June Book - Happier at Home

Lex's Review

     I definitely enjoyed reading Happier at Home this past month! I found that it was especially easy to read in sections or even subsections, which was helpful seeing as June was a busy month for me. Gretchen Rubin's writing style resonates particularly well with me as she easily holds my attention by juggling personal stories, data from studies and facts, and her own thoughts on happiness. Having previously read her other book, The Happiness Project, I found that Happier at Home was a good extension of her project and thoughts on achieving happiness in all aspects of life. I particularly enjoyed reading about how Gretchen was able to make changes in her home to help her find the happiness she was looking for, and I found myself taking notes on things that I want to change or implement to make myself and my husband happier in our home. I'm a big proponent of books that encourage action and educate, so I would likely recommend this to a friend or reread this in the future!

Andy's Review:

     The Happiness Project (paired with Rubin's blog) has held a place at the tippy-top of my favorite books for the last few years.  Happier at Home continues Rubin's search to create a contented life. I've recently moved house back to my home town, and the advice about establishing a soothing, safe environment was very helpful. The chapters are an excellent blend of age-old guidance, personal research, and relevant anecdotes. 

     I will say that I enjoyed her former book more. Something about The Happiness Project fueled me to create changes in my own life and focus on becoming a more well-rounded, happy person. While this text still inspired and gave me a good deal to think about, it was less compelling and read a little slower. Still, though. A good, good read. The line that has stuck to my brain most comes from page 124, a chapter in which Rubin is focusing on "Interior Design", or renovating herself: 

"By giving myself limits, I give myself freedom." 

     (If you only have a few minutes to browse it, I recommend most highly the chapters called "Interior Design", "Time", and "Now".) 

Did you read it this month, too? Or have you read it in the past? What did you like or dislike about the book?

July's book is A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel.

"When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period–people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards. 

Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy."

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