Bootstrap

Books Build Community and Conversation

Blog / Produced by The High Calling
Default image
When my kids were in swimming lessons, I always packed two bags. One full of goggles and swimsuits for the kids, and one full of books... for me. An hour of quiet, alone with a book! But I quickly found that something even better happened when I pulled out my book and settled on the concrete bench. A mother beside me would light up. "Oh, I've read that book before!" she'd say. "I loved it. What chapter are you on?" Suddenly, I was chatting happily with several women I'd seen every week but had never really gotten to know. The book was a link between us, a catalyst that gave us the common ground to plant seeds of friendship. In a similar way, reading a book together at HCB can build our community and give us both the benefits of reading a good book and the joys of discussing it with others. While at Jubilee, Marcus Goodyear and L.L. Barkat were inspired by speaker Bill Strickland, an award-winning CEO and author of Make the Impossible Possible. The book is remarkably inspiring and well written, and lends itself well to a wide variety of interesting discussion. Strickland's Manchester Bidwell Center is a center that takes men, women and youth trapped in the vice of poverty and gives them the hope, education and inspiration to turn their lives around. The center's astounding success rate is a tribute to Mr. Strickland's vision, that "Each of us has not only the potential to live a rewarding and purposeful life but also the responsibility to do so." You can read an excellent review of Strickland's book by Byron Borger of Hearts and Minds Books, who has also offered a 20% discount on the book to HCB members. Just mention in your order form that you're coming from High Calling Blogs to get the discount. How will our book club work? We'll work on details as we go, but to get started let us know you're interested in joining the club by leaving a comment here. Currently, I'm planning to post about the first chapter on Monday. The following week, we'll feature posts and comments from other blogs about that chapter. [UPDATE: Let's all post on the first chapter beginning on Monday, March 16th.] We'll follow chapter by chapter through the book, and go from blog to blog reading and leaving comments. It's a great way to increase traffic to your blog, and build relationships throughout our community! RELATED POSTS from HCB'ers: LL's Kindle, Darling, Take Me in Your Arms Christine's Best Bets Erica's In Praise of Books Post written by Erica Hale
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]