Make Life Happier: 23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning, and Make a Difference by Mark Williamson: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

            

Today's Featured Book: 

Make Life Happier:

23 Practical Ways to Feel Better, Find Meaning, and Make a Difference

by Mark Williamson

Genre: Nonfiction

Published: 2026

Page Count: 392 pages

Summary: 

This book offers 23 practical ways to make life happier. It's based on evidence from the latest scientific research combined with unique insights from the author plus proven ideas that he has helped thousands of people to adopt successfully in their everyday lives.

It goes much deeper than typical self-help advice, covering a wide range of themes which contribute to lifelong wellbeing. Crucially, the book combines actions you can do to improve your own happiness with actions that benefit others too. The first part covers self-care themes such as mindfulness, optimism, self-acceptance, goals and purpose. The second part covers relational themes, including listening, vulnerability, forgiveness and community.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

I'm not a happiness gury and this book can't change your life.

So why am I writing it---and why should you keep reading?

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

Despite good intentions, I really struggle with my tech use and often find myself staring at a screen instead of being there for my kids, listening to someone, enjoying a meal, or noticing my surroundings. 

Mark Williamson is the CEO and host of the British series, Action for Happiness. He was trained as an engineer, and he applies hard science to ways to find more happiness in our lives. 

I'm a huge fan of Action for Happiness and I wanted to read this book so much that I pre-ordered the book from Great Britain last April and I've been reading it ever since.

I've listened to a couple of dozen speakers on happiness at the Action for Happiness website, I've taken the six-week Happiness Habits course, and I download the monthly happiness calendar to point me in the right direction each day. 

The official book launch in US and Canada will be later, so the book isn't currently on Amazon or other stores here. These British retailers ship internationally, so please order here instead: Blackwell's or Waterstones.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

How do you decide which books to highlight on your blog? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

I highlight books I love and want to share with others. 

  

Books with Handwriting on the Cover

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.   

 

The Sunday Salon: Chicken Sitting

 

Welcome! We are so glad that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

I am spending the week up in East Texas with my daughter-in-law's aunt, Susie, taking care of chickens while my son and his family take a vacation to Nashville. To give me strength and courage while trying to care for 200 chickens (last time we did this, Susie fell and I got pecked by a mean rooster), I'm wearing my Texas chicken earrings my daughter-in-law and son gave me.

Please forgive me for not visiting your blog this week. I promise to catch up when I get back home next week!

What I Read Last Week:

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Nonfiction)

The Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (Children's Fiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim (Fiction)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: My Library Card Collection, Nine 1001 Children's Books Read, and Ready for the 20 Books of Summer

Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1, 2, and 3:

I plan to follow the Joyful June calendar every day this month.

Day 1 is "Decide to look for what is good every day this month." Yes!

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

                  

Today's Featured Book: 

The Good Earth

by Pearl S. Buck

Genre: Fiction

Published: 1931

Page Count: 356 pages

Summary: 

First published in 1931, ''The Good Earth'' by Pearl S. Buck, set in early 20th-century China, is the famous and memorable saga following the life of Wang Lung. It portrays an authentic, detailed picture of Chinese life and follows Wang Lung from a humble farmer to a prosperous landowner, highlighting themes of class mobility, family struggles, and the importance of the land.
Key themes include marriage, parenthood, human emotions, reverence for the land, and the conflict between old and new ways of life.

The novel won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and contributed to Buck receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

It was Wang Lung's marriage day.

Buck, Pearl S.. The Good Earth Trilogy: The Good Earth, p. 1. Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

The old man slept day and night, and ate what was given him and there was still strength in him to creep about the dooryard at noon when the sun was warm. He was more cheerful than any of them and he quavered forth one day in his old voice that was like a little wind trembling among cracked bamboos, 

“There have been worse days—there have been worse days. Once I saw men and women eating children.” 

“There will never be such a thing in my house,” said Wang Lung, in extremest horror.

Buck, Pearl S.. The Good Earth, p. 56. Kindle Edition. 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

What’s the quirkiest or most unexpected place you’ve ever read a book, and why? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

A cornfield.

 

Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read

No judgment, please. These are books I should have read. But I have not. If there is something on this list that you loved or if there is something you hated, please share your thoughts in the comments. If you have never read these either, I'd appreciate any commiseration you can offer. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.