Sam Reviews "The Leadership Secrets of Oz" by BJ Gallagher

This was an interesting little book.  It has a number of good points, interesting references to the story of Oz, and original art from the Oz books as well.  I think the tips in this book are solid, although I feel also commonly talked about.  However, my favorite tidbits tended to be quotes by people other than the author.  This was a quick and informative read with some interesting critical thinking questions.

"If your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt." - Henry Kaiser

"Actions speak louder than words and people watch what you do more than listen to what you say."

"If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.  Do good anyway.
"If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.  Succeed anyway.
"The good you so today will be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.
"Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.  Be honest and frank anyway.
"The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.  Think big anyway.
"People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.  Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
"What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.  Build anyway.
"People really need help but may attack you of you do help them.  Help people anyway.
"Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.  Give the world the best you have anyway."
- Kent Keith

Sam Reviews: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

I would like to start by saying, when this story was all over everywhere, I had no idea the book was a crime novel.  I used to gobble these up like candy in middle school (mature content be damned) and may have even enjoyed this book more at that time in my life.  I'm honestly quite shocked that a foreign crime novel got so much attention.  I was extremely interested in half the story (the Chronicle if you will) but the other half (the financial bits) I found pretty boring.  As accomplished as I felt for finishing this book, the last 60 or so pages were pretty lame.  I have very mixed feelings regarding Mikael Blomkvist, but the ending really left a bad taste in my mouth for him.  I also wanted to note that I find it interesting that (I believe) Lisbeth Salander is the "main character" (the character the title revers too at least) but in reading the book, if I hadn't known the title I would have assumed Blomkvist was the main character.  With that in mind I am curious to know how / where the other two books go as their titles strongly imply Salander's presence but not necessarily Blomkvist's.  Over all I managed to read through this pretty quickly, and it is quite a lengthy book compared to my usual reads, so there was something endearing about the mystery and the characters themselves.  I do intend to finish the trilogy but ... I'm not sure how soon that will happen.

"Leviticus, 20:18 - If a man lies with a woman having her sickness, and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood; both if them shall be cut off from among their people."

"Maybe he's just a square peg in a round hole who happens to be poisoning the atmosphere."

"He's pulling the load of an ox and walking on eggshells."

"'What do you need me for?'  [Her] greatest fear, which was so huge and so black that it was of phobic proportions, was that people would laugh at her feelings.  And all of a sudden all her carefully constructed self-confidence seemed to crumble."