July's book club book was The
Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the
Morning, Cleaning My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle and Generally
Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin. I read it on my iPhone while
pumping. I spend a lot of my day pumping. I was prepared to dislike this
book -- probably because I think [or thought?] that the American
obsession with happiness leads people to be disingenuous and out of
touch with themselves and with those around them. I think my mind has
been changed. I had also been feeling kind of low about various current
events and it's easy to come up with things to complain
about when one has a sick daughter.
So perhaps I've read
this book at the perfect time. [Side note: I'm not sure how to refer to Iris -- she's not exactly sick, since that implies some acute illness. She has some disorders? developmental problems? Not sure how to say it.]
By the end I was convinced of a few
things: 1) it is pretty difficult to be happy and the pursuit of
happiness should generally be applauded; 2) a happy person spreads
happiness to others and spreading happiness is one of the best
contributions an individual can make.