Why am I passionate about this?

Cultivating connections is Debra Fine’s passion. Her previous life as an engineer and introvert left her longing for connections. Inspired to learn and then teach, Debra’s programs and books are designed to supply the tools and skills for great conversations, networking, and building relationships. Now the author of the bestselling book The Fine Art of Small Talk How to Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills - and Leave a Positive Impression Debra delivers keynote programs and training workshop to hundreds of clients both face-to-face and virtually.


I wrote

The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills -- and Leave a Positive Impression!

By Debra Fine,

Book cover of The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills -- and Leave a Positive Impression!

What is my book about?

Nationally recognized communication expert Debra Fine reveals the techniques and strategies anyone can use to make small talk--in any situation.…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Overstory

Debra Fine Why did I love this book?

Overstory weaves together stories of people related to trees. Or maybe the opposite, trees related to people. Obviously not a catchy and engaging intro to one of my all-time favorite books. Yet this book envelops the reader in trees, their environments, how they grow, the cycle of life produced by trees. Most importantly Overstory details the connection trees have to all life on this Earth. You will never walk by a fallen branch, regard an emerging root, take a breath outside, pick up a leaf, or view a landscape in the same way again.

By Richard Powers,

Why should I read it?

35 authors picked The Overstory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Overstory, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of-and paean to-the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers's twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours-vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see…


Book cover of Both Sides Now: A True Story of Love, Loss and Bold Living

Debra Fine Why did I love this book?

This is a memoir based on the author’s life. She learns of her husband’s returned brain tumor the night she delivers their twins. So beautifully written despite the pain that endures. It is a book that inspires our connection not only to the past but to taking steps forward to create future connections with people, with community and with work. The author manages to hold the reader in the palm of her hand as she takes us from the world she leaves behind to the courage and resilience she unleashes to build connection to a new and promising life.

By Nancy Sharp,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Both Sides Now as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The past is simply part of our story; just not the whole story...On the very day that Nancy Sharp delivered premature twins, she learned that her husband's brain cancer returned after eighteen months in remission.  Less than three years later, at the age of 37, she became a widow. But while many in that situation would crumble, Nancy had an innate ability to hold life and death in the same moment. She learned to "see beyond the frame's edge."  In BOTH SIDES NOW: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Bold Living, Nancy shares her unforgettable journey - one that…


Book cover of Anxious People

Debra Fine Why did I love this book?

If we could put all of congress in the same room for a day just as the author of Anxious People does with his characters we could imagine the great USA divide being conquered. Thanks to the forced intimacy the characters find themselves in the reader learns lush details of each character’s personality, life, and soul. Yet thanks to the forced intimacy we witness complete strangers respectfully and lovingly connecting to one another in a way that is unexpected, yet so satisfying.

By Fredrik Backman,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked Anxious People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The funny, touching and unpredictable No. 1 New York Times bestseller, now a major Netflix TV series

'A brilliant and comforting read' MATT HAIG
'Funny, compassionate and wise. An absolute joy' A.J. PEARCE
'A surefooted insight into the absurdity, beauty and ache of life' GUARDIAN
'I laughed, I sobbed, I recommended it to literally everyone I know' BUZZFEED
'Captures the messy essence of being human' WASHINGTON POST

From the 18 million copy internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove
_______

It's New Year's Eve and House Tricks estate agents are hosting an open viewing in an up-market apartment when…


Book cover of From Sole to Soul: A Daily Prescription For Moving Forward In Your Life

Debra Fine Why did I love this book?

This book inspires the reader to connect their mind with movement. The author has filled the days of the year with practice prompts, ideas to help boost self-awareness and push past adversity, and wisdom from artists and scholars as well. Sole to Soul motivated me to connect with nature, my own stillness, and with others. A great daily devotional. And a great gift especially during these tough times.

By Audrey Boxwell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked From Sole to Soul as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"From Sole to Soul: A Daily Prescription For Moving Forward In Your Life" is a daily invitation to step forward in life. Dr. Audrey Boxwell has filled the days of the year with practice prompts, ideas to help boost self-awareness and push past adversity, and wisdom from artists and scholars who have motivated her and hundreds of clients over the years. There is no better prescription for joy and well-being than daily movement. Sole to Soul gets readers up on their feet, ready to seize the days one step at a time.


Book cover of The Island of Sea Women

Debra Fine Why did I love this book?

Island of the Sea Women is a work of historical fiction that takes place on the island of Jeju in South Korea. Although the focus is on the women divers who harvest the ocean floor for seafood (by hand and with no breathing equipment!!) it is also about connection. First and foremost the idea of connecting one’s heart to forgiveness. This is a theme throughout the book. But also the women’s positive connections to their fellow divers and teachers, their families especially their husbands, nature, and their spirit world burn bright with hope. But their connection to constant loss and pain, a brutal husband, and the invaders from both Japan and the USA combines to make this book unforgettable.

By Lisa See,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Island of Sea Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A mesmerizing new historical novel” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from Lisa See, the bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and devastating family secrets on a small Korean island.

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement…


Explore my book 😀

The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills -- and Leave a Positive Impression!

By Debra Fine,

Book cover of The Fine Art of Small Talk: How To Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills -- and Leave a Positive Impression!

What is my book about?

Nationally recognized communication expert Debra Fine reveals the techniques and strategies anyone can use to make small talk--in any situation. Do you spend an abnormal amount of time hiding out in the bathroom or hanging out at the buffet table at social gatherings? Does the thought of striking up a conversation with a stranger make your stomach do flip-flops? Do you sit nervously through job interviews waiting for the other person to speak? Are you a "Nervous Ned or Nellie" when it comes to networking? Then it's time you mastered The Fine Art of Small Talk.

Book cover of The Overstory
Book cover of Both Sides Now: A True Story of Love, Loss and Bold Living
Book cover of Anxious People

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Elephant Safari

By Peter Riva,

Book cover of Elephant Safari

Peter Riva Author Of Kidnapped on Safari

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been to, and loved, North, Central, and especially East Africa for over fifty years. Only six times have I been to Africa on holiday; more often, perhaps twenty or more times, as a television producer. Working in Africa gains a perspective of reality that the glories of vacation do not. Each has its place, each its pitfalls like stalled plane rides with emergency landings in the bush or attacks by wildlife. But, in the end, the magic of the “otherness,” what an old friend called “primitava” captures one’s soul and changes your life.

Peter's book list on the otherness that few get to experience

What is my book about?

Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd of elephant making their annual migration.

Stumbling onto an elephant poaching, the team become embroiled in true financing of terrorism for al Shabaab –ivory sales–and are determined to stop the slaughter at any cost. Ivory trade financing terrorism involves UN refugee camps with two hundred thousand displaced Somali persons, powerful…

Elephant Safari

By Peter Riva,

What is this book about?

A documentary team hiking through East Africa collides with a gang of deadly poachers, in this gripping adventure by the author of Kidnapped on Safari.

Years of filming, extreme dangers, and daring rescues have taken their toll on documentary producer Pero Baltazar and his team. To relax and reconnect with the East African wildlife they love, Pero organizes a walking safari for him, his camerawoman Nancy Breiton, and their elite guide Mbuno Waliangulu. Still, Pero has trouble truly disconnecting from work. When the team comes across a herd of elephants making their annual migration north of Lake Rudolf, Pero decides…


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