{"product_id":"a-short-guide-to-a-happy-life-isbn-9780375504617","title":"A Short Guide to a Happy Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e#1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Anna Quindlen’s classic reflection on a meaningful life makes a perfect gift for any occasion.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Life is made of moments, small pieces of silver amidst long stretches of tedium. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves now to live, really live . . . to love the journey, not the destination.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this treasure of a book, Anna Quindlen, the bestselling novelist and columnist, reflects on what it takes to “get a life”—to live deeply every day and from your own unique self, rather than merely to exist through your days.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us,” Quindlen writes, “because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives.” Her mother died when Quindlen was nineteen: “It was the dividing line between seeing the world in black and white, and in Technicolor. The lights came on for the darkest possible reason. . . . I learned something enduring, in a very short period of time, about life. And that was that it was glorious, and that you had no business taking it for granted.” But how to live from that perspective, to fully engage in our days?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eA Short Guide to a Happy Life,\u003c\/i\u003e Quindlen guides us with an understanding that comes from knowing how to see the view, the richness in living.\u003cb\u003eAnna Quindlen\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of many bestselling books, including the #1\u003ci\u003e New York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling novel \u003ci\u003eRise and Shine, \u003c\/i\u003ethe #1 bestselling memoir \u003ci\u003eLots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e A Short Guide to a Happy Life. \u003c\/i\u003eHer other novels include \u003ci\u003eBlessings, One True Thing, \u003c\/i\u003ethe Oprah Book Club Selection \u003ci\u003eBlack and Blue, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Still Life with Bread Crumbs.\u003c\/i\u003eI'm not particularly qualified by profession or education to give advice and counsel.  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. I have a good eye for a nice swatch and a surprising  paint chip, and I have had a checkered but occasionally successful sideline in matchmaking.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But I've never earned a doctorate, or even a master's degree. I'm not an ethicist,  or a philosopher, or an expert in any particular field. Each time I give a commencement speech I feel like a bit of a fraud. Yogi Berra's advice seems as good as any: When  you come to a fork in the road, take it!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e I can't talk about the economy, or the  universe, or academe, as academicians like to call where they work when they're feeling  kind of grand. I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is really all I  know. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. That's what I have to  say. The second is only a part of the first. Don't ever forget what a friend once  wrote to Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator had decided not to run for reelection  because he'd been diagnosed with cancer: \"No man ever said on his deathbed I wish  I had spent more time at the office.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Don't ever forget the words on a postcard  that my father sent me last year: \"If you win the rat race, you're still a rat.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota:  \"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e That's the only  advice I can give. After all, when you look at the faces of a class of graduating  seniors, you realize that each student has only one thing that no one else has. When  you leave college, there are thousands of people out there with the same degree you  have; when you get a job, there will be thousands of people doing what you want to  do for a living. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your  life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your  life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind,  but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.Author of Being Perfect","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304452903141,"sku":"NP9780375504617","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375504617.jpg?v=1767720780","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/a-short-guide-to-a-happy-life-isbn-9780375504617","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}