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

Or my favorite, visit the library! In fact, for my second episode of “A Little Happier” — the new 2-minute mini-episodes of my podcast I’m doing each week — I talked about how much I love going to the library. Listen here.

For all the books I choose, I love them; I’ve read most of them at least twice if not many times; and they’re widely admired.  Drumroll…

A book about happiness, good habits, or human nature:

First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You by Ann Demarais and Valerie White

An outstanding children’s book:

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

An eccentric pick:

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris by Leanne Shapton

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.