Happiness

It has been some time since we talked about books around here.

You have probably figured that I had given up literacy, in some feckless attempt to find happiness in other media.

No, well maybe.

For a while...

But I picked up Will Ferguson's book Happiness some time back.

It is one of those books that I buy because of the cover. The cover is no piece of work mind you, but I picked it up anyway.

It is the story of a self-loathing, self help book editor who puts out the best self help book ever.

That great book, an obvious collection of quips and quotes from a thousand other self help books, nearly leads to the end of the world.

Sort of...

Folks read it, stop going to work, start wearing sweat pants and smile a lot.

Kind of like how I remember college, now that I think about it.

Anyway, lets stay on track here...

People give up being grumpy, stop caring about crap and deify the books author.

Industries collapse, mean spirits and bad habits are forced underground.

Things start to resemble a global Rainbow Gathering.

Yeah, shit gets real bad...

The protagonist editor journeys forth to attempt to save the world from the pandemic of glib indifference, in a manner that bears resemblance to a Harold and Kumar movie, and learns stuff about life, love and happiness.

You know, the usual...

There is, of course, an ironic turn.

It has been a couple of months since I put this one down.

The fact that I am just now writing about it must mean that I liked it.

I guess I did, in the same way that some nights call for watching a stupid situation-comedy - sometimes a clunky, silly novel is good for a smile.