I can’t believe that I only have three more months to hit my reading goals. I need to step it up a bit. Maybe some vacation dedicated to reading.

I was able to get all my reading done in September and catch up a little bit. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is still not done. I am working on it.  How is your reading going? Come and check out my reading list and read along with me this October.

I have quite a varied list for October. I picked up a book to meet a Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge category, another book looks at D-Day through another perspective—this time through German eyes. I am also devoting some reading time to better understand community colleges. Finally, I am looking for more ideas to improve copywriting.

Here is what is on my reading list for October 2018:

A Cold Day in Hell (A Cold Case Investigation) by Lissa Marie Redmond

One of the categories necessary to meet the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge is to read a book recommended by a librarian or indie bookseller. I picked up A Cold Day in Hell at the Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Lakewood. It is a nice little shop with a lot of variety. I will be visiting it more often.

Via Amazon:

Lauren’s job as a cold case homicide detective is her life. And life just got complicated.

Lauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. But now he’s begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding the case―until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.

To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the buried facts. But the more she digs, the more she discovers that nothing is what it first appears to be. As Lauren puts her career and life in danger, doubt lurks on every corner . . . and so does her stalker.

Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success by Thomas R. Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins

Over the past couple of years, I have watched the enrollment for Jamestown Community College fall. We are not alone, but I have a vested interest in turning it around. I am hoping this book can provide me with some ideas.

Via Amazon:

In the United States, 1,200 community colleges enroll over ten million students each year―nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 percent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. This fact has put pressure on community colleges to improve academic outcomes for their students. Redesigning America’s Community Colleges is a concise, evidence-based guide for educational leaders whose institutions typically receive short shrift in academic and policy discussions. It makes a compelling case that two-year colleges can substantially increase their rates of student success, if they are willing to rethink the ways in which they organize programs of study, support services, and instruction.

Community colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments at low cost, not to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. The result was a cafeteria-style model in which students pick courses from a bewildering array of choices, with little guidance. The authors urge administrators and faculty to reject this traditional model in favor of “guided pathways”―clearer, more educationally coherent programs of study that simplify students’ choices without limiting their options and that enable them to complete credentials and advance to further education and the labor market more quickly and at less cost.

Distilling a wealth of data amassed from the Community College Research Center (Teachers College, Columbia University), Redesigning America’s Community Colleges offers a fundamental redesign of the way two-year colleges operate, stressing the integration of services and instruction into more clearly structured programs of study that support every student’s goals.

D DAY Through German Eyes – The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944 by Holger Eckhertz

Over the past year, I have read extensively about the exploits of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 10st Airborne Infantry Division. I am curious what the Germans were thinking as these men parachuted in and began to regain western Europe.

Via Amazon:

This new paperback edition contains Book One and Book Two of this series, revealing the hidden side of D Day which has fascinated readers around the world.

Almost all accounts of D Day are told from the Allied perspective. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes – and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day?

This book sheds fascinating light on these questions, bringing together statements made by German survivors after the war, when time had allowed them to reflect on their state of mind, their actions and their choices of June 6th.

We see a perspective of D Day which deserves to be added to the historical record, in which ordinary German troops struggled to make sense of what was facing them, and emerged stunned at the weaponry and sheer determination of the Allied troops. Above all, we now have the unheard human voices of the individual German soldiers – the men who are so often portrayed as a faceless mass.

Writing Riches: Learn How to Boost Profits, Drive Sales and Master Your Financial Destiny With Results-Based Web Copy by Ray Edwards

I recently read Ray Edwards book, How to Write Copy that Sells. I really liked it. He provides clear details on the topic, and what he has shared has already helped me. I am looking to learn more.

Via Amazon:

With the job market in a state of flux, and many former corporate employees striking out on their own, there is a new focus on self-owned businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit. And the new frontier is the internet. But much like the brick and mortar model, online sales has its own lingo and requires a new approach to sales language.

Ray Edwards’ new book, “Writing Riches”, opens the door to the new online business owner and marketer, giving insiders tips and secrets based on his own very successful career. For instance:
* You want to tap the profit-pulling power of compelling copy–and watch your products or services FLY off the shelf at blinding speeds!
* You want to know how changing just a few words on your website can double or even quadruple your sales–overnight!
* You already know the magic profit power of killer copy–but don’t want to shell out $30,000 (or more) every time you need sales copy written.
* You’re an entrepreneur or solo professional and want to write your own copy to get your web profit stream started.
* You want to train your on-staff copywriter in the secrets of proven direct-response copywriting that gets results.

Whether new to the world of online sales writing, or a veteran with a desire to take it to the next level, “Writing Riches” is the perfect source for success.

That’s it for this month — I want to hear what good books YOU’VE read lately! Please share in the comments below.

I encourage you to check out these reading lists in case you missed them: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September. There was a lot of good reading.

My Reviews for This Reading List

• Book Review: A Cold Day in Hell (A Cold Case Investigation)
• Book Review: D-Day Through German Eyes
• Book Review: Redesigning America’s Community Colleges
• Book Review: Writing Riches: Learn How to Boost Profits, Drive Sales and Master Your Financial Destiny With Results-Based Web Copy

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