The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, etc... (Gretchen Rubin)

Why I have this book: I borrowed it from the e-book library because my friends' book club is reading it and I sometimes read what they are reading.

To be honest, if the book hadn't been available to borrow, I wouldn't have read it. I had read a lot of reviews about it when it first came out and I was negatively influenced by the one-star reviews. I was pretty sure I was not going to like this book (or the author) at all, but since I didn't have to shell out a dime to read it, I figured I would give it a try. The premise of the book was intriguing to me.

So... I pretty much loved this book. Oh, I have a few critical opinions... like, in the first part of the book I kept thinking that maybe she didn't need to be quite so honest. I thought she was a little harsh in sharing some of her frustrations about her husband. The whole "Just because you CAN say something doesn't mean you SHOULD" idea, ya know? But as the book went on, I realized she was more than fair on sharing her own shortcomings and gave her husband plenty of credit for putting up with her.

Also... big words. So glad I was reading this on my Kindle so I could highlight and find definitions for a lot of the words she used. I don't think I'm a dumb person... I think (or thought!) I'm fairly well-read. (Ignore my overabundance of Christian/Amish lit and just know that I have read plenty of "difficult" books before I started this blog. Haha!) But her reading choices for her various areas of study and the words she used... Well, she definitely runs in a more intellectual circle than I do. (I found myself wondering if she kept looking things up in a thesaurus or if she really talks like that in normal life.)

At the end of her book, she lists the books she read in her research on "happiness." I didn't really agree with her selection of Anna Karenina as a choice for "Some of My Favorite Novels About Happiness." I mean, obviously that's her list and she can put any book she wants on it. But that was one of the most depressing books I ever read! Did I miss something? On the other hand, her choice of Elizabeth and Her German Garden is one I can agree with...

Now that I've read the book, I would (and just might) buy it. I highlighted a lot of her thoughts and have new ideas of books to read and things to think about. I found her personality to be similar to mine (speaking mostly of weaknesses) and sometimes I found myself smiling because I could relate to her experiences. Her husband and family sounds great, too, and even though they live a completely different lifestyle than I ever will (or would want to), I found myself connecting with her on many levels.

Clean. There may have been one swear word, but I'm not even sure about that.