What's a book that just makes you happy...?

The Tao of Pooh. Btw, Pooh is real. : )

“Idle Days on the Yann” by Lord Dunsany is not a book but a short story. It takes me into a different world that contains many beautiful and surprising things. The story is full of a variety of emotions, wonder, fear, curiosity and happiness at being alive. I couldn’t think of a non fiction title.

It’s fiction, but The Graveyard Book is wonderful, and oddly, a feel-good book.

I love the book ” French Dirt” http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1565123522 It’s about a man who goes to Provence, rents an old country house and decided to grow a vegetable garden. The book is the story of that garden but also the people he meets and gets to help him with his garden. It had a sweet humor to it. Its a jewel of a book. I never tire of reading it and it makes me feel happy by reminding me of the beauty of simple things.

Starsky & Hutch annual circa 1978.

Good Poems for Hard Times, edited by Garrison Keillor.

A snippet from the Amazon review:

” .. a batch of consoling, rousing, and truthful poems guaranteed to raise flagging spirits or to inspire those in need of a dose of wisdom or honesty.

“But these poems are not about suffering. They’re intended to reach us and stricken friends by holding out a picture of the grace of ordinary life”.

”...beautifully worded, and accessible. They’re not highbrow. They’re not stuffy. But when hard times send us skidding into the meridian, the poems collected here are what we need them to be:..”

I really like Old School. It’s one of those semi-autobiagraphical coming of age novels and I just adore the honest, but loving way it recounts the struggle of a highschool boy define himself and achieve excellence through his writing. Writing that’s still hopelessly derivative and naive.

It reminds me that we all start small and that it is our enthusiasm and commitment that will help us achieve greatness. And also that if you fuck up it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.

The Winnie the Pooh books by A.A.Milne

Augusten Burroughs (“Running with Scissors” and others I haven’t read) has just come out with a most entertaining, hardheaded self-help book called “This Is How”. Witty but pushy. Really, really, really sensible. And fun.

@fundevogel I loved the movie This Boy’s Life though I never read the book. I think I may have to read Old School. I know Tobias Wolff is a friend and mentor of Mary Karr who wrote Liar’s Club one of my favorite memoirs.

@Earthgirl I saw This Boy’s Life ages ago but I don’t remember much of it. I do have a copy of the book on my shelf waiting for my attention. It’s like getting the story for the first time all over :) I think Wolff is a professor at one of the NorCal universities and I’ve heard he has a reputation for being an excellent mentor. Haven’t read any of Karr’s works though.