Have you ever had a book you want to read but are nervous about reading it for fear of disappointment? That is how I feel about Junot Diaz. His book and short stories have won a great deal of critical acclaim- The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao won the 2008 Pulitzer, the Sargent First Novel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Novel of 2007. Time and New York Magazine called it as the best novel of 2007. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, Christian Science Monitor, New Statesman, Washington Post and Publishers Weekly listed it as the one of the best novels of 2007.

There is just one thing that prevents me from reading his novels- a comparison of him by many critics to David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest. I dislike David Foster Wallace and find his writing incredibly pretentious. Some people say that readers who dislike David Foster Wallace dislike him because they have “limited vocabulary”. Naturally, I disagree. I don’t mind having to look up words in the dictionary; actually it can be quite enlightening. What I mind is unnecessary use of arcane language coupled with the lack of a good story.

My theory is that often authors get chosen as “the next big thing” and are given press by people who have never read their books. The idea of the writer’s genus gets perpetuated by others who read the articles and award lists without reading the books. It spirals out of control and those authors get all the attention while more deserving authors get ignored. How a writer gets chosen to be the next big thing is beyond me. Maybe it is luck, or maybe they just have good agents.

Anyway despite my hesitations, Junot Diaz is next on my reading list. I hope his writing lives up to the glowing reviews. Works of Junot Diaz can be found here.

Before I got pregnant and quit my job, I worked as a project manager in information technology where I focused on deployments, integration and software development. In my role, I was continually surprised by the number of people interested in project management practices and certifications. Often people were looking for ways to develop their leadership skills, while others were looking for how to become certified as a project manager.

To become certified as a project manager you must have a certain amount of training and experience, as well as pass a certification exam. All of the requirements for taking the exam and acquiring the certification are located at www.pmi.org. If you are looking for a book to help in studying for the certification exam, I highly recommend publications by Mulcahy. Her study guides will give you a good understanding of what type of questions will be asked. Make sure you use the most updated versions of her guides as the test changed significantly about 2 years ago.

Unfortunately most project management books focus on the exam rather than practices and techniques for project management. I have listed the few good ones I have found and will be updating the list as I find more. My list of helpful project management books can be found here.

Recently the latest Pulitzer Prize winners were announced. A list of the winning books can be found here. A list of all the past winners for fiction can be found here.

I spend a great deal of time these days watching the financial markets, almost to the point of obsession. Bloomberg, and CNBC are usually the channels I tune into during the day. I actually look forward to hearing earning announcements and mark Fed meeting dates on my calendar. My husband thinks I am crazy as the markets seem to make little sense on a day to day basis, especially with the volatility we are currently seeing. But I find the market movements and how the rumors impact the market to be an extremely addicting drama. In an effort to help me understand the markets I have been looking at several books from various investors and have made a 22 book list of those books. Please let me know if anyone has any other suggestions. To review my current list, click here.