A Short Guide to a Happy Life
By Anna Quindlen
Copyright 2000
50 pages
I ran across this little book while I was cleaning out a bookcase the other day.
Did I buy it? Was it a gift? Have I had it a long time? Had I read it? I could not answer those questions. I didn't remember the book, and I thought for a time to pitch it with the others that I was sending to the library for their book sale.
On a whim, I dug it out of the pile and set it aside.
I am glad I did.
This is a wonderful little book. I highly recommend it as a gift for a friend, as a little something for someone who is not feeling well, or perhaps for someone who has lost a loved one.
The book has wonderful black and white photos on every other page to illustrate the text. The pictures are of young friends, bicycles on the beach, winter, the moon, etc.
The text is brief. The author talks about her life as split into two times: before her mother passed away (the author was 19 when that happened), and after that milestone event.
She lives her life knowing we are mortal, and that the end is always just around the corner. She believes this makes a difference in the life experience, given when people tend to care about.
Get a life, she says. One that, every day, looks at the view.
Enjoy the simple things. The sunset, the flower, the snowfall. Learn to live, to appreciate the joys of the world.
It is excellent advice.
Sort of a "don't worry, be happy" kind of book. I like it!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great little book. I need to head the advice of "Learn to live, appreciate the joys of the world". Somewhere in the last few years I lost that, but I am slowly trying to recapture that with some of the more simple fun things I do, like spending more fun time with my kids and even blogging again after a long hiatus.
ReplyDeleteSounds like good advice.
ReplyDeleteI have so many books that I wonder where I got them.
I need that book. My life is in two parts. Before my mother died and after. Trying to find happiness again.
ReplyDelete