The Happiness Project (Pippa James)

Sometimes I need a break from all the psychological thrillers I tend to read, so I was excited to pick up Pippa James's The Happiness Project. I was looking forward to an uplifting novel about characters who are beginning their own paths to happiness. While this IS what the book is about, I found myself not very uplifted at the end.

Alison, Kate, and Frankie are our three main characters on this growth journey. All have either a boyfriend or husband and children but feel they need something more in their lives outside of that. Alison gets the ball rolling on New Year's Eve by suggesting they begin a Happiness Project to get out of their comfort zones and begin living life to the fullest.

This all sounds great on paper, but I think there are two main problems with this story that I found. First, the Happiness Project itself is really only mentioned a few times throughout, mostly at the beginning. Even though these characters are supposedly on this experience together, there are not many checkpoints along the way. Because of this, the title of the book seems oddly out of place.

The other issue I had was with Kate's thin character development. Alison and Frankie both scored major accomplishments, but Kate started out as a doormat and remained one. It's great to be a wonderful wife, mother and friend, but when one of your "friends" treats you poorly (namely Natalie), and you don't eventually tell her off, the reader is left unsatisfied. Which is, unfortunately, how I felt about The Happiness Project.

MY RATING -2

The Gratitude Diaries (Janice Kaplan)

A few years ago, I watched a really inspirational TED talk delivered by Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast.  In this talk, Steindl-Rast says that we have it all wrong in our constant desire to obtain happiness.  If we want to be happy (and who doesn’t?), we need to be grateful -- it’s as simple as that.

In Janice Kaplan’s The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life, the author sets out on a quest to not only research gratefulness but to also actually “be” grateful.  Instead of focusing on negativity throughout the day, she would turn all her attention to being grateful for the people in her life and the things she had.  This book is so relatable to a large percentage of the population; I found myself nodding my head in agreement and understanding quite a few times.  I also liked how the author interviewed a wide range of people, including those who stayed grateful in the face of tragedy and hardship.

I would put The Gratitude Diaries right up there with Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project to lift your spirits when you’re down.  It’s well researched and inspirational, and for many, will be life-changing.

MY RATING - 4

Better Than Before (Gretchen Rubin)

Let me count the ways I love Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.  Never mind -- there are just too many to list.  I reread it every January, and while I don't follow it to the letter, it inspired me to begin my own project.  It's scary how much of Rubin's writing resonates with me, so I was excited to devour Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives.

We all have our habits, and in Rubin's latest, she has meticulously studied how they develop, based on our personality tendency.  How do we change our habits if they're not good for us or we outgrow them?  How do we stick to them if we do nothing but look for loopholes to get out of them?  Rubin uses herself, her family, and friends to test her theories, thereby helping readers with thorough research and a doable framework.

While not quite as inspiring as The Happiness Project, I still felt better about myself after reading Better Than Before.  I have quite a few habits that I know aren't good for me (planning absolutely everything and not liking any spontaneity in my life is the biggest); with Rubin's well-researched book, I feel like positive change is totally in reach.

MY RATING - 4

Julie & Julia (Julie Powell)

This book did not get the best reviews, but I wanted to read it for myself before I decided its fate. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams deemed it worthy enough to star in the movie with the same name, so it must be enjoyable, right? Eh.

I am always intrigued by people who do something like this...AKA having a "Project". In this case, Julie Powell decides that, to take respite from her everyday life (you know...the job, everything going wrong in the apartment, etc.), she will cook her way through Julia Child's masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in one year. She will also begin writing about her cooking escapades in a blog. Julie & Julia is the story of that year.

If you are thinking that this book is exactly like the movie, think again. The producers of the movie told the story of Julia Child much more than this book did. To me, the most enjoyable part of the movie was Meryl Streep's interpretation of Child. In the book, Powell just includes excerpts of letters that Paul Child wrote about his wife. However, in Powell's defense, the movie and book are based on HER project, so she can do what she wants.

While laugh-out-loud funny at times and absolutely adventurous at others (I give Powell all the credit for even thinking about cooking kidneys, brains, and bone marrow.), Powell never, ever holds back her thoughts. She rips on everyone who she does not share viewpoints with, from her employer, to a specific political party, to her mom. I am all for refreshing honesty, but sometimes she goes too far (in a published book, anyway). However, I admire Powell for having the guts to do something like this. My husband says I should cook my way through the Barefoot Contessa's cookbooks. Maybe some day. Thanks for the inspiration, Julie Powell.

MY RATING - 3

The Happiness Project (Gretchen Rubin)

To be published 12/29/09...

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love a great self-help book. There are a plethora of these titles in any bookstore, and unfortunately, many of them are just too abstract for the everyday person. What makes The Happiness Project so wonderful is that anyone can relate. Who doesn't want to be happy?

One year, Gretchen Rubin decides to forego the specific New Year's resolutions that so many of us break by January 3rd. Eat right, exercise more, watch less TV, blah, blah, blah. Instead, she decides that she wants to become happier. To accomplish this, she decides on 12 specific areas where she would like to become happier in her life, and then sets mini-goals for herself each month. For example, the area to be happier in May is "Leisure". Rubin's goals in May are find more fun, take time to be silly, go off the path, and start a collection.

I found myself laughing, nodding my head with understanding, and "Ah-hah-ing" at almost every page. I found the month about contemplating the heavens to be most profound. To be happier, read memoirs of catastrophe?? Yes, if you want to be happy with and appreciate what you have, read the diaries of people who have just been diagnosed with cancer or survived a plane crash. Maybe the little things in life (Why isn't he going the speed limit?) won't bother you as much.

Journal writing is way too overwhelming for me to do each day. Rubin suggests a one-sentence journal, where you write one thing that happened that day that you never want to forget. It's the little things like these that make this book joyous to read and makes you think about starting your own happiness project. Don't worry, be _____.

MY RATING - 5

This review can also be found on http://www.bookloons.com/.