Marsie Hall Newbold

Darnice Langford

Associate professor, Division of Professional Practice, University of Cincinnati:

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ballantine; $29.96).

"I read it before, back in the '70s, but I'm reading it again. I didn't buy the books, I borrowed them from my brother-in-law in college and never gave them back to him!

"I just finished The Hobbit, the forerunner of The Lord of the Rings. Now, I'm on The Fellowship of the Rings. I'm just intrigued with how well Tolkien writes. It is so colorful.

"I saw the movies and they were just the way they should have been. He wrote so clearly they had no trouble translating his work to the screen."

Clyde Gray

Anchor, WCPO-TV (Channel 9):

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins (HarperCollins; $27.50).

"It is essentially a look at 10 businesses that went from so-so in earnings and profitability to great earnings and profitability. It looks at the factors that helped them make that leap. One criteria is the improvement in their business had to be sustained over 15 years. Interestingly, Kroger is one of those companies, because of some decisions (former CEO) Lyle Everingham made.

"I've learned several things; one is that successful companies start out with a leader who is more interested in the company's welfare than his own financial success. Also, companies that made the leap from good to great were very simple in their pursuit of business; they had a simple concept and they stuck with it."