Happiness Is…a Good Book. So, a New Feature! a Book Club!

My favorite thing to do is to read. In fact, reading and writing are practically the only activities I truly love. Which is a bit sad, but true. Because I love reading so much, nothing makes me happier than recommending terrific books-so I'm starting a book club.

At the end of every month, I'll post a list of three suggested books.

  • One outstanding book about happiness.

  • One outstanding work of children's or young-adult literature. I have a crazy passion for kidlit.

  • One eccentric pick. This is a book that I love, but freely admit may not be for everyone.

However, here's the thing: 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 when someone tries to describe it.

So I won't describe these books, but I make you this promise: I love every book I recommend; I've read it at least twice if not many times; and it's widely loved and respected. So…I'm saying, just take my word for it! These books are really good.

I'll post these recommendations here, or if you want to make sure you don't miss them, sign up for the monthly Book Club newsletter. (Also, if you sign up soon, I'm offering a little surprise in the mail for book-club subscribers who pre-order Happier at Home.)

If you'd like to comment on the books, post here, and I'll also ask for comments on these books next month. That way we can have a conversation about them.

So here are my recommendations! Shop at the wonderful Brooklyn indie WORD, BN.com, Amazon (I'm an affiliate of all three), or your favorite local bookstore.

An outstanding book about happiness: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. A world classic.

An outstanding children's/young adult book: The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars. A perfect book.

An eccentric pick: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. It doesn't matter if you never read comics or graphic novels (I don't).

If you'd like to hear me speak briefly about these books, check out this (very short) video.

Blatant self-promotion: My new book, Happier at Home, comes out in September. Read an excerpt here; pre-order here (pre-orders give a big boost to a book, so if you're inclined to buy it, pre-ordering now is a big help to me).

Happy reading!

Also ...

  • It's always fun to poke around on Gimundo--"good news...served daily"--to see what's there.

  • Join my new book group! Sign up so you never miss a recommendation.