Happiness Is In Your Hands

Gretchen Rubin had a problem.  She had a great life, a loving family, and excellent health, and yet she wasn’t truly happy.  It wasn’t that Rubin was particularly unhappy; she just didn’t have the joy and contentment in her everyday life that she would have expected. After taking a hard look at her life, Rubin realized the power of happiness lay in her own hands, and “The Happiness Project” was born. Using authors, philosophers, researchers, and even pop culture, Rubin developed a year-long plan to see if changing her attitudes could change her life.

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 details Rubin’s journey through a year of self-exploration.  She begins by developing twelve resolutions for her life, based on the thirteen virtues of Benjamin Franklin. These include everything from “lightening up” to being herself, and to make the project manageable, Rubin addresses one resolution per month.  Under each resolution, Rubin’s pathway to happiness includes everything from money management (money really can buy happiness, within reason) to cleaning out clutter, to parenting, using practical advice as well as scientific research to back up her theories.

One of the most appealing aspects of The Happiness Project is that despite her best efforts, Rubin is not always, in fact, happy. Her willingness to detail her setbacks (such as yelling at her young children or fighting with her husband) as well as her successes makes the book more accessible.  Knowing that Rubin stumbles and falls, just like the rest of us, makes her seem less like an author and more like the woman behind you in line at the grocery store.

For those wanting more information, The Happiness Project offers a supplemental reading list as well as a list of resources through Rubin’s website, www.happiness-project.com. The website includes free downloads, tips and quizzes, and links to Rubin’s Facebook page for anyone wishing to join a “happiness group.” Rubin recently published a follow-up book as well, entitled Happier at Home.

 Although I am not quite ready to start my own happiness project, I decided to try one suggestion right away: creating order in chaos. There were plenty of areas in my house to choose from. I spent a long, tiresome afternoon sorting through papers, books, and general detritus in my living room. Following Rubin’s lead, I sorted items into things I couldn’t live without and things to be given or thrown away.  Rubin mentions throughout the book that often the activities that make you the happiest, oddly, don’t make you happy at the time you are actually doing them.  That was certainly true of my cleaning project, even though it was only one afternoon.  But the satisfaction and feeling of empowerment from just that one job took me into the next week feeling refreshed and, well… happy.

Hey.... Remember Me?

It's been a long, long 4 months.  As I write this, I am hanging my head in embarrassment - no blog entries, no book reviews, not even a word since July? Really?

I promise I didn't forget you.  Its not that I haven't been writing. I'm including a link to my recent book reviews in one of our local publications, to help make up for my lack of entries here. I really do have lots to write about - I just haven't taken the time to .... ahem... actually write.

But with the winter closing in, it's reading time, my favorite time of year to snuggle down on the couch and grab a book. This is one of the best seasons for  new releases, too, so there's lots of new stuff out there.

Don't hold your breath but maybe, just maybe, I can start writing some reviews again too.


Here are a few reviews from over the summer and early fall:

The Fault in Our Stars

Broken Harbor

Hot Summer Reads

Deadlocked

Long before True Blood was a twinkle in an HBO executive's eye, there was just plain Sookie Stackhouse, heroine of the Southern Vampire mysteries. Starting with Dead Before Dark more than a decade ago, Charlaine Harris' novels quickly became fan favorites; the writing was clever, the characters intriguing, and Sookie's unassuming charm was delightful.   

Eleven books later, Harris' latest installment, Deadlocked, finds us once again with the cast of characters in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie's vampire boyfriend, Eric, has had an unfortunate incident at his mansion involving a desperate young woman, illicit fairy blood, and an untimely death.   Eric is being framed for murder, but no one seems know why.   As if that weren't enough, weighing heavily on Sookie's mind is the magical "cluviel dor," left to her by her beloved Gran, which can grant the owner one very powerful wish.

The storyline of Deadlocked is clever, and the characters as comfortable as an old sweater.  Harris' writing is fun and engaging. But unlike in earlier books, Sookie is tired. From the opening pages to the bitter end, Sookie is simply exhausted, both physically and emotionally.  In her many adventures, Sookie has seen it all - more supernatural creatures than you can count, her heart broken and broken again, and numerous attempts on her life. But through everything, Sookie has maintained her spunky spirit and eternal optimism- until now.

In Deadlocked, Sookie spends much of her time either sleeping or wishing she was in bed, and not for the reasons we have come to expect in Harris' novels.  By the end of the novel, the mystery is solved but poor Sookie is just too exhausted to care.

Don't get me wrong - Harris' books are always a fun, quirky ride with a great cast of characters.  Especially if you are already a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books, Deadlocked is a good installment, but it is far from Harris' best.  With everything she's been through, Sookie is going to need a nice, long vacation.

The Witness

I have long been a fan of Nora Roberts.  OK, that's kind of an understatement.  I have read every book she has ever written, and lest you think that hardly makes me a "fan," she has officially published her 200th book, The Witness.  I started reading her Silhouette Romance stories while I was in college - and now, more than 20 years later, I am still reaching for her latest novel as soon as it arrives.

The Witness, as her 200th book, has a lot to live up to.  From her contemporary romances and beloved trilogies to her pseudonym J.D. Robb's futuristic mysteries, Nora has written lots of really enjoyable books.  But The Witness is a cut above the rest.  And if I can be so bold as to call myself an "authority" on Nora's books, I will say that it's her best book.  Not just this year. Or this decade.  Ever.

The Witness is the story of innocent, brilliant Elizabeth Fitch, who, after a fight with her stringent and domineering mother, has herself a nice, ear-piercing, hair dyeing, fake-ID-making rebellion.  She winds up at a club with an acquaintance from school and what starts out as the night of her life turns to tragedy, as Elizabeth witnesses two brutal murders and must run for her life.

Fast forward 12 years, and Elizabeth, now known as Abigail, is living a solitary life in rural Alabama, miles away from the nightmares of her youth.  But secrets can only stay buried for so long, particularly when there is a very persistent (and attractive) chief of police in town.  Soon Abigail is fighting again for both her life and her freedom.

Abigail is one of Roberts' better developed characters in recent memory.  Her intellect, combined with a total lack of social skills, make her a different type of heroine than Roberts typically creates.  As always, Roberts draws her characters with charm and a delightful understanding of human nature.  Abigail has had years of isolation, on the heels of a childhood devoid of love but filled with criticism, and at the time she meets Chief of Police Brooks Gleason, she has never even been told the words "I love you."  Part of the pleasure of this story is watching Abigail learn what it means to be part of a family, and how to love and be loved. 

Nora Roberts' consistently delivers good fiction, but this is the first book in a long time where I sat back and sighed at the end.  If you are looking for an exciting and well-written book to kick off your summer, look no further than The Witness.  Happy reading!
 

April Fool's Day!

I have to hang my head a little when I make this confession. I haven't updated my blog because, well... I haven't been reading, at least nothing that I felt I could write about.  You see, my reading has recently been much like my junk food diet of tortilla chips and gummy bears: tasty but not satisfying.  Don't get me wrong - there is definitely a time and a place for "fluff" reading, but just like gummy bears, after a while you start to realize that there is something missing in your diet.

My reading in the past month has included the following: multiple issues of People and Entertainment Weekly, the first two books in the Shades of Grey trilogy (because clearly, the first book was not enough), various other romances, and the latest J.D. Robb futuristic mystery.  I took a short break from my junk food diet and read Colum McCann's  lovely Let the Great World Spin, and thank heavens I did - I might have gotten the book version of scurvy.

There's really no talking myself out of this, but fortunately, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I finally have a few new things on my nightstand that I'm excited about.  Hopefully my next entry will find me back to a healthy diet of literature - mixed in with the "treats" that I so enjoy.