Fathers and daughters... and cancer

Kelly Corrigan is a daddy's girl. Her father is a larger than life personality, who has influenced her view of life. The Middle Place is the story of how in her 30's Kelly's discovery of her breast cancer. Shortly afterwards she learns her father's cancer is back. She explores her life and her journey into being a wife, parent and an adult. While the subject of cancer is sad, her book is an interesting tale and the book is not a woe is me.

Caffeine

Books about Starbucks interest me. They are an interesting company. Beloved by their patrons. Studied for their customer service style. Vilified for "Starbucking" a neighborhood. Starbucks is in the midst of a shake up and refocusing after being hit by the current economic slump.

They recently showed up in Alex Frankels book on front line service experiences. The Starbucks Experience by Michelli is a pop business book, which examines how Starbucks uses their five key principles in stores and in internal customer service. Michelli was given free range to talk with staff and manager. The book is full of examples of from staff and customers. The book is a quick read and offers a number of ideas that I would like to try.

It's not about the coffee by former Starbucks executive, Howard Behar, is his story about his experiences at Starbucks. Behar was with the company from the beginning. This book also focuses on the five key principles, but explains why the principles are so important to him.

Animal Tails

I got hooked on veterinary memoirs with Herriot. I've enjoyed many over the years. Nick Trout is a British vet, who practices in the Boston area. Tell me where it hurts takes a number of his best animal stories and wraps them together into a day in the life of a vet.

I enjoyed parts of this memoir a lot, but I think I like the animal stories best and didn't enjoy the parts where he discusses the cost of veterinary care, the change to the number of women vets, and other issues that focus less on the animal stories. Still got to hear several wonderful stories.