Author: christinestaffa

My life's journey has taken me from the streets of New York, up the Hudson Valley, to a little goat farm under Vermont's highest mountain.

Book Corner 2022.33

Happier at Home

by Gretchen Rubin

A sequel to THE HAPPINESS PROJECT. Gretchen Rubin once again undertakes methodical, highly planned projects, or ‘resolutions’, to increase her levels of happiness. It’s hard for me not to relate to Gretchen, even though she does have kids. She’s a redhead. She twirls her hair. “Whenever possible,” she reads while she eats. She “dislike[s] talking on the phone.” There’s all that damn methodicalness. But maybe best of all, she flat-out refuses to try meditation.

She states up front that this is going to be HER happiness project; what works for her won’t work for everyone, but there’s still value in documenting her own personal journey, which can be a template or jumping-off point for readers whose mileage varies. OK, but she still gets way too deep in the weeds occasionally. I totally skipped the email exchanges with her sister about some collaboration they were going to do – I think it was a young adult mystery book? Why do I need to read all their emails about it? Suffice to say that collaboration was a source of happiness. And this weird project of building a little diorama in their kitchen cupboard also needed editing.

I like how she handles the most common criticisms leveled at her.

  • “You really must meditate if you’re going to say anything about happiness.” Response: “Hmm.”
  • Paraphrasing here: But you can’t aim directly at happiness; you have to simply do things that will cultivate happiness as a side effect. Response: How is that different than aiming directly at it? What concrete things are you doing to cultivate happiness as a side effect? How are they different than things you’d do to try to be happy directly? This is a really good point, once you start to think about it.
  • And paraphrasing here: ugh, all those tasks you set for yourself! All those resolutions! Sounds so tiring! Happiness doesn’t come from being busy. Busyness is a distraction. Response: Works for me!

Her ultimate mantra, after all, is to be herself. Which isn’t a bad mantra. I wonder if she’s considered meditating on it.

Book Corner 2022.32

The Big Sleep

by Raymond Chandler

A classic from 1939, made into a Bogart/Bacall movie in 1946, featuring private detective Philip Marlowe. I had never read one of these in my life. It was a real hoot. Philip Marlowe’s always got the deadpan response, whether he’s facing down a hot tomato or a Luger. Then the plot got too convoluted for me.

Ankles & Habits

The left ankle I sprained Thursday night is basically better. However, today, the day I went back to sitting in my office chair after 3 days off, I noticed that my habit of sitting on my feet, particularly on my left foot, was annoying to the injury. My insistence on doing it is probably what prolonged the same injury in the past (I did the same thing to myself in 2019, almost to the day, and still wasn’t 100% a month later). As I approached my dining room chair tonight, noticed the same thing – habit is to curl up the left leg and sit on it. So, I was talking about it to X, when it dawned on me that maybe this habit is WHY I keep spraining my ankle. He said, basically, “Well duh.” Ugh. It’s going to be such a tough habit to break. I can sit on my right foot instead, but that means I have to always approach the chair differently. And then I’ll probably start injuring my right ankles instead of/in addition to the left. I just CAN’T sit straight on my butt. I can’t explain it, it’s not exactly uncomfortable, but I have this URGE to curl up at least one leg underneath myself.

Book Corner 2022.31

The Book of Eating

by Adam Platt

I really bought this based on the title. Adam Platt, with whom I was not familiar, is/was restaurant critic for New York (not The New Yorker) magazine. This is something of a food-focused memoir. We learn a little about his strange parents and stranger upbringing in Asian countries, then a little about his career in journalism and becoming a NYC restaurant critic. It’s somewhat repetitive. He uses the word “dyspeptic” to describe himself way too many times. There aren’t too many really stand-out moments. A chapter where he decides to bring five 4-year-olds to the fanciest restaurant in town is unusually lively and engaging, but it’s an exception.