Happiness Project

The Happiness Project: Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun By Gretchen Rubin

I was actually pretty excited for this book. I'm definitely a goal driven person and I love any inspiration for self improvement and resolutions. This book seemed a lot like my 12 month improvement plan I've tried to do a few times but she actually stuck through all 12 months. Maybe I need to write a book in order for me to stick to mine.

I liked that I had some things in common with Gretchen Rubin. We like the same parenting books. We're both working moms with two kids. We both like books etc. and I felt a certain kinship with her in the beginning. The second chapter on love was my favorite. I definitely felt inspired to work on my family relationships. The six second hug seemed like a great idea to me.

Then I started to get a little bored. Maybe I've read too many analytical books lately. By the fifth chapter I started to get a tiny bit annoyed everytime she said "and reasearch says that blah blah blah." The notes by her blog readers were pretty uninteresting to me and I started just skipping them. It's like reading someone's blog and then feeling the need to read all of the comments- I never feel the need. I usually don't read the blog to hear what all of the readers think. By the time I got to chapter eight she had just about lost me entirely. I raced through the last few chapters mostly because I hate to leave a book unfinished. I suppose that's part of "being One Fish."

I don't get the bluebird collection at all. Collecting crap just to have a collection. Not appealing at all- but then I have collections that are meaningful to me and have never needed to be forced. Her spiritual endeavors just seemed kind of forced.

Overall the book was decent. I loved the beginning and disliked the end. I appreciate the idea that moving forward in small ways will always make you a better, happier person. I completely believe that. It should make for an interesting discussion in bookclub.

I'm a little worried that I chose Outliers for next month just because it is another analytical book.