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My reading pace has slowed down considerably since my last book review. I just finished The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger which was my 20th book of 2020. I had been on the waitlist for this book at the local library for a while and had only two weeks to finish it. I rarely read more than one book at a time but I broke the rule this time. I was only 30% done with another book when I started Iger’s. It was everything I hoped for it to be plus more. I ended up finishing the book in less than 24 hours.
There are mostly business and finance books in this review but as always, I included a couple of Hercule Poirot.
Business & Finance
Books for Living by Will Schwalbe
It took me a while to get through this book. Each chapter was based on a book or two or a topic (except for The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang because it was mentioned in every other chapter) and I mostly stopped reading after one chapter. There were emotional moments when the author talked about his friends that have passed and there were also educational moments when the author talked about different ways of life he learned from reading. For people looking for books to read that will change your life in small and large ways, I recommend reading this book. Unfortunately for me, the books the author recommended were not the usual genres I enjoy reading so I wrote down quotes but not names of books.
Boss Bitch: A Simple 12-Step Plan to Take Charge of Your Career by Nicole Lapin
I recommended this book to every girlfriend I talked to when I was reading it. It made me feel empowered just by reading what Nicole went through and accomplished. The first half of the book focused on Nicole’s journey more so than the latter half where it provided solid business advice. Every woman should read it – period.
~ More Book Reviews ~
Leadership, Imposter Syndrome & New Hercule Poirot
5 Best Personal Finance Books I Read in 2020
I have to start the review by admitting that I didn’t quite understand about 40% of the quotes. Some of them were hard to understand due to lack of context (as most quotes were only few sentences long) and some had terminologies I wasn’t familiar with. Note, I consider myself quite comfortable with business terms due to my education, work and hobby. Even then, I struggled to truly appreciate those quotes. However, the quotes (or “gems” as Mark called them) I did understand were valuable and insightful. Fun fact: Warren Buffett just turned 90 this year and a quick Google search told me he wasn’t planning on retiring ever.
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
I had been wanting to read this book ever since Bill Gates recommended it on his blog. He went as far as basically saying this is the only other “how to run a business” book he would recommend (the other being Business Adventures by John Brooks). I don’t normally finish non-fiction books in a matter of days but I started this book one evening and finished it before the next. Robert Iger had a very successful career most of us have not even dreamed of. Some of his highlights as the CEO of Disney included the opening of the Shanghai Disney and acquiring Pixar, Marvel and 21st Century Fox. Reading this book was like reading a movie script while learning valuable business lessons.
Fiction
Closed Casket: A New Hercule Poirot Mystery by Sophie Hannah
This was my third Hercule Poirot book by Sophie Hannah (there are 4 so far). I am not going to lie and say Sophie’s books are the same as Agatha’s because they are not. I find Sophie’s Hercule books funnier and longer than Agatha’s. When I read the reviews of Closed Casket after I finished reading the book, I saw a number of negative reviews that I did not agree with. In my opinion, Closed Casket gave me joy and excitement by allowing me to solve the case with my favourite detective character. The only downside was that I thought Hercule did not get the spotlight as much as I hoped for as the story was narrated by his friend Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard.
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
I have never read a Hercule Poirot book by Agatha Christie that I did not love. The Mystery of the Blue Train was no exception. Similar to Murder on the Orient Express, this book centred on Hercule Poirot, the greatest detective in the Agatha’s universe, solving a murder on a train. I finished the book in 5 days because I just could not wait to find out who the killer was. I loved every single page.
