Mood-Boosting Books

There are lots of things I love about England---Jane Austen, London, The Great British Baking Show---but one of the more interesting is the national program of mood-boosting books in England called Reading Well. One in four people will experience a mental health issue at some point in their lives. The program draws on a huge body of research that reading has a strongly positive effect on mood. 

I like the idea of mood-boosting books. Am I certain that there are books that boost my mood? Yes. Am I certain that there are books that boost everyone's mood? I'm not so sure about that.

Nevertheless, when I was given the opportunity to make a list of whatever I want, I decided to share my top ten mood-boosting books.

My Top Ten Mood-Boosting Books

#10 All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

#9 Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico

#8 The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

#7 Life With the Lid Off by Nicola Hodgkinson

#6 A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

#5 Life According to Lubka by Laurie Graham

#4 My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

 #3 Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

#2 Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

#1 The Enchanted April by Elisabeth von Arnim

I've assembled a list of mood-boosting books here and I've added a list of The Best Mood-Boosting Books at Goodreads. To start 2020 off right, I've decided to devote January to reading mood-boosting books that I have not yet read. I will read from this list of books that were recommended as mood-boosting books:

Penguin's Poems for Life

Long Lunch: My Stories and I'm Sticking to Them by Simon Hoggart

All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

A Winter Book by Tove Jansson

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich

Bird Cloud: A Memoir by Annie Proulx

Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

The Rest of Us Just Live There by Patrick Ness

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

A Breath of French Air by H. E. Bates

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Give me your thoughts.

Have you read any of these?

Are there any you would recommend for me that are not on this list?

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.

I Fall in Love with Justice and I Bake a Gazillion Cookies

    

What can I say about Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel that will convince you to read this book?  The videos of Sandel's lectures at Harvard on Justice shared with me by Bonnie of Bonnie's Books added greatly to the experience of reading this book. Are you feeling discouraged about the state of politics in the world? Do you worry that young people are self-involved and hopelessly cut off from important issues? Read this book. It has renewed my hope in the world.

Anything but nonfiction!

(I think I burned myself out on nonfiction during November. I'm going to take a break from it for a while and stick to fiction, I think.)

Here's what I am reading right now:

Poldark: Demelza by Winston Graham

Birds, Beasts and Relatives: The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

I joined the Thankfully Reading Weekend hosted by Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelves. There were no rules to the weekend; we simply planned to devote a good amount of time to reading, and to try to meet some of our reading challenges and goals for the year. I finished three nonfiction books. That's a good reading time.

And, just for fun, I created a Thankfully Reading BINGO game. I offered a $25 gift card to Book Depository to one person who played. I randomly selected Bonnie of Bonnie's Books. It's interesting that Bonnie was chosen as I was feeling so much gratitude to Bonnie for sharing the book and lectures on justice with me; perhaps some of that gratitude seeped into the random selection process.

It's that wonderful time of the year when everybody comes up with a list of favorite books of the year. NPR Books couldn't seem to narrow down its favorites; there are 369 books on NPR Book Concierge.

Have you run across any lists of favorite books of 2019? Share them with me.

I've read 199 out of 222 Cybils picture books and board books. I have 23 books to go. Still busily reading and reviewing picture books....

For our final book club discussion of the year, I decided to wrap a bunch of books and share them with others in the club. 

Let the holiday baking frenzy begin. I baked cookies all day one day, and I still did not finish.

I'm very happy you found your way to the Sunday Salon. I am delighted when you link up here and let us know what you have been doing. I hope you will visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about here:

• 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 are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

My linkup for Sunday Salon is below.

#AMonthofFaves 2019: Popular Books Worth the Hype

I've been disappointed by popular books so many times that I tend to stay away from them. Maybe they are overhyped and I expect too much.

Here are a few popular titles I read this year....

Lucy Knisley is a graphic novelist, and I've never been a fan of graphic novels...though, I think, that has changed greatly in the past couple of years. I'd say that I adore Lucy Knisley's graphic novels, and Kid Gloves, the story of her difficult pregnancy, was one of the best.

A new Bill Bryson book is a cause for celebration, I think. I'm wild about The Body: A Guide for Occupants.

In the kids' book world, you don't get more popular than author Kwame Alexander and illustrator Kadir Nelson. If you haven't checked out the combined efforts of Alexander and Nelson, The Undefeated, you need to.

I don't read a lot of fantasy, but, guys, The Wicked King by Holly Black! Fairies are bad, bad, bad.

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I finally got around to The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (it was first published in 2013). At least I read its 771 pages in time to make it to the movie. I just talked my book club into reading this one next year.

I don't think Where the Crawdads Sing is really worth the hype (I only rated it 3/5 stars) but it has been great fun to talk about it with people that I didn't even realize liked to read.

Finally, let me ask you (no, urge you, plead with you) to read this book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel. Sandel is my new Mister Rogers, my new Mother Teresa. He is a professor at Harvard and his course on Justice is wildly popular all around the world. Promise me you'll at least take a look at the videos from his course, will you?

What popular books do you recommend for me? 

Join this year’s hosts  Girlxoxo and Traveling with T for our annual #AMonthofFaves blog event – a fun way to recap the year that was (Estella’s Revenge is taking a hiatus for this year). We have a schedule of topics planned out, so feel free to join in anytime for some or all of the topics. There will also be a link-up on our blogs so that we can all stop by each other’s posts to leave comments, high fives, good vibes and well wishes.

The Easy College Cookbook: 75 Quick, Affordable Recipes for Campus Life

What sort of a cookbook do you need when you go to college? You have no time. You have no money. You have no skills. You need a cookbook like The Easy College Cookbook by Candace Braun Davidson.

All the recipes are designed to use a minimum number of ingredients with a minimum amount of equipment.

There are sections for a quick breakfast, including recipes for Breakfast Tacos and Peanut Butter and Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits; quick sandwiches and wraps, including recipes for Turkey BLT Wrap and Shortcut Cuban Sandwiches; soups, including recipes for Chicken Tortilla Soup and Broccoli Cheddar Soup; rice, noodles, and pasta, including recipes for Chicken Burrito Bowl and Ridiculously Easy Fried Rice, hearty main dishes, including recipes for Microwave Tamale Pie and Eggplant Mozzarella. There are also recipes for snacks and deserts and salads.

I tried the recipe for Lemon-Garlic Kale Salad.

The kale in my garden looked ready to pick.

LEMON-GARLIC KALE SALAD

For the dressing:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/8 teaspoon salt

For the salad:

1 (10 ounce) package kale, stemmed and torn into bite-size pieces

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

2 carrots, peeled and diced

To make the dressing:

In a jar with a lid, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and salt. Seal the lid and shake vigorously to blend the dressing. Refrigerate the dressing for at least 15 minutes.

To make the salad:

Divide the kale into 2 large bowls. Divide the cheese and carrots between each bowl. If eating right away, drizzle the salads with the dressing and toss to coat.

I picked the kale I needed. Then I removed the stems and broke it into small pieces.

I cut up the carrots.

My sister-in-law had given me lemons from her lemon tree.

I chopped up the garlic and added it to the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.

It was a quick, delicious, and nutritious meal.

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by A Web of Stories. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at A Web of Stories.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

The Best Holiday Reads...Share Yours With Me

My dad and I after we did the Jingle Bell Run in Houston about eight years ago. 

He was only 84 then.

Let me be honest. I know a lot about great holiday reads for kids. (If you need suggestions, take a look here at The Best Read-Aloud Christmas Stories for Children.)

But I know nothing about good holiday reads for grownups. Nothing. I don't think I have ever read one. 

So I'd love it if you would please share your favorites with me in the comments. Or share a link to your post about the best reads. 

Here's the thing: I love wonderful, redemptive stories, but I'm not a fan of sappy or Hallmark. I know, I know, I'm difficult.

Good holiday movie suggestions are welcomed, too.

UPDATE: Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions. Here is what I decided upon:

The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith

A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd

The Christmas Jars by Jason Wright

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.