AGC’s Favorite Books
It’s no secret that we love books around here, so we rounded up a few of our current faves.
by the AGC Team | March 2023
Hey there reader! In honor of National Reading Month we gathered up a list of some of our team’s current favorite books. They are listed in three sections: Non-Fiction, Leadership and Fiction.
If you would like to figure out how to read more books, check out this blog by our dear friend and facilitator Mark VanDellen. He shares how he went from a struggling reader to finishing over 50 books a year.
Leave a comment with your faves!
Non-Fiction Books
Title of Book | Author | Why We Love It |
| The Wisdom of Your Body | Hillary McBride | This helped me better understand all the ways my body communicates with me, what the impact of trauma is, and how to better befriend and work with “her” [my body] to care for myself. Includes actionable practices, easy-to-understand neuroscience, and compelling stories. |
| Think Again | Adam Grant | A phenomenal book on the power of updating our thinking and navigating bias that can hold us back. Surprisingly, it looks like the smarter one is the least likely to be willing to update their thinking. This book promotes wisdom, not knowledge. |
| Essentialism | Greg McKeown | About once a year I pull this short and accessible book out for a fresh shake of the shoulders and slap in the face. If you are feeling like life is living you and not the other way around, give this book a try! |
| How To Change Your Mind | Michael Pollan | The healing work of various psychedelics is blossoming. If you want to understand the history of their rise and fall and the possibilities associated with their re-emergence, Pollan takes you on a deep and interesting journey. |
| Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved | Kate Bowler | This book steps into the messy waters of suffering and faith. It had me crying like a baby and laughing out loud. Beautiful book. |
| Wild Soul Runes | Lara Vesta | I have been on a journey of remembering the wisdom of the ancients, the ancestors. My mom, sister, cousin and I are now making our way through this book, one rune each month and will be building relationship with each slowly for 33 months! |
| Give and Take | Adam Grant | Adam Grant does it again…his research suggests that those in the bottom percentages of success are givers and so are those in the top percent. It’s a fine line, but whether you’re in the bottom or the top…being a giver is the right answer. |
| Atomic Habits | James Clear | It’s the simple things over time that make all the difference. As you read this book, you make small adjustments to your life that by the time you finish, you’re better. |
| Finish | Jon Acuff | Acuff is my favorite author. I read everything he writes. This one is so simple but also research based with lessons on how to accomplish more without more grind and more hustle. We all have opportunities to hack productivity and avoid our saboteurs. |
| Stumbling on Happiness | Daniel Gilbert | An interesting research based book about what makes us happy and more importantly, what doesn’t. |
| I’m Still Here | Austin Channing Brown | A perspective shifting book for me. I have met Austin but didn’t put it together until she was telling stories of her time leading groups in Chicago. I saw myself in her stories. I am better for having read this book. |
| Let’s Pretend This Never Happened | Jenny Lawson | My favorite book of all time, and the one that started my love of memoirs. A great read if you want to laugh, cry, and get a little second hand embarrasment. |
| Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business) | Tabitha Brown | A great story of how Tabitha Brown came to be in the spotlight. She shares how she has worked so hard to get into Hollywood and then finally she just got comfortable with herself in her own skin and now the world can’t get enough of her. |
| Win the Day | Mark Batterson | “The difference between success and failure is the stories we tell ourselves. True or false, those stories become self-fulfilling prophecies. If you tell yourself the wrong story, you live a lie. If you want to change your life, start by changing your story.” |
| God is a Black Woman | Christena Cleveland, Ph.D. | I took the opportunity within the pandemic to shake myself out of the white male patriarchy’s marriage to white christianity and have found an answer to the longing for spiritual home within the teachings of Dr. Christena Cleveland as she beckons all back into the generous, abundant, loving arms of God our Black Mother. This book and the transformative experience of her e-course have called me to bow at the feet of Black women, Black people everywhere. In reverence, and in grief for all the harm done by myself and my white ancestors. |
Leadership Books
Title | Author | Why We Love It |
| The Art of Possibility | Rosamund Stone Zander + Benjamin Zander | A philosophical and practical look at how our perspective can hugely change our experience. |
| Wellbeing | Tom Rath + Jim Harter | This is a super simple and quick read with practical ideas to care for our whole selves and others. |
| Mastering Leadership | Anderson and Adams | Can I recommend a snoozer? This book is not riveting (for most) but if you want to understand the inner game of leadership and some of the developmental and psychological underpinnings of our work, give it a read. It is one of the pillars that has influenced the depth of our work with individuals and companies. |
| 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership | Dethmer, Chapman, Klemp | The founders of The Consicous Leadership Group have synthesized the work of so many into this book. At the center of this book is a leadership tool that we’ve been sharing with nearly everyone we work with and will continue to do so because it is so “sticky” and powerful. Are you above or below THE LINE? |
| Stories that Stick | Hall, Kindra | Excellent resource on how to strategically (and practically) use storytelling to: “Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business” |
| Emergent Strategy | adrienne maree brown | adrienne weaves compelling invitations to use facilitation as a tool for collective liberation. I love their explicit connections to the wisdom of nature, plants, birds, fungi. My connectedness strength really eats their work up. |
| 8 Paradoxes of Leadership | Tim Elmore | This book put into words the space between the unique contradictions that leaders need to hold. Nothing about leadership is simple… it’s nuanced. |
| Leading from the Middle | Scott Mautz | Having worked with so many mid-level managers this book does a great job of helping them “feel seen.” It’s a 2020 update to the concept of 360 leadership. The 1st half is orienting to those in the middle and the 2nd half is practical application. |
| Wolfpack | Abby Wambach | This book caught me off guard. I cried several times alone driving down the road. It spoke to my heart and helped me see my sisters in new ways. |
| Don’t Drop the Mic | T.D. Jakes | “It is nearly impossible to move an audience with something that you are not moved by yourself. Love is the secret weapon of great speaking!” |
Fiction Books
Title of Book | Author | Why We Love It |
| The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue | V. E. Schwab | Fascinating book with a storyline I’ve never read before! |
| The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Taylor Jenkins Reid | This was one of the first books to remind me that reading can be fun – I just need to find the right genre. |
| How to Walk Away | Katherine Center | I love anything by this author. Non-cliche chick-flick genre, wtih complex characters and thoughtful writing. |
| The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | A beautiful story with a poignant message about the meaning we make of our lives. |
| Wings of Fire Series | Tui T. Sutherland | This is a 15 book youth series, but our whole family has loved it. Each book is from a different (ahem!) dragon’s perspective, and it teaches about the power of diversity, valuing the distinct gifts in each of us, and how the power of coming together is always stronger than anything that divides us. |
| When Women were Dragons | Kelly Barnhill | A fictional take on 1950s America is the backdrop for this coming of age feminist tale. It is heartwrenching and beautiful. |
| Harry Potter – the Illustrated Collection this time around | J. K. Rowling | I joined the HP fan club as an adult. I love the yummy magical vibes it kicks up for me everytime I read one of these books. Without fail, I cry during the dialogue between Dumbledore and Harry at the end of each book. I am still grieving for Sirius Black. My hubs gifted me the Illustrated Collection for Yule and I have been pouring over the beautifully detailed images since December. |
| Parable of the Sower | Octavia E. Butler | I am a sucker for dystopian future fiction. This one though, damn it hits close as it kicks off in the year 2024. I LOVE Octavia’s afrofuturist writing and deeply appreciate the way she centers black femme protagonists in each of her books. |
| Outlander Series | Diana Gabaldon | Scotland, time travel, rugged Scotsman and a sassy female lead. What else is there to say? |
| The Great Gatsby | F Scott Fitzgerald | I don’t know why I love it so much but I have read it 3 times and will probably keep it in my rotation. I have been working through classics that I skipped growing up. |
| Project Hail Mary | Andy Weir | Sci-Fi is not usually my thing but Andy Weir (did you see the movie The Martian with Matt Damon) tells a tale that seems like it could be real. Smart, funny, and mind bending. My 12 year old and I both LOVED the audio version of this one. |
| Let’s Pretend This Never Happened | Jenny Lawson | My favorite book of all time, and the one that started my love of memoirs. A great read if you want to laugh, cry, and get a little second hand embarrasment. |
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