"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

I read this book back in high school, as it was a required reading, and I read it in translation, since I wasn't born in an English-speaking country.  Now, decades later, I read it in the original, and it is still amazing.  Notwithstanding the excellent movie with Henry Fonda, movies cannot quite catch the subtleties of the written word - the well written word.  Scout's words jump off the page as so lively as a real tomboy little girl in blue overalls is standing right in front of you.  Atticus Finch is a glorious character, the perfect father, just, controlled and measured, always having the best for everyone on his mind.  Jim and Dill are lovable characters, each showing their own strengths.  Calpernia must be one of the most lovable African-American nanny characters.

The Yules are probably the primordial white-trash family, of which every town in the South has some, and some have more.  They could have been the original Trailer Park Boys if born 50 years later.  Tom's unfortunate fate evokes much more sympathy today that in the 70s when the book was popular and the civil rights in the South still had a lot of work to do.

Although I've read critiques around the Web that the book is too culturally-narrow and that it cannot be fully appreciated by other nations than the Americans, as it has so much localized details.  But, in my humble opinion, that is the main strength of the book.  It gives even non-American an intimate and in-depth view of the complicated beginnings of the American nation and shows the evolution of values and societal mores that resulted in a much more multicultural and tolerant American society today. 

"Emotional Intelligence 2.0" by Travis Bradbury

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is a book by TalentSmart, a company that works on identifying human potential and performance in a business setting.  The book, or booklet, which, although 270 pages, is in a small format and is usually accompanied by a course (which costs much more money).  An audiobook exists too, but I thought that this kind of subject is best internalized while reading it ink-on-paper. 

The book consists of 4 sections with 17 (very) short chapters each.  The sections are:  Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social-Awareness and Relationship-Management.  Each of the 17 chapters in the section talks about one useful technique that should become a part of everyone's repertoire.  Some of the advice seems very common sense, but that's because the hardest things to do/implement are usually the common-sense ones. 

Very easy to read and with lots of re-usability, this book reminds me of the famous Dale Carnegie books.  If Dale was alive today, this is probably the book he'd write on "How to win friends and influence people" as the subject matter is almost the same.  Recommended as a read, though don't expect anything earth-shattering (there's NO magic pill!).