Power of an Hour by Dave Lakhani

I took a chance and ordered two books by this guy at the same time. One was recommended by a newsletter I like and the reviews were so good I ordered the other as well. I was NOT disappointed. Power of An Hour: Business and Life Mastery in One Hour A Week is full of great focused ideas on how to improve your life and business. Each "hour' is focused on a different part of your life, from business to relationships and finance. I think it's probably most powerful for entrepreneurs, but anyone can benefit. The chapters include:

• a few on blocks
• relationships
• finance
• self improvement
• mental vacation
• creating a master life vision
• overcoming your fear
• finding your business focus
• time management
• people management
• sales and marketing
• customer experience
• making connections
• mentoring

and a few others as well. His other book, Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want, is on getting what you want from others. This one focuses on getting what you want out of yourself. Both are excellent.

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

I just finished another fantastic book, One Good Turn: A Novel. The basic plot is clever and fun, an author of light Scottish crime novels is suddenly involved in a real-life assault and battery, which then turns to murder. As the story goes on, the plot gets more complex, more crimes and intrigues are added, additional interesting characters turn up, and more depth is added to the original characters. Throughout all this, you get to know the characters of the crime writer's novels as well, which of course tells you more about the author.

It all gets wrapped up tidily--and with a twist-- as should any good crime novel.

I see that Kate Atkinson has other novels out as well and I'll definitely be reading them!

I never know whether to do a plot summary on these posts or not. For me, the actual details of the plot rarely has much to do with whether I enjoy the book. What I like are unexpected twists and turns, of which there are many in here, good believable characters, whom are also present here, and good writing, which Kate Atkinson provides. If you care about the actual plot, the gist of it is: a small fender-blender incites some road rage (if that's still the accurate term at 5 mph), whereby the guy who rear-ended the Peugeot comes out swinging a baseball bat and is about to finish off the Peugeot driver when the crime novelist throws his laptop at the guy. He's stunned, but gets up and drives off. The novelist feels a bit responsible for the baseball-bat-damaged guy, accompanies him to the hospital, then ends up staying the night at a hotel with him to watch him for signs of concussion. The victim disappears, but not before suspicions have been aroused in the novelist, not the least because of a gun he finds. Various witnesses of the original road-rage incident turn up again and again in the story, each connected without knowing it.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I'm so far behind in my reviews. But this book was just so fantastic! The Memory Keeper's Daughter I don't know where to begin.

The basic plot: A young doctor is delivering his own twins on a "dark and stormy night." But the cliches end there. His firstborn, a son, is healthy. The surprise second (this is the early 1960's), a girl, has the telltale signs of Down's Syndrome. Back then, the common thing apparently was to send them to a "home." He makes the decision to do so without consulting his wife. His nurse, whom he sends to the ome with the baby, takes one look at the home, a long look at the baby, and decides to just "keep going" and raise the girl as her own. Years later, things come together and intersect, as they were meant to.

The characters are totally real and even the father is likeable. He's doing as he was taught. And you can't help but like him a bit, even while you dislike him. The nurse has the vision of the future and the belief (and energy) to give the girl the skills and exposure to the "outside" world. The wife is left wondering at the hole her daugher's "death" (as she is told) leaves in her heat.

This is so good on so many levels. The story line is a heartbreaker. You know there's no win-win here but you keep hoping. The characters are lovely and likeable. The writing is lovely.