The Happiness Project: Or, 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 like this book because it is funny, interesting, informative, and furthermore informative in a way which I find extremely helpful in my every day life. Really, any book that mentions "Read Aristotle" right next to "Have More Fun" was likely to get me. Gretchen Rubin spent an entire year trying out something like sixty new-year's-resolutions to see which, if any, had an effect on her happiness. The very thought of someone doing this makes me feel exhausted, and yet as I read her account of her adventures, I felt encouraged and uplifted and perhaps even a little challenged: if she could have a happiness project, surely I could. So I have-- I am-- and while I haven't taken as many of her ideas for myself as you might think, this was still a very good read, and also a very good conversation starter.

Stalling for Time by Gary Noesner

Gary Noesner was not only the FBI's chief hostage negotiator for many years, but he was also a major player in developing their hostage negotiation progarm, period. Thus, he not only gives a lucid description of what makes for a good negotiation (stall for time, tell the truth, have firepower backing you up but not going in first)-- he also tells where this stuff comes from, mostly in the form of stories. (He doesn't never lie, by the way. It's just that he does so very, very rarely.) He also gives a believeable description of what happened-- what went wrong-- both at Ruby Ridge and at Waco. I've been waiting for that explanation for a while, mostly because these sorts of domestic problems (Waco, Columbine, OK City bombing) have happened  happen right around my birthday, in April. The writing is not always what I'd pick-- it sometimes feels a bit hodge-podgey to me-- but for the information it offers (not to mention the excellent storytelling) I found it well worth the read.

You Don't Have to be Rich by Jean Chatzky

I could say that the title says it all-- and it very nearly does-- but I will add a couple of things that make this one of my favorite finance books.

Jean Chatzky had been a "personal finance expert" for some time when 9/11 happened, and many people-- including herself-- began to wonder about what really makes us happy, and whether money has anything to do with it at all, after 9/11 happened. Happily, she had the resources to find out: she commissioned a money-and-happiness survey, the results of which she explicates in this book.

It turns out that, though not having enough money can make you sad, money beyond a certain point doesn't make you happier. Also, there was a list of financial habits which, if you kept several of them, can make a little money seem like a lot more. (The ones I can remember off the top of my head are paying bills as they come in rather than in one bill-paying session, and being organized enough that you can find the financial documents you need within about ten minutes of looking.)

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about this book is the fact that, while she does give some potential explanations for Why These Things Are So, she doesn't focus on them. She just focuses on how to help her readers have a relationship with money that doesn't cause them pain and does, to the extent it can, bring happiness.

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This book - and this entire series - is a lovely portrait of life in the late 1800's - I am struck, each time I read it, with how much detail of daily life it has. Simply laid out to appeal to even a very young listening audience, I've found it good reading-aloud material for all ages. It's about a girl, but I've found boys to be as interested in the accounts of panthers and bears and household chores (making bullets, butchering pigs) as any girl I've ever known. And really worth re-reading. It is, technically, fiction; my best guess, given the level of detail, (and the difference between the earlier books, which she fully edited, and the last, published after she died, without said editing) that she smoothed over some of the difficulties of family life - but the everydayness of frontier life seems to be accurate (as would details of life in the late 1900's in any book someone my age would write, as the audience would spot discrepancies immediately). Delightful, excellent, and repeatedly re-visitable.

Le Petit Nicolas by Sempé

I first met this book, as so many who have read it did, in a class - I am happy to say it didn't ruin the experience for me. It is one of the most delightful books ever, simple enough to follow even with first-year french, with ideas complex enough to amuse adults who get dragged into reading them for whatever reason. The English translations are also very fun, but if you have even a smattering of French, I strongly recommend trying the original. The chapters are short, complete stories in themselves, and written as if from the viewpoint of a schoolboy (Nicolas) who constantly gets into trouble of one sort or another - along with all of his friends. Excellent for dusting off French from ages back, or for reading to children (in French or in English, whichever is appropriate).

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Another favorite from my childhood, this has been easier than some of the others (Andy Buckram's Tin Men) to find for my children to enjoy. Delightful for elementary age on up: Well-written, good to read aloud, and a lovely episodic plot with a delightful overarching storyline. Highly recommended.

Vegetable Heaven By Mollie Katzen

Another of my favorite cookbooks; probably my favorite recipes from it are "Firecracker Red beans," "Baked Pineapple Pilaf," and a mixed grain dish I forget the name of but that we all call 'birdseed,' because it's made mostly of millet - very tasty.