The holidays are over, the bills are coming in, and taxes are due in a few months—don’t you love January? To me, the month is all about money.

When I want more information to change my life, I turn to books, and there are zillions of books on how to better manage your money (and I’ve read a bunch of them). Two books are I like best are Your Money or Your Life by former Wall Street Trader Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin and The Total Money Makeover by radio host Dave Ramsey.

In Your Money or Your Life, Dominguez and Robin opened my eyes to the human cost of money by teaching me to calculate my expenses in what they call “life-energy.”  That means a $10 lunch could cost you an hour of work if you earn $10/hr or ten minutes of work if you earn $100/hr.  The question is, how hard to you want to work for that lunch? Perhaps you’d rather make a fifty cent peanut butter and jelly sandwich at home?Your call . . . but the book will make you start evaluating spending decisions in a new light, especially if you are a goal-setter.They have a website with additional info at www.newroadmap.org

I’ve purchased two copies of Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover to give to my kids as they start out in life.  It has the best advice I’ve read on dealing with mountains of debt, sensibly handling money, and my personal favorite—budgeting.  (Yeah, my kids roll their eyes, too.) You can get a taste of his advice at www.daveramsey.com  Whatever you think about his style, his advice works. I’m also a fan of his book Financial Peace.

Look, I’m convinced that no matter what challenges you face in life, there is an expert who has written a book that can help you.Go to the library.The collective wisdom of the world is waiting.

   My co-Books! moderator, Kelly Justice of Fountain Books, and I both don’t like the cover of THE MIDDLE PLACE.  It gives the book a chick-lit, growing-up-in-(you name the city, time, or place) feel.  And it sells this amazing book short.

   First and foremost, I want you to know Kelly Corrigan is a personable writer.  When you finish THE MIDDLE PLACE, you’ll want to call her for a catch-up chat.   Her book is both laugh out loud funny and heart-wrenching.  It’s a celebration of family and having the love of both parents and of a family of your own–i.e. “the middle place” when your parents are still wonderfully alive and you have the joy of being a parent yourself.  Yes, it is about all that is good, loving, and powerful in life.

  It’s also the memoir of Kelly’s battle against breast cancer at the age of thirty-six and her beloved father’s own subsequent battles with the big C.    See why I didn’t want to drop that one on you right in the beginning?  However, to say this is merely a book about overcoming cancer is like saying LORD OF THE RINGS is a tell-all about Hobbits. 

   Each of the Corrigans confronts this disease in his or her own fashion.  Kelly relies on Science, her father on Faith.  She attacks her breast cancer with her sharp wit, relentlessly researching her options.  Her father settles into his cancer, listening to his daughter’s advice and even taking some of it.  His worry is for her; her fears are for him–and her children and husband.   

     I want you to know there are only happy endings here.  Cancer doesn’t win.  But it also teaches Corrigan some  incredible lessons along the way that she has the talent to share with us.  Trust me, you will devour THE MIDDLE PLACE.

  Note to Virginians:  Kelly Corrigan is a University of Richmond grad.  Kelly Justice is hoping to bring her to Richmond for a book signing.  For more information, keep your eye on www.fountainbookstore.com

  It is no secret that one of my goals in life is to get my son to read.  He’s twenty-three now.  I’ve been at this task a long time, but I won’t give up.

  My daughters were easy to turn into readers.  I pointed them toward Romance and they’ve never looked back.  My belief is that if you hook a person on what he likes to read, he’ll go on to read everything.  Worked on the girls. 

   Hasn’t worked on my son.

   Enter AMERICAN SHAOLIN by Matthew Polly.  Polly gave up his last year of Princeton in the early ’90’s to study kung fu at the Shaolin Temple in China.  He wanted to change himself–become more brave, more fit, and more spiritual.  What follows is a funny, off beat tale of living amongst monks, the Chinese, and coming of age as a man. 

   All I had to do was show Andrew the pictures in the book of the legendary “Iron Crotch” Monk Dong (I am not making that up!) in action.

“Hmmm . . . let me see that book, Mom,” Andrew said.

 ”Not yet,” I answered.  “I’m reading it.”  Which was true.  It’s also true that AMERICAN SHAOLIN is too good a read to give over to my son’s college dorm room before I’ve had a chance to savor each word. 

 Whadda great read!  I love cultural insight, politics, and history.  AMERICAN SHAOLIN has it all, not to mention an unforgettable cast of monks.  Polly gives China a human face, us an appreciation for a society caught between the old and new, and me an understanding why all those martial arts movies are so popular.  In fact, I think I’m going to rent a Jet Li . . . and maybe Andrew and I will watch it together.

AMERICAN SHAOLIN by Matthew Polly  ISBN  978-1-592-403370-0