Winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2009, Wolf Hall is Hilary Mantel’s account of part of King Henry VIII’s reign in England through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell – a man often stereotyped as being no more than a political ladder-climber. The years covered are book-ended by the banishment and subsequent death of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the execution of Thomas More, which appropriately draws the reader’s attention to the context of religion during this portion of Henry’s term.
I am not as well versed on this portion of …

My second Elizabeth Stout read of this year behind Olive Kitteridge, Abide with Me was a little disappointing. That said, it isn’t bad – it just wasn’t Olive.
Abide with Me is the story of Tyler Caskey – a young minister who has come to a small town in Maine to live out his passion. Unfortunately, it wasn’t his wife’s calling, who has passed away when the book begins, and Tyler is left with the aftermath of her offense to his congregation as much as he is dealing with the responsibility …

Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Known World, by Edward P. Jones, lived up to all the hype. And, I regret to say this was a book on tape for me, because I think I would have loved lapping the words from the pages.

The Known World is an epic tale centered around two men: Moses, the black foreman of a plantation in a fictional Manchester County, Virginia; and his black slave owner, Henry Townsend. The book explores a little known and even less talked about practice of free blacks who …

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…” are some of the most recognizable opening words in the cannon. Save Shakespeare, there is no other text from my college days that is more underlined, highlighted or starred as my copy of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. He was just a wise thinker with an uncanny ability to craft a phrase. 
How fitting that Kenny Luck has compiled Thumbing Through Thoreau: A Book of Quotations by Henry David Thoreau. The book features a quote and a pen and ink …

First, many thanks to all the folks who commented, “liked” Babbette’s Book Blog on Facebook or started following read_babbette on Twitter in order to have a chance at this giveaway. The response has been awesome!
And the winners of the Still Missing giveaway are….
Deb
Tea Kettle
Marjorie

Congratulations! Sarah from Martin’s Press will have these in mail to you soon. I hope that each of you enjoys the read as much as I did, and I hope you’ll return to BBB to log your thoughts! Again, thanks to all who entered!

I was first introduced to Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable when my pastor used it last year as the basis for a series on marriage. It was a great series, and since then I’ve heard a couple of the executives at my organization refer to it. When I spotted it on the desk of one of our hospital’s new CEO, I knew it was time to pull it back out, review what I’d read and finish what I hadn’t.
Unlike other leadership fables that …