Although Gawande uses his experiences as a surgeon to highlight the importance of checklists, his findings can be translated into any type of work.

One of my favorite quotes:
"The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably. Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us."

He suggests that checklists encourage both teamwork and discipline.

Another interesting takeaway: "We don't look for the patterns of our recurrent mistakes or devise and refine potential solutions for them." He suggests that if we do so and incorporate our solutions into our checklists, we will reduce errors and increase efficiency, no matter what our profession.

Gawande's final example of how the checklist possibly changed an outcome is the safe landing of the flight in the Hudson in January 2009. The details are fascinating.

I enjoyed this short, readable book. By developing my own checklists, I am sure that it will have impact.

As the mother of a child adopted from China, I found Mei-Ling Hopgood's Lucky Girl an enlightening look at some of the things my daughter may face as she grows older. But even more than that, as human being, I found Hopgood's honest questions about family and the world we live in very refreshing. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always thoughtful this is a terrific memoir!

Short books often mean that much thought has been given to every line and this is certainly the case here. Bennie Ford is stranded at O'Hare on the way to his daughter's wedding. He decides to write a complaint letter to American Airlines requesting-strike that-demanding a refund on his ticket. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Every once in a while a book comes along that is so good but packs so much surprise that you don't want to even talk about what it is about. You just want to say 'READ THIS!' and thrust it into your friends' hands. Greer recounts this story of a marriage and so much more with poignancy and beautiful turn of phrase. Yet this does not detract from the underlying tension carried throughout his novel. Go get your copy, your sunscreen, lawn chair and beverage. The book will grab you from the first sentence and not let you go until the last. Then march over to your neighbor's house and say 'READ THIS!' I guarantee you will want them to, so that you can talk about this fantastic book.

In 1984 photographer Peter Feldstein took pictures of almost every resident of his hometown, Oxford, Iowa – population 676. Twenty years later, he re-photographed them. Postville author Stephen G. Bloom interviewed 100 of them, sharing their lives – struggles, successes and suprises. Publisher Lena Tabori and staff put it all togther in a stunning and captivating layout.

A coffee table book that will lead to many discussions, The Oxford Project is also a book to read cover to cover. It is a record of humanity during the last years of the 20th century. Everyone will find something of themselves in the people of Oxford.

I didn’t think Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) could top her Pulitzer Prize-winning stories in The Interpreter of Maladies, but I believe she has done it. In this new collection she offers masterful pieces about relationships across generations and continents and the Indian experience at home and abroad. She is just so good at understanding and capturing human nature.

With insights into both the culinary and publishing worlds, The Tenth Muse is the perfect gift for the foodie reader on your list - maybe even yourself. Judith Jones, an editor at Knopf for nearly a half century and the woman who started it all with Julia Child, has finally shared her own story, well-written (she is an editor after all), fun and well, delicious. Recipes included,

Peter and Holly meet on a cross-continental flight. They fall in love and agree to get together in a few days. Only Peter loses Holly's number.

Even with elements of implausability and predictability, I found this modern day drawing room comedy quite enjoyable.

She calls herself Z because nobody knows how to pronounce her name. Z travels from rural China to London, learning English along the way. Her explicit sexual awakening mirrors that of her growing understanding of languages and cultural differences. And yes, the story is told in the form of a dictionary. It may sound formulaic, but I found the novel creative and insightful.

When Kathleen Flinn lost her job as a high-powered exec, it took her newly-committed boyfriend Mike to remind her that she had always wanted to attend the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. And so, off to Paris they went. Flinn’s deft writing blends humor, recipes and life into a lovely soufflé of a memoir. I really enjoyed it.

From the shocking opening line, Alice Sebold once again takes us to a place we didn’t expect to go. Helen Knightly’s mix of love, anxiety, exhaustion and relief in caring for her elderly mother rang so true in this moving story, but to me the real triumph is the way Sebold weaves Helen’s history into the present-day storyline. She allows readers, (including me), to understand the depth of emotions that normally aren’t talked about.

Love it! This is a quiet book about what friendship can mean to women's lives. The setting is beautiful. Highly recommended!