A Short Guide to a Happy Life
by Anna Quindlen
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Book Reviews of A Short Guide to a Happy Life
Book Review: Get a Short Life
Summary: 3 Stars
I read Anna Quindlen's 50 page book in line at the bookstore waiting to check out. I'd picked it up intending to give it as a gift to a high school graduate. Minus about 20 pages for unremarkable, stock, black and white photographs, you have a good length essay about how to get a life. Her wisdom, stemming from her mother's early death, can be culled from an Amazon search of "happiness" books or Basic Bumper Sticker 101. *Live for the moment *Stop and smell the roses *Live each day like it's your last *Appreciate the simple things *Simplify your life *Nobody ever wished they'd spent more time at the office when on their death bedOkay. So what did I do? Did I return the mini sound bite version of how to have a happy life and instead buy the Dali Lama's version or the King James version or what? This is what I did with the 8 bucks I was going to spend on the book. I bought a double-dipped ice cream cone and a bunch of minature yellow roses. I then sent the graduate a check for 50 bucks and we both were very happy with my decision.
I don't know. I still think I might go back and buy a few copies for gifts. Ms. Quindlen has always been one of my favorite writers and this is a darn good essay even if it's all fluffy and marshmellowy and already been done a million other times at a million high school and college graduations across the country.
A final note:I'm going to remember to say on my deathbed,"I wish I'd spent more time at the office."
Book Review: You'll feel GOOD (and feel OVERCHARGED)
Summary: 4 Stars
Anna Quindlen's A Short Guide to a Happy Life has a WONDEFUL message: Get a life. She means a full life, where it's fully understood that the "clock" is ticking. Live and appreciate the beauties of the present...now..rather than having to be jarred into this realization."One day you were walking around worryng about whether you had anything to wear to a party and reminding yourself to buy Kitty Litter or toilet paper," she writes. "And then you were in the shower lathering up, or you were lying on a doctor's table or the phone rang. And your world suddenly divided, as my world did many years ago. It divided into 'before' and 'after.'"
The problem is this: that quote is a decent part of the book.
This book is shockingly short. It's almost like an expanded newspaper column (if you're a fast reader it'll take 5 to 10 minutes to read this). And as thin as it is, some whole pages (in some cases two whole pages) are covered with beautiful photos. So as good as the MESSAGE is -- it IS a good one and wonderfully expressed -- this book can DISAPPOINT because it is shockingly thin in content, even for a thin small book. If you're after a good, QUICK pick-me-up that you can read quickly when times look bleak of you think you're losing yours sense of prorities, this is for you. If you expect a content-heavy book that's more than an expanded newspaper column it is not.
Book Review: You'll feel GOOD (and feel OVERCHARGED)
Summary: 4 Stars
Anna Quindlen's A Short Guide to a Happy Life has a WONDEFUL message: Get a life. She means a full life, where it's fully understood that the "clock" is ticking. Live and appreciate the beauties of the present...now..rather than having to be jarred into this realization."One day you were walking around worryng about whether you had anything to wear to a party and reminding yourself to buy Kitty Litter or toilet paper," she writes. "And then you were in the shower lathering up, or you were lying on a doctor's table or the phone rang. And your world suddenly divided, as my world did many years ago. It divided into 'before' and 'after.'"
The problem is this: that quote is a decent part of the book. This booking is shockingly short. It's almost like an expanded newspaper column (if you're a fast reader it'll take 5 to 10 minutes to read this). And as thin as it is, some whole pages (in some cases two whole pages) are covered with beautiful photos. So as good as the MESSAGE is -- it IS a good one and wonderfully expressed -- this book can DISAPPOINT because it is shockingly thin in content, even for a thin small book. If you're after a good, QUICK pick-me-up that you can read quickly when times look bleak of you think you're losing yours sense of prorities, this is for you. If you expect a content-heavy book that's more than an expanded newspaper column it is not.
Book Review: A little shining gem!
Summary: 5 Stars
This little gem of a book is indeed, a very quick read, but the insightful quotes will leave you feeling uplifted and recharged! The written contents were originally written as a commemorative speech, so those looking for "more" in whatever capacity, will not find it. I found the book to be insightful words of wisdom for graduating seniors, entering the reality of the "real world", yet Quindlen speaks of what is truly "real" as compared to what is forced upon us as real at that tender young and impressionable age.Quindlen speaks of "getting a life. A real life, a full life..." "Learn to be happy. And, think of life as a terminal illness, because, if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived." I believe that her words have more relevant meaning today, after what we, as a country, have been though recently. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans."
This books speaks to one's heart and the things that are truly important, meaningful and heart-felt, when all else fails.
The wonderful quotes are too numerous to mention, but well worth the effort of writing your favorites ones down and hanging them up to remind you to live your life with meaning, depth and joy.
I loved this simple, yet remarkably profound book. It is a gem, very much wanting to be shared with those that you love!
Book Review: Quindlen's Concise Guide
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading the book and then checking the Amazon reviews both pro and con, I must disagree with those who nitpick about the title and/or the premise of the book. Before paying for a book, I make good and sure it will fulfill its promise. That is easily done by thumbing through, reading excerpts from the book, previewing the table of contents and/or index, and deciding a book's content, length, tone, narrative, etc. provide what I'm looking for. To not do so until after paying for the purchase and taking it home, and then to whine about it as was mentioned by at least one reviewer....well, caveat emptor. I bought this book as a gift for family members who are non-readers and not knowlegeable searchers for help and answers to a lot of troubles, upheaval, and uncertainties they are dealing with at present. It was well-received by them, and was read in its short entirety (the title does say it is "short," so that is a strong hint.) This guide seems to be helping them make well-thought-out, informed choices and decisions, and consider the ensuing outcome from their choices and decisions. I can't argue with the positive effect this concise guide has made for them. After all, its content can't be trite or cliched if this is somebody's first exposure to what the book offers.