I think this is a brilliant book, and so well-written. Bee is such a fine writer, and she does her research. There's nothing frivolous about her subject or how she approaches it or how she presents it. Her writing is so engaging that you can't put it down. Whether you're a kitchen person, a history person, a gadget person, or a science geek, this book has something for you.

I'm hoping that some time I'll be able to meet Erin French because to me she is very inspiring. Finding Freedom was gut-wrenching. What I found about that book is that she kept going down. And down. And down. And when you thought she couldn't go down any lower and she went down more and then she continued to go down.

I feel that in some ways I know where that place is because many times in my life I have felt like the boppo doll: just knock me down and I'll come back up. I have a great deal of respect for what she went through, how she pulled herself out of that.

She is a very inspiring role model for not only women, but for people who are in abusive relationships, and because she created a very small empire or queendom with what she does. People come from all over the world to her restaurant. They send postcards (she gets 25,000 or more), and it's like postcard roulette to get a reservation.

Miss Rumphius is such a lovely story, and it's so simple: that one thing you do can change the lives of so many. I think that is a book that I would love to see everybody reading, no matter what age.

In my music studio, I present every graduating senior with a copy of Miss Rumphius, and charge them with these words: "Go out and do something to make the world a more beautiful place."

And I have students that have gone on to do really amazing things.

What I see in What Do You Do with an Idea? is that when you get the idea it is important to follow it. After it unfolds, you may think "How did I do that?" Ideas have a life of their own.

A good example is when I was fortunate enough to be asked to write Art of the Pie. I could "see" the finished book. All I had to do was walk towards it.

The idea comes to you. Do it for yourself first and if it reaches somebody else, wonderful. It starts with you.

That book is kind of like my life.

I've never had a plan. It's just take the next step and see where it goes. And when presented with a challenge on the path, I think "Oh my gosh, how am I ever going to do this?"

When people ask "What's the most important book for you?" I tell them it's The Little Engine That Could.

This book has been instrumental in helping me to remember that if you have a positive attitude about something, most likely you're going to succeed. It may not be in the way that you thought, but you will succeed, even if the success is putting it down and saying "this is not for me." In some situations, that is a win.

When I had a child of my own, I read it to him and realized how important it is to let children know that if you think you can, then you can.

I wanted books to be important to my son first... before television or videos or anything. He was that last generation before computers, and we would go to the library and come back with boxes of books. When we got home, it was a mad dash to the couch and read read read read.

I've kept a good selection of children's books that were important to us, and hope to sit on the couch with my future grandchildren and read those books together.

It was Helena who introduced me to this book. I could stop and ponder each page and be amazed and blown away.

"This garden is so beautiful" said Tiny Dragon. Big panda nodded. "And we only found it because we went the wrong way so many times."

The reason I can teach is because I have made so many mistakes.

There are so many lessons to learn from it, or you could just take it as a wonderful children's story.

On my business card it says (among other things) "practitioner of kindness.' And you know being a practitioner, you're never an expert. A practitioner is always striving, learning, practicing.

This is another one I look forward to reading with my grandkids. There is kindness in there, and family, and home. Where your home is doesn't matter. It is the people you surround yourself with that make your family. You are very lucky when you find people you can trust and who are who they say there are.

Laurie Colwin is someone I wish that I could have met. I would have loved to sit down at her table because she was someone you just feel you know when you read her essays. It's just like, well, yeah, "We are not worrying about things and it turns out like it's going to turn out, that's how it is, and it's all good." That's what I love about her.

I received a review in the Atlanta Journal Constitution once and it was one of the most amazing experiences just to have my name paired with hers (and other people I consider food luminaries) in writing. It's still overwhelming to me. She's a classic.