by Stephanie Brail

Tuesdays With Morrie has become a classic in the "feel good" book category in the 10 years since it has been published. This tearjerker in print tells the true tale of Morrie Schwartz, a quirky college professor who is dying of Lou Gehrig's Disease. His former student, Mitch Albom, finds out about Morrie's illness on Nightline. He drives to see Morrie, and they decide to meet on Tuesdays until Morrie's death.

The main theme in this book is love, which Morrie shares in spades with his former student. Morrie is surprisingly peaceful and cheery about his deteriorating condition, and his bravery should be an inspiration to anyone undergoing a chronic or terminal illness.

The message of love is quite simple, and the book's spirit can be summed up in Morrie's words:

by Stephanie Brail

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher and author of the bestselling Power of Now. A New Earth is his second runaway bestseller, bolstered by Oprah's Book Club and Oprah's phenomenally successful online course about the book. A New Earth is the first book by Tolle I've read (though I've known of him for years) and has served as my introduction to Tolle.

A New Earth, according to Tolle, will shift your consciousness and "awaken" you, if you are ready. He claims this in chapter one - a bold statement, I felt, for a guy who claims to be anti-ego. But there's something exciting about feeling like you're one of the "chosen ones," those who are supposed to be awakened at this point in history as our earth is in crisis. (Just don't get too caught up in your ego about it.)