FBB staff picks favorite titles for National Book Month

In an effort to let you get to know our staff a little better and because October will be National Book Month, we thought we would put together a lighthearted post about our favorite books. Turns out, that wasn't as easy as it sounded. In fact, in the words of Wendy Webber, one of our Humanist Action: Ghana: Ghana Co-administrators, "That is one of the hardest questions you could ask!"  With a staff that is spread across the US and Ghana, it's no surprise there were a range of answers.

A couple of authors were favorites among a number of the staff. J.K. Rowling, Mary Roach, Dan Brown, Neil Gaiman, and Ken Follett all have multiple fans, although, at times, the discussion about favorites got jokingly heated. For example, our Marketing Director Julia Rigler listed "Naked" by David Sedaris as a favorite while Wendy prefers "Me Talk Pretty Someday" and Communications Manager Kate Simonson would rather listen to him read his work aloud.

Our fearless leader and Executive Director, Noelle George, looks for a little break in her reading, "I like books that read quickly and allow me to escape reality for awhile. I also like books that take a non-traditional look at religious influences." Some of her favorites are "Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit” by Daniel Quinn, "Ender's Game" and other books by Orson Scott Card, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, the Key Trilogy by Nora Roberts for the strong female characters despite her feminist issues with them, "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn, and "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. In addition to these titles, Noelle says, "I also like murder mysteries."

AJ Chalom is our Humanist Giving Coordinator which means she helps choose and vet our quarterly, small grant, and Compassionate Impact Grant beneficiaries. She is also the contact person between FBB and the beneficiary throughout the process. AJ chose "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion which she describes as "an unbelievable, beautifully written account of her life after the sudden death of her husband. Darkest Hour lifted up with Reason, Beauty and Prose which is amazing." She also loves "The Map that Changed the World" by Simon Winchester stating, "Geology my friend, white cliffs of Dover, and a crazy man, what more would you want?" A great middle grade fiction book about transgender issues that AJ recommends is "Gracefully Grayson" by Ami Polonsky. "It is a nice character story about coming of age. Her next book (out in November) is FABULOUS! "

Angel Lugo who has been our Administrative Manager and the one who keeps us on track, will sadly, be leaving us on October 1. Angel says by way of disclaimer, I'm not an avid reader and I choose to own very few titles (because minimalism). I like these books because the way they're written unravels a movie in my mind as I read them." Some favorites include "The Life of God (As Told by Himself)" by Franco Ferrucci and "Summer and Bird" by Katherine Catmull. She also listed two books that she and her son will "read together until I'm dead, simply because they're funny. "They are "The Dumb Bunnies' Easter" story by Sue Denim with Pictures by Dav Pilkey and E-mergency!" by Tom Lichtenheld.

Cleo Blacke is our other Humanist Action: Ghana: Ghana Co-administrator and she works with Wendy. Rather than mention titles she liked, she mentioned authors. Some you may find yourself familiar with and some you may not. She especially likes Dan Brown Judy Bloom, Stephen King, Ama Attah Aidoo, Chinua Achebe, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Conor Robinson may be the staff member with the longest title as our Humanist Action: Ghana Director, Humanist Disaster Relief Coordinator, Beyond Belief Coordinator, and Humanist Giving Assistant. Given that, we're not entirely sure how he also finds time to read but according to Conor, "I've never met a book I didn't like enough to get through, but the quality of the writing is generally more important to me than the content." If made to choose a favorite book or two (we made him) he would pick "Snowcrash" by Neal Stephenson by and "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace.

Jennifer Brown's job title is listed as Technical Fixer-Upper and Problem-Solver, although that doesn't really encompass the magic that often goes into what she does. "I don't have a favorite book, but one of my favorite sci-fi books is 'Ancillary Justice' by Ann Leckie" She also likes "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, "The Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde, and "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, which she calls "One of the funniest books on the planet. Like Noelle, I really like escapist books… mostly thrillers & mysteries & sci fi. Anything with interesting people or something psychologically going on."

Julia Rigler our Marketing Director who (when not at FBB) is a photographer and Border Collie rescuer, listed her favorite books as the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin, and "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett.

 

Kate Simonson is the Communications Manager and an aspiring writer who likes to imagine she might have had what it takes to be a doctor (she doesn't). In any case, she is a voracious reader of books by doctors such as the heartbreaking "When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi and anything by Dr. Atul Gawande, but especially "Being Mortal," "Better," and "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science." She also loves the combinations of humor and science in Mary Roach’s books and the perfection of Catherine Newman's books about parenting "Waiting for Birdy" and "Catastrophic Happiness: Finding Joy in Childhood's Messy Years."

The award-winning Rebecca Vitsmun is our Humanist Disaster Recovery Teams Development Coordinator. If you haven't watched about how she found her way to FBB, make sure you do. Rebecca is a strong and amazing woman and her favorite books reflect that. Her favorites include "Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell, "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse, and "More Than Two: a Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory" by Franklin Veaux and Eve Rickert.

Wendy Webber, who we mentioned in the beginning, is one of our Humanist Action: Ghana: Ghana Co-administrators, along with Cleo. Wendy has been at FBB for over a year and with her combination of hard work and brilliance, has found herself doing many jobs here. Her favorite books echo some of the books that have been mentioned before including "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, the Harry Potter series, and "Stiff" by Mary Roach. She also likes His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, "Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way" by Bill Bryson, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides, and "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman.

So what do you think? Did we mention your favorites? Did we miss one completely? We'd love to hear what your favorite books are. Visit us on Facebook to let us know what you agree with or where you think we missed the mark.