It's a New Year, So Shall We Try for Happy This Time?

I have 359 books on my Happiness Shelf at Goodreads, and 298 of them I've rated either four or five stars.  

Reading about happiness, you might say, makes me happy.

I've read a lot of books about happiness. Perhaps I'm a bit of a happiness book expert. So I thought I'd share a few with you from my Happiness Shelf.

Some books are obviously on the shelf as a case of What Not to Do. Anna Karenina, for example. If you are interested in becoming happier quickly, I'm not sure it would be in your best interest to read an 864-page book on how to be miserable. So, let's skip Anna.

Some books are just a delight to read. Potato Pants by Laurie Keller is one of them. Though I'm not sure Potato Pants would be delightful for everyone...Maybe strike Potato Pants from your list for right now, but don't forget about silly picture books for a snappy burst of joy.

Let's move on...

If you are wanting some in-depth books about happiness, let me suggest Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the founders of the positive psychology movement, and he's very good at explaining the eight characteristics of the peak experience of flow. Or you might like the very-thorough, well-researched The How of Happiness by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky.  

Perhaps you are just getting started on your happiness journey, and a big tome is too much right now. I'd suggest you start with The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun or the readable 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help that Actually Works by Dan Harris.

I keep some of these books on my shelves at home for some quick mood-boosting: Better Than Chocolate: 50 Proven Ways to Feel Happier; Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm and Focused All Day Long; and the most condensed book of all, Be Happy: A Little Book to Help You Live a Happy Life.

Okay. I think that's about it, though I personally think the world would be a much happier place if everyone would read (and put into action) I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening). Just a thought...Maybe something to keep in mind after we all become a bit happier first.

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.    

Born a Crime

 

You told me it was amazing, but I didn't believe you. Forgive me. I've read too many over-hyped celebrity memoirs, and I thought Born a Crime by Trevor Noah was just another one of them. I was wrong, and you were right. Yes. Amazing.

If you want to venture into the world of great classics and great literary fiction, but you are worried about getting bogged down in pages and pages of text...you might take a look at Great Short Books: A Year of Reading Briefly by Kenneth E. Davis. Davis reads and shares some...well, some Great Short Books (capital letters earned).

What I Finished Last Week:

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by Selma Lagerlöf (1001 Children's Books You Must Read)

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (Nonfiction: Memoir)

Great Short Books: A Year of Reading Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis (Nonfiction: Books-about-Books)

What I'm Reading Now:

Adam Bede by George Eliot (Chapter-a-Day Classic)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Classics Club)

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (Creativity Challenge)

Mistress Masham's Repose by T. H. White (1001 Children's Books You Must Read)

Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg (Creativity Challenge)

Making Comics by Lynda Barry (Creativity Challenge)

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li (Recent Fiction)

Last week I posted here at Readerbuzz:

A Poem a Day: "The Orange"

Eleven Authors I Discovered for the First Time in 2022

The Sunday Salon: Black Cake and Small Things Like These

Friday Book Friends: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

I got out Monday night to hear authors Yiyun Li and Matthew Salesses read from their new books at Inprint in Houston. I will post about their readings later this week.

Happy this series has returned.

Good Thing #1

"I lovu you"

My granddaughter Annie added the second heart 

to my new Back-of-the-Pantry Chalkboard the last time she visited. 

Now I can't bear to erase it.

Good Thing #2

Not a rare bird, I suppose, 

but the first time this little guy was in my backyard:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Good Thing #3

On the wall behind the authors

at the synagogue 

where the author reading was held this week.

I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

• What was your week like?
• Read any good books? Tell us about them.
• What other bookish things did you do? 
• What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. 

☂ Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life ☂ by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Today's Featured Book 

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Genre: Memoir

Published: January 25, 2005

Page Count: 240 pages

Summary: 

How do you conjure a life? Give the truest account of what you saw, felt, learned, loved, strived for? 

For Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the surprising answer came in the form of an encyclopedia. In Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,  she has ingeniously adapted this centuries-old format for conveying knowledge into a poignant, wise, often funny, fully realized memoir.
 
Using mostly short entries organized from A to Z, many of which are cross-referenced, Rosenthal captures in wonderful and episodic detail the moments, observations, and emotions that comprise a contemporary life. Start anywhere—preferably at the beginning—and see how one young woman’s alphabetized existence can open up and define the world in new and unexpected ways.
 
An ordinary life, perhaps, but an extraordinary book.

 

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 was not abused, abandoned, or locked up as a child. My parents were not alcoholics, nor were they ever divorced or dead. We did not live in poverty, or in misery, or in an exotic country. I am not a misunderstood genius, a former child celebrity, or the child of a celebrity. I am not a drug addict, sex addict, food addict, or recovered anything. If I indeed had a past life, I have no recollection of who I was. 

I have not survived against all odds.

I have not lived to tell.

I have not witnessed the extraordinary.

This is my story.

                                                        ---Amy Krouse Rosenthal, age 39

                                                                                                Chicago

                                                                                             June 2004"

                                                          

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice. 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 Freda's Voice and visit others in the linky. 

My Review of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

REVIEW

I've read and reviewed 6,846 books at Goodreads (as of today) and this book is probably #13 or #14 on my list of my very favorite reads ever. I'd give it ten zillion ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩s, if I could. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is a memoir, and it's a kind of a picture book for grownups, and it's a history book for those of us of-a-certain-age, and it's a book that is full of Very Wise Thoughts. 

Amy was actually the Goddess of Creativity...Creativity dripped out of her fingers every time she wrote and it spilled out of her mouth every time she spoke and it surged from her body every time she moved. 

"Make the most of your time here," she told us, almost as if she knew something was in route for her before the doctors did.

So, okay, this isn't much of a review, but, hey, I honestly just lead a rather ordinary life myself. Still, I'd urge you to grab a bit of that life-force that was AKR and read this book. And then watch her little TED talks and view her little videos and you might even read her picture books. And then GO...GO AND MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME HERE.

 

A Little More About Amy Krouse Rosenthal...

Amy died in 2017. She was 51. She had ovarian cancer. She wrote lots of my favorite books including Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life for grownups, but she also wrote lots of my favorite books for children including Little Pea and Yes Day. She also created lots of wonderful interactive celebrations (take a look at some here). I was delighted to meet her several times at author events. Here is the last photo I took of her. She was autographing her most recent book, Textbook Amy Rosenthal:

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.    

January 27th - Feb. 2nd - Do you prefer to read in a quiet or noisy setting? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

That's easy.....VERY, VERY, VERY QUIET. Please do not come into the room and disturb me. There should be no sounds coming from the tv or computer. QUIET. COMPLETELY QUIET.

A Poem a Day: "The Orange"

"Every day is a fresh beginning,

Listen my soul to the glad refrain.

And, spite of old sorrows

Troubles forecasted

And possible pain,

Take heart with the day and begin again..."

                                    ---Susan Coolidge

I decided to celebrate 2023 by starting the day with a poem. 

I read fast. You may know that about me, but you may not know that I like reading fast. But sometimes I do not. 

"At last the secret is out, as it always must come in the end,

The delicious story is ripe to tell to the intimate friend;

Over the tea-cups and in the square the tongue has its desire;

Still waters run deep, my dear, there’s never smoke without fire.

Behind the corpse in the reservoir, behind the ghost on the links,

Behind the lady who dances and the man who madly drinks,

Under the look of fatigue, the attack of migraine and the sigh

There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye..."

                                                                    ---W. H. Auden

Poetry slows me. Poetry makes me zoom in on each word. Poetry entices me to read, and then read again.

"Lying, thinking

Last night

How to find my soul a home

Where water is not thirsty

And bread loaf is not stone

I came up with one thing

And I don't believe I'm wrong

That nobody,

But nobody

Can make it out here alone

Alone, all alone,

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone..."

                                    ---Maya Angelou

There are no cheap words in poetry, no thoughtless spurt of too-sweet icing a-top. Every word counts. 

"When I am an old, old woman I may very well

be living all alone like many another before me

and I rather look forward to the day when I shall have

a tumbledown house on a hill top and behave

just as I wish to. No more need to be proud—

at the tag end of life one is at last allowed

to be answerable to no one. Then I shall wear

a shapeless felt hat clapped on over my white hair,

sneakers with holes for the toes, and a ragged dress..."

                                            ---Kate Barnes

So, then, a poem-ful adventure for the year...

I've compiled my own selection of poems in a Google Doc which I then transformed, after much experimenting, into a little ebook of poems. You might like to take a look here.  

It seems right that I should end this post with a poem, a favorite, "The Orange." Wendy Cope, I hope you will forgive me for sharing it in its entirety. It is, after all, my favorite.

The Orange

"At lunchtime I bought a huge orange

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—

They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park

This is peace and contentment. It's new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all my jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over.

I love you. I'm glad I exist."

                                    ---Wendy Cope

Hey, you, go read some poetry today.

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Create With Joy, Amanda's Books and More, and My Corner of the World.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.