Review: How Not to Run a B&b

How Not to Run a B&b by Bobby Hutchinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For those interested in the financial aspects of how to run a B&B, this is not the book you are looking for. There is little here on finances, beyond noticing how expensive things are. There’s actually more financial info here on income of romance authors. And this doesn’t contain how-to’s on running a B&B. It’s not that kind of book. Oddly, it is more like “A Year in Provence”, albeit on a different scale and a tight budget. Instead of swimming pools and vineyards, this is more about electric toilets, stained sheets, and vermin infestations. The author describes many of her guests and renters, as well as the local folks that help her maintain her home and that provide the flavor of a neighborhood. She comes at innkeeping without having actually stayed at a B&B, and without apparently having lived in a large older house that required plentiful maintenance. She shares many mistakes and learnings, as many make for good anecdotes. I found this a quite interesting slice-of-life story, and I’m not surprised at where the story, and the author, goes in the end. The author includes some of her recipes, including some “tricks” she’s learned along the way. Most surprising to me were the number of foreign guests she attracts, many who stay for extended periods. If you have thought about opening a B&B, this will give you enough stories to either give pause or light your fuse. Entertaining.

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Review: Superhubs: How the Financial Elite and their Networks Rule Our World

Superhubs: How the Financial Elite and their Networks Rule Our World by Sandra Navidi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lifestyles of the financial rich and famous. Eye opening, but in that kind of way. You get behind the scenes descriptions of top financial meetings like Davos and Bilderberg. Item that stuck in my head (since I was listening to this audiobook while on a treadmill): top financiers must be very fit to attract others into their “super-hub” of relationships. I found more of the writing focused on the celebrity, and much less on the academics of networks than I would have expected. This is much more readable because of this. I’d consider it an example of “pop international finance” in that you learn a bit about how top financial executives work while also learning about how their social lives work. In that Robin Leach kind of way, this has some fascinating content.

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Review: Magic Words: The Science and Secrets Behind Seven Words That Motivate, Engage, and Influence

Magic Words: The Science and Secrets Behind Seven Words That Motivate, Engage, and Influence by Tim David
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first saw this book, I thought it would be a good place to learn when to use “Shazam” and when to use “Presto”, and if it was polite to use “Abracadabra” in all circumstances. After all, the book is called “Magic Words” and it is written by a magician. But no, this ended up being about my second favorite subject, the impact of the words you use on influencing the way people think. I’ve read quite a few books that cover this topic as part of a larger review of influence, but this book focuses on 7 “words”. There’s actually 6 words and one special “word”, the listener’s name, that is analyzed. The words are all simple, short common words, the longest being “because”, but also including “yes” and “but”. Given just this description, this could have been written as a Hallmark Cards book, with just some advice in adages. But again, no, this book includes research descriptions and describes how the simple word can be used in a powerful way, with examples and anecdotes to illustrate. For example, the author describes the use of the word “but” to, in effect, bury the lead phrase. If you hear “I enjoyed the book but it was too short” you would focus on “it was too short” and may not even register the speaker enjoyed the book. The author suggests a tactic to counter this is to repeat the phrase but rearrange the parts, or in this case “The book was too short but you enjoyed it?” An interesting tactic. I've found myself unintentionally using "but" this way, and I know now why I get a different reaction than I expect. The book has a few other suggestions in a similar vein. I found this very readable and actionable.

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Review: The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success

The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success by Christopher L. Kukk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Given the title of this book, the “Compassionate Achiever”, it could have gone about anywhere. Much of the book ended up being about decision making and looking for mutual benefit, listening skills, as well as thinking outside the box or perspective shifting. If those topics sound familiar, you’ve probably been reading self help books written in the past decade or so. These are common topics. The author comes at this from a different angle – using these tactics to do compassionate things for others. I didn’t find that angle to be that different from how I normally approach my life, so this didn’t cause any life changes here. At least at times, the author was writing for an audience of leaders, which also limited my appreciation. But I did enjoy the voice of the author and the anecdotes he used to illustrate various concepts, and I would consider reading more by this author.

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Review: A Redbird Christmas

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had read all of Fannie Flagg’s books but this one, saved for Christmas season. It has the quirky Southern characters, as she writes about in all of her books. But this one felt too manufactured. It would have made a better-than-average Hallmark Christmas movie if it were filmed, but that’s also the problem – it seemed like it followed one of those movies’ typical formula. Perhaps reading it out of season would have made it feel a bit fresher. Also, this was written as a short holiday book. Something felt left out, like character building and the creating of situational complexity that Flagg excels at, and that reflects real life. This felt like an abridgement. There was a climax, the kind you expect in a Hallmark Christmas movie, that I didn’t find fulfilling. For some easy reading, this will do in a pinch, but I prefer Flagg’s longer novels.

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Review: Our Souls at Night

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the other books of Haruf that I had read earlier, and in reviewing them one aspect that stood out was their sense of place. You really feel the rural atmosphere, the most-ways declining some-ways adapting small town, the independent farmers, the acknowledgement that travel is required to go places. In “Our Souls at Night”, Haruf writes a different story. I didn’t get the sense of place as strongly here, but likely because it was a short book and something needed to be left out. His story contained the requisite pathos. For me, it made me feel sad for the characters facing their aging and their loss of spouses while they still have the freedom to be independent actors in their own lives. (view spoiler)[ And then, at the end of the story, when that independence is lost, you feel sad for that loss. (hide spoiler)] It can be an exceptionally sad story. Haruf wrote it so the reader can take solace in the raging against the light, as it were, between those life stages, but to my mind the sadness that bookends this story won out. If you want a story that elicits strong emotions, especially if you are concerned about aging, this isn’t a bad choice.

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Review: Leisureville: Adventures in a World Without Children

Leisureville: Adventures in a World Without Children by Andrew D. Blechman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Having just reached the age where I can buy a house in an age-restricted community, I approached “Leisureville” as a way to learn about what they were and what kinds of people populated them. I got that, but by an author who has an ax to grind. As an explanation for what the residents see in these communities, the author provides examples of how these places become community and home. A big part of the benefit of living in such a community appears to be planned activities, with many clubs and sports to choose from (yes, another mention of pickleball), and many recreational facilities, including restaurants and bars. And the author describes most residents of these communities as thriving there, with a few having different experiences and moving back. So for this level of reportage, I got what I was looking for, on a very interesting topic.

I also got what I wasn’t expecting, which was a diatribe against age-specific housing restrictions in the US. I hadn’t thought through the issues that these communities engender, and the author points out many, including limiting school expenditures even for support employees living in the area, reduced parks for the young, limitations on competition in terms of businesses, limitations on community governance, and so on. The author takes a stand strongly against these kinds of developments, and his opinions greatly influence his writing. At times, it seems he chooses to write specific stories in order to ridicule residents and to make his case. While I appreciated the descriptions of the communities and their histories, and I appreciated learning about the issues they cause in the area, the lecturing tone detracted from the message and made me question the validity of the writing. Think of this as a very long op-ed.


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