This week’s bestsellers are an interesting combination. There’s some fiction, a lot of business books and a comedy book about philosophical musings.
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest (Stieg Larsson)
The third and last book of the millennium trilogy from Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest kicks off with Lisbeth Salander in the intensive care unit of a Swedish hospital, fighting for her life. But the battle’s not over after she gets well. She’ll have to stand up in court and face trial for three murder charges. Together with her journalist-friend, Mikael Blomkvist, she’ll have to prove her innocence and the people who framed her and how to get her revenge.
S**t My Dad Says (Justin Halpern)
When Justin Halpern moved in with his seventy-three year old dad after his girlfriend dumps him, he begins to write down and record all the things his dad says. All of them are brutally honest, wise and smart, after all, Justin’s dad doesn’t really mince his words. What started out as a Twitter page became a big social media phenomenon and expanded to this book, with all the wise musings on the same page.
Delivering Happiness (Tony Hsieh)
Tony Hsieh, the CEO of the widely-acclaimed online shoe retailer, Zappos, shares his philosophy and successes in his new book, Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion and Purpose. In Delivering Happiness, he shares his quest to finding and sharing happiness and why he needs to understand it. And in the rest of the book, he explains the ten core values of Zappos, including “Deliver WOW Through Service” and “Create Fun And A Little Weirdness”.
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (Michael Lewis)
Michael Lewis talks about the housing and credit financial troubles that swept the nation in the 2000s. He discusses the stories of the key players in the financial crisis from 2007 to 2010, including Meredith Whitney (who predicted the demise of Citi Group and Bear Stearns), the founders of Cornwall Capital (who managed to build a $120 million hedge fund from a mere $100,000 from their garage) and Howie Hubler (who lost $9 billion in trade, making the largest single loss in history).
The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak)
Marcus Zusak has written an inspiring young adult novel about the power of words, even during World War II and the Holocaust. Liesel Meminger is a foster child living just outside of Munich. She survives the only way she knows how: stealing. But it’s not the usual things she steals. She steals books.
There are some good books that have gained popularity lately — hooray! WAR by Sebastian Junger is a fantastic, personal account of the most dangerous front in Afghanistan and is doing well on the charts, too.
If you would like to see a review of WAR and other new, worthy books, there are other great suggestions at the Current Reader. Sh*t My Dad Says is reviewed there, too. It is hysterical.
I’m reading Following Polly by Karen Bergreen right now — funny book.
Nice post, Jaclyn!