More than 20 writers and musicians have told Christian Retailing what resources from others have most touched their lives recently, for a special guide for retailers.

Novelist Colleen Coble (Cry in the Night, Thomas Nelson), said that Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore (Thomas Nelson) had been "life-changing." The book "made me stop and take stock of my life and how I'm interacting with others. Too often we make snap judgments about other people, and it affects how we treat them.

"I think everyone in the country should read it. I can see why it's been on the best-seller list so long."

Same Kind of Different As Me was also recommended by fiction writer Brandilyn Collins (Exposure, Zondervan), who said: "You will be a better person for having read this book."

For Margaret Feinberg (The Sacred Echo, Zondervan), Andy Crouch's Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (IVP Books/InterVarsity Press) is "brilliant-in thought, pen and design ... while it's intelligent and well-spoken, it's still accessible."

Others contruibuting their picks include Francesca Battistelli, Rob Bell, Ray Comfort, Shaunti Feldhahn and Gloria Gaither.

Read the full list of recommendations in the July 6 issue of Christian Retailing.