Gretchen Craft Rubin

Tolstoy wrote, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This is the statement that inspired bestselling author Gretchen Rubin to wonder whether she could foster an even greater happiness in her home. During The Happiness Project, the same questions kept tugging at her. How can I raise happy children? How can I maintain a tender, romantic relationship with my spouse--after fifteen years of marriage? How do I keep my Blackberry from taking over my private life? How can I foster a well-ordered, light-hearted atmosphere in my house, when no one else will lift a finger to cooperate? This book is Gretchen's account of her second journey in pursuit of happiness. Prescriptive, easy-to-follow, and anecdotal, Happier at Home offers readers a way of thinking and being that is positive and life-affirming. With specific examples following the calendar year, an intimate voice, and drawing from science and pop culture, this book will resonate with anyone looking to strengthen the bonds of family.

Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life

Happier at Home

Gretchen Rubin

Recounts the author's efforts to render her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love, discussing how she experimented with a range of concrete resolutions and came to redefine her views about family, time, and material comforts.

Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life

Melissa Palmer

Book #105 Read in 2013
Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

Following her successful "Happiness Project", Gretchen Rubin begins another project--to make herself happier at home. Each month, she picks an area of focus and plans out tasks to help that area of her life be happier. Most of the things that she implements are simple but things that may be easily overlooked or pushed aside. 

I enjoyed Rubin's writing style. It is honest and thoughtful. She does not sugar coat when she goes off the path of her happiness project and she does not force her thoughts onto others. I have her other book, The Happiness Project, in the TBR pile and hope to get to it soon.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

In the spirit of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place. In The Happiness Project, she worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family's treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster. And what does she want from her home? A place that calms her, and energises her. A place that, by making her feel safe, will free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wants to be happier at home, she wants to appreciate how much happiness is there already. So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicates a school year - September through May - to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort and love. Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions - and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well. With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy and experimentation, Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.

Danica Holdaway

Liked it even better than Happiness Project to be honest! More applicable and very useful for me.

Happier at Home Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life

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