The Intentional Networker by Patti DeNucci

The Intentional Networker by Patti DeNucci (pictured) is a power-packed “how to” for young ambitious professionals seeking to build a career; or middle-aged professionals who can’t seem to reach the professional peak; or old, semi-retired professionals who need to be reminded that they don’t know it all.

Discloser: the author of The Intentional Networker, Patti DeNucci, is a long-time acquaintance, and our friendship is one that defies time and distance. We bonded over a mutual love of reading and something else indefinable, and I know that even if I never see her again, she will always be my friend. 

I was in awe of and genuinely excited for Patti when I first heard that she was publishing a book, but then I blurted out that I wanted to read it and review it on my blog, and trepidation settled in my gut. What if the book was boring, pedantic, fluffy, or anything less than fab? Thankfully, it was none of those things, well, except fab.

When I started The Intentional Networker I found myself making a list of people to whom I needed to give this book. Among my copious notes in the margins were, “give a copy to the kids,” and “this book should be required reading for high school kids,” but by page 45, I had forgotten about helping others, and started thinking how this book could help me, i.e., when Patti suggest the reader list their “big three” life priorities, I listed, 1. Family; 2. Exercising my mind; and 3. Being still. Realizing that I valued "being still" was an important revelation to me.

The Intentional Networker is really about how to attract more business, particularly through what Patti coins, “intentional networking,” but since getting more business is a lot about being a person of good character, it provides a smorgasbord of thought-provoking and valuable takeaways, regardless of whether you are an ambitious business-climber or a lounge-lizard.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

I really wish I’d read Patricia Highsmith’s book The Talented Mr. Ripley before I saw director, Anthony Mingella’s 1999 movie adaptation by the same name, because the entire time I was reading the book I kept envisioning, Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Freddie Miles and Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood. Oops, now you will too.

It never occurred to me that The Talented Mr. Ripley was a book before it became a screenplay, but when I recently did a search for “best thriller books ever,” it popped up on every list, along with The Killer Inside Me, which I previously read and reviewed. So I went into the book knowing who does what, and thinking that would diminish my enjoyment. It didn’t. First, I want to tell you a little about the author, Patricia Highsmith (pictured), mostly because I so loved her writing style, which was smooth, intelligent, and so subtly terrifying (Graham Greene called Highsmith "the poet of apprehension"), but also because she’s a Texas gal, born in Fort Worth, and a pretty interesting character herself.  

Highsmith grew up in Texas and New York, but spent most of her adult life in England and France. During her life, Highsmith was a popular author in Europe, however, her books went in and out of print for decades in the US. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train did gain Highsmith considerable fame after Alfred Hitchcock made it into a film. And then there’s  Danny DeVito's Hitchcock spoof Throw Momma From the Train. Also of interest is that many of Highsmith’s books, including The Talented Mr. Ripley, have very, very, subtle homosexual undertones. In Ripley it was an intriguing part of the mystery. Was he? Or wasn’t he?