The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

conversation when I mentioned how much I loved Stephen King’s The Stand. Now, I felt as though this was a bit of a risk, because I feared she might be the kind of person who would disdain Stephen King.
    “I love Stephen King, and I love The Stand, ” she said. Then she added, “But it’s not as good as Harry Potter.”
    “Oh, do you like Harry Potter?”
    “I’m obsessed with Harry Potter.”
    Eureka, I’d found a kindred spirit. We talked about nothing but Harry Potter for the rest of lunch. As we talked, it occurred to me: I knew a third person who also loved children’s literature. Could we start a book group?
    “Let me float an idea by you,” I said tentatively as we were paying. “Do you think you might want to start a children’s literature reading group?”
    “A reading group, for reading children’s books? Like what?”
    “Whatever we want. The Giver, The Secret Garden, James and the Giant Peach, whatever. We could take turns meeting for dinner.”
    “Sure, that could be fun,” she said enthusiastically. Fortunately. If she’d said no, I’m not sure I would have asked anyone else. “I have a friend who might be interested in joining, too.”
    So I sent out a few e-mails and started asking around. Once I spoke up, I was startled to discover that I already knew and liked many people who shared my passion. Because I’d never mentioned my interest, I’d never known about theirs.
    For our first meeting, I sent around an e-mail inviting everyone to my apartment for dinner to discuss C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and theWardrobe. At the end of the e-mail, I included a quotation from Lewis’s brilliant essay “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”:
    When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
    This apologia didn’t mean much to anyone else in the group, because they’d never tried to squash their interest in children’s literature. Why had I? No more.
    From our very first meeting, this group was a huge source of fun for me. I loved the people, I loved the books, I loved the discussions. I loved the fact that many of the people in the group didn’t have children, so there was no question about the fact that we were reading children’s literature for ourselves. I loved our kidlit tradition that the dinner’s host must serve some food that tied in with the book. This started when I served Turkish delight for dessert at the first meeting, because Turkish delight plays a significant role in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. At our next meeting, we drank Tokay, the wine that appears at a key moment in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass (I was surprised to discover that Tokay was real; I’d assumed it was part of Lyra’s world). For Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we ate mock turtle soup and treacle tart; for Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer , the blue M&M’s that are the signature candy eaten by Petra and Calder; for Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Meg’s blancmange, which Jo takes to Laurie the first time they meet. At the dinner to discuss Louis Sachar’s Holes, we ate Dunkin’ Donuts doughnut holes—for the pun.
    Studies show that each common interest between people boosts the chances of a lasting relationship and also brings about a 2 percent increase in life satisfaction. This group gave me a bunch of new friends and a lift in life satisfaction that felt much higher than 2 percent. Also, it was fun justbeing part of a new group. Group membership makes people feel closer and brings a significant boost in personal confidence and happiness.
    By contrast, around the same time, I was elected to the Council on Foreign Relations. Interesting subject, interesting group, and so very legitimate. Which group brought me more pleasure? Which helped me form new relationships? Kidlit. I’m passionate about Winston Churchill, I’m passionate about John Kennedy, but the truth is, I’m not passionate about foreign relations—so that group didn’t form as solid a basis for fun for me.
    So once again, one of my resolutions led me right back to my First Commandment: “Be Gretchen.” I had to know and pursue what was truly fun for me. That was the road that led to happiness. But what else, beside the children’s literature reading