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Jacqui Pretty's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Jacqui Pretty recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Jacqui Pretty's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

Turning Pro

The follow up to the War of Art. In the War of Art Pressfield identifies the enemy to living an authentic life – resistance. In Turning Pro, Pressfield teaches you how to defeat it. less
Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, Aubrey Marcus, and 2 others.

Jacqui PrettyFor non-business, a nonfiction one would be Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield, which is about taking a professional approach to your art - ensuring you sit down every day and do the work, rather than treating it like a hobby. (Source)

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2

Circe

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur,...
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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, Jason Kottke, and 2 others.

Jacqui PrettyWhen it comes to fiction, there are so many to choose from! Some books I've loved in the past year include Circe by Madeline Miller. (Source)

Jason KottkeAnother contemporary reinterpretation of Greek mythology from the perspective of a woman. I’m 3/4s of the way through Circe right now and I might like it even more than The Odyssey. (Source)

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3
I am a woman built upon the wreckage of myself.

In an emotionally raw voice alive with grief, compassion, and startling humor, a woman mourns the loss of her husband and son at the hands of one of history’s most notorious criminals. And in appealing to their executioner, she reveals the desperate sadness of a broken heart and a working-class life blown apart.

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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, and 1 others.

Jacqui PrettyWhen it comes to fiction, there are so many to choose from! Some books I've loved in the past year include Incendiary by Chris Cleave, [...]" (Source)

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4

If We Were Villains

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail - for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one...
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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, and 1 others.

Jacqui Pretty"When it comes to fiction, there are so many to choose from! Some books I've loved in the past year include If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio" (Source)

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5

Dark Matter

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

It starts with a man in a mask kidnapping him at gunpoint, for reasons Jason can’t begin to fathom—what would anyone want with an ordinary physics professor?—and grows even more terrifying from there, as Jason’s abductor injects him with some unknown drug and watches while he loses consciousness.

When Jason awakes, he’s in a lab, strapped to a gurney—and a man he’s...
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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, and 1 others.

Jacqui PrettyWhen it comes to fiction, there are so many to choose from! Some books I've loved in the past year include Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. (Source)

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6
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know...
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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, and 1 others.

Jacqui Pretty"When it comes to fiction, there are so many to choose from! Some books I've loved in the past year include The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey." (Source)

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7
Author of cult classics The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur offers a simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability.

Conventional accounting uses the logical (albeit, flawed) formula: Sales - Expenses = Profit. The problem is, businesses are run by humans, and humans aren't always logical. Serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz has developed a behavioral approach to accounting to flip the formula: Sales - Profit = Expenses. Just as the most effective...
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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, Bill Widmer, and 2 others.

Jacqui PrettyThe most recent business book I found that had a transformative impact on my business is Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, which completely changed the way we manage our finances at Grammar Factory. (Source)

Bill WidmerI also recommend Profit First by Mike Michalowicz to learn how to put profit first in your business. (Source)

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8
With the availability of self-publishing services and the rise of the entrepreneur as a thought leader, writing a book is becoming more appealing to an increasing number of small business owners. The problem? Most small business owners aren't writers, have never written a book before, are time poor and don't know where to start. While many want to write a book, they worry about investing months of their time and thousands of their dollars to write something that isn't any good, or to not even finish. Book Blueprint gives a step-by-step framework that any entrepreneur can follow to... more
Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, and 1 others.

Jacqui Pretty"Having said that, here are some that might help: [...] -Book Blueprint for how to write a nonfiction book - while this is a shameless self-plug, it is actually required reading for any new editors who join our team to introduce them to our approach to evaluating and structuring books" (Source)

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9

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Reclusive Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant to write her story, no one is more astounded than Monique herself.

Determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career, Monique listens in fascination. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s - and, of course, the seven husbands along the way - Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. But as...
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Recommended by Jacqui Pretty, Sahil Lavingia, and 2 others.

Jacqui PrettyWhen it comes to fiction, there are so many to choose from! Some books I've loved in the past year include The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. (Source)

Sahil Lavingia@alexbdebrie best book i've read recently is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. (Source)

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10
Each year Americans start one million new businesses, nearly 80 percent of which fail within the first five years. Under such pressure to stay alive—let alone grow—it’s easy for entrepreneurs to get caught up in a never-ending cycle of “sell it—do it, sell it—do it” that leaves them exhausted, frustrated, and unable to get ahead no matter how hard they try.

This is the exact situation Mike Michalowicz found himself in when he was trying to grow his first company. Although it was making steady money, there was never very much left over and he was chasing customers left and right,...
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Recommended by Seth Godin, Jacqui Pretty, and 2 others.

Jacqui PrettyHere are some that might help: (...) - The Pumpkin Plan for differentiation (Source)

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