAST BOOK READ: YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: A BOTANICAL DAUGHTER by Noah Medlock
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: I'LL JOIN YOUR CULT: A MEMOIR OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE QUEST TO BELONG ANYWHERE by Maria Bamford
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: A BOTANICAL DAUGHTER by Noah Medlock
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Monthly/virtual book club LEADERS WHO FICTION
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: THE GIVER by Lois Lowry
MELANIE BELL:
LAST BOOK READ: VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS by Jesse Q. Sutanto
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: THE AMALFI CURSE by Sarah Penner
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: Some examples include THE MINISTRY OF TIME by Kaliane Bradley, CHRISTMAS WITH THE QUEEN by Heather Webb and Hazel Gaynor, and THE TITANIC SURVIVORS' BOOK CLUB by Timothy Schaffert
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: THE GREAT CIRCLE by Maggie Shipstead
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Women's Prize for Fiction
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
REBECCA RUCKER:
LAST BOOK READ: NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: A WOMAN OF INDEPENDENT MEANS by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Goodreads and LEADERS WHO FICTION monthly/virtual book club
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion
JAMES STROCK:
LAST BOOK READ: THE NEW LEVIATHANS: THOUGHTS AFTER LIBERALISM by John Gray
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: Don't select books based on their cover designs, but do appreciate a compelling design: REVOLUTIONARY SPRING: EUROPE AFLAME AND THE FIGHT FOR A NEW WORLD by Christopher Clark
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: A CERTAIN IDEA OF AMERICA by Peggy Noonan
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: No
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: The Wall Street Journal book reviews, podcasts, and social media
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: The CONQUEST OF HAPPINESS by Bertrand Russell
DEBBIE SZUMYLO:
LAST BOOK READ: THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by Lisa See
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: No
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: No
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY by Amor Towles
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Goodreads, Oprah's Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and Facebook groups
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: Seek out and read books currently facing bans, such as, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee, 1984 by George Orwell, THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker, and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ANTHONY GAENZLE:
LAST BOOK READ: MADE TO STICK: WHY SOME IDEAS SURVIVE AND OTHERS DIE by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: MADE TO STICK: WHY SOME IDEAS SURVIVE AND OTHERS DIE by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: No
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Friends and colleagues
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: MADE TO STICK: WHY SOME IDEAS SURVIVE AND OTHERS DIE by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
LEE GOLDBERG:
LAST BOOK READ: THE RAMBO REPORT by Nat Segaloff
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: Not since JAWS by Peter Benchley
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: LARRY McMURTRY: A LIFE by Tracy Daugherty
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: Happens often - won't share titles!
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Paperback Warrior Podcast and website
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry
CAROL HENAULT:
LAST BOOK READ: MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: THE OVERSTORY by Richard Powers
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: THE WEIGHT OF INK by Rachel Kadish
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: Disappointed by the ending of many books, but never really spent time creating a new ending - too excited to start a new book instead
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Amazon, LA Times 10 best books every Sunday, and of course fellow book addicts!
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines
ERIKA ANDERSEN:
LAST BOOK READ: EL CLAN DEL OSO CAVERNARIO (CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR in Spanish) by Jean Auel
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: None
BOOKS CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE by Peter Senge and GOOD TO GREAT by Jim Collins
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: CUJO by Stephen King
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Amazon
BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: a work by Shakespeare (a play, poem, or sonnet)
And my two cents, DEBBIE LASKEY:
LAST BOOK READ: THE LIBRARY OF LOST DOLLHOUSES by Elise Hooper
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO COVER DESIGN: THE PARIS DAUGHTER by Kristin Harmel
BOOK CHOSEN DUE TO TITLE: THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah
BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU WOULD REWRITE: CHARLOTTE WALSH LIKES TO WIN by Jo Piazza
BOOK CLUB/SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT FOR BOOK CHOICES: Reese's Book Club, GMA Book Club, Barnes & Noble Book of the Month, Random House's Monthly Pick, Penguin Recommended Reads, Friends & Fiction Endless Stories (co-founded by Kristin Harmel - see response to second question) - and I participate in the LEADERS WHO FICTION monthly/virtual book club
BOOKS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ: Fiction: AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins; and NONFICTION: BUILT TO LAST: SUCCESSFUL HABITS OF VISIONARY COMPANIES by James Collins and Jerry Porras
Which books have you read due to these recommendations, and which do you plan to read? Much gratitude to all the participants who were featured in this series - and happy reading to all!
Image Credit: Adobe.
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