Because nothing boosts happiness more than a great book, each month, I suggest:
· one outstanding book about happiness or habits
· one outstanding work of children’s or young-adult literature–I have a crazy passion for kidlit
· one eccentric pick–a widely admired and excellent book that I love, yes, but one that may not appeal to everyone
Shop at the wonderful Brooklyn indie WORD, BN.com, Amazon (I’m an affiliate of all three), or your favorite local bookstore. Or visit the library! Drumroll…
An outstanding book about happiness or habits:
Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant
An outstanding children’s book:
The House Without a Christmas Tree by Gail Rock
An eccentric pick:
Forty-one False Starts: Essays on Artists and Writers by Janet Malcolm
Some readers have said that they wished that I’d describe and make the case for my book choices, instead of just providing links. I’ve noticed that many times when someone describes a book to me, I want to read it less. And often, weirdly, the better a book is, the worse it sounds.
Nevertheless, because so many readers have requested it, I’ve decided to give a bit more context for these choices in the book-club newsletter. So if you’d like to know more about why I made these selections, check there. To get that free monthly book-club newsletter, and to make sure you don’t miss any recommendations, sign up here.
In any event, I assure you that, for all the books I choose, I love them; I’ve read them at least twice if not many times; and they’re widely admired.
If you read last month’s recommendations…what did you think? An Autobiography by Anthony Trollope; Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls; Dear Genius by Ursula Nordstrom. So good!
These days, I can’t talk about books without making a pitch for my own forthcoming book, Better Than Before. I love all my books equally, but I do love this book. As I’ve mentioned before: for book publishing these days, pre-orders give a big boost to a book. If you’re inclined to buy Better Than Before, it’s a huge help to me if you order it now. You won’t be charged, of course, until the book ships.
