My 2011 Book List

For the last two years, my goal has been to read a book a month, and I like to let my readers know what the highlights were.

Much like an award show, I’m here to give you little snippets of what I chose to read, and where you should really spend your time reading, if you haven’t already.

This year’s list:

  1. Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
  2. Social Media 101- Chris Brogan
  3. Trust Agents- Chris Brogan
  4. Left Neglected- Lisa Genova
  5. New Rules of Marketing & PR- David Meerman Scott
  6. Tell Me Lies- Jennifer Crusie
  7. Walking Papers- Francesco Clark
  8. Enchantment- Guy Kawasaki
  9. Me 2.0 – Dan Schawbel
  10. The Help- Kathryn Stockett
  11. The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (Gotta read it! I’ve read it over and over!)
  12. Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
  13. Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold (I know I’m late on this one, but it was great!)
  14. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
  15. Mockingjay- Suzanne Collins
  16. Bossypants- Tina Fey
  17. The Art of Immersion- Frank Rose
  18. Fast Women- Jennifer Crusie
  19. Onward- Howard Schultz (Great story about coming back from the bottom)
  20. The Go-Giver – Bob Burg & John David Mann (Quick read and totally worth it!)
  21. Winning the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) – Jim Lecinski

The Awards Go To:

– Best Guilty Pleasure: Jennifer Crusie’s Tell Me Lies

I couldn’t put this book down when I was on Spring Break and all of my roomies made fun of me, until of course I finished the book and every one else took turns reading it. It’s the quintessential Guilty Pleasure book in all of its awesomeness- complete with sequences of events that are difficult to believe, but you hope they’re true anyway. Perfect for the beach or just to get away from your day- but sometimes not appropriate for the guy reading over your shoulder on the bus.

– Book Most Likely to Read in One Sitting: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Right before I started interning full time this summer, I started reading the Hunger Games. About 1am that morning, I was REALLY into. So into it I thought, “When will I ever have another opportunity to stay up ALL night and read a book?” So I did. By 5:30AM, I had texted my sister, who had let me borrow the book, as she was getting up for work.

While some people may not be sure about the Hunger Games and say they think they’re too sci-fi, it’s only because they haven’t read the series. They are very relatable and I totally recommend them for anyone who just wants a good read.

– Best Marketing Book: Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment

While i read a LOT of great marketing books this year, Guy’s Enchantment had me most engaged (not surprisingly), and one of his quotes has been the background on my laptop for months. This book brought me back to the basics of marketing- and why I wanted to become a marketer in the first place. I’m learning now that it’s not so much about the tools we learn how to use, but how we use them. The goal in marketing shouldn’t be to sell, it should be to enchant people to become lifelong livers of the brand.