A Short Guide to a Happy Life
"I'm not particularly qualified by profession or education to give  advice and counsel," confesses author Anna Quindlen, as she begins this tender  little instruction book. "It's widely known in a small circle that I make a mean  tomato sauce, and I know many inventive ways to hold a baby while nursing,  although I haven't had the opportunity to use any of them in years."It is precisely this commonplace form of wisdom that make readers trust and  respect Quindlen. She uses her candid, heart-to-heart narrative voice along with  her novel-writer descriptive skills to show readers how good we have it: "Life  is made up of moments, small pieces of mica in a long stretch of glittering gray  cement." Later she urges readers to "Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in  the backyard with the sun on your face." The format smacks of "gift book," with  an abundance of pleasing, artsy photographs. Don't be ashamed to fall for the  packaging, though. This is one of those books that could remain in the living  room for years or in the family for generations.--Gail Hudson