Jackie Believes In The Sweetness of Life

Françoise Héritier’s international bestseller The Sweetness of Life is a celebration of the small, sweet moments that make life worth living—and the importance of taking the time to savor them.

Busy juggling so many responsibilities in our overextended lives, we often miss the precious experiences that are pure joy and the actual experience of humanity: wild laughter, phone calls with loved ones, coffee in the sun, crisp fall evenings, running in warm rain, long conversations at twilight, cooking and savoring a good meal, watching a craftsman at work, getting together with friends we’ve missed.

In this enchanting book—part letter, part prose poem, part charming and witty self-help guide— anthropologist Françoise Héritier lists with heartwarming and heartbreaking specificity all that we so easily overlook if we do not attend to the lightness and grace in our own lives.

Filled with profound insight and down-to-earth wisdom, The Sweetness of Life is the perfect gift to to share with everyone you love.

Jackie says:
"This is a strange but wonderful book, made up of a list regular things that happen to everyone on any given day.  It's almost a poem, an ode to all the little things that we might look over but truly add up to be the sweetness of life.
This book is absolutely charming and, for my brain at least, very visual.  I read some item on her list and find myself daydreaming of doing just that.  I'm not sure everyone will would find it so interactive, but it certainly was for me."

What A Great Gift Book!

A humorous "guide to life" for grown-ups! One day, Diane Muldrow, a longtime editor of the iconic Little Golden Books, realized that, despite their whimsical appearance, there was hardly a real-life situation that hadn't been covered in the more than 70-year-old line of children's books—from managing money, to the importance of exercise, to finding contentment in the simplest things. In this age of debt, depression, and diabetes, could we adults use a refresher course in the gentle lessons from these adorable books, she wondered—a "Little Golden guide to life"? Yes, we could!

Muldrow's humorous yet practical tips for getting the most out of life ("Don't forget to enjoy your wedding!" "Be a hugger." "Sweatpants are bad for morale."), drawn from more than 60 stories, are paired with delightful images from these best-loved children's books of all time—among them The Poky Little Puppy, Pantaloon, Mister Dog, Nurse Nancy, We Help Mommy, Five Pennies to Spend, and The Little Red Hen. The Golden greats of children's illustration are represented here as well: Richard Scarry, Garth Williams, Eloise Wilkin, J. P. Miller, and Mary Blair, among many others.

Sure to bring memories and a smile, this book is a perfect gift for baby boomers, recent grads, lovers of children's literature—or anyone who cherishes the sturdy little books with the shiny cardboard covers and gold foil spines!

Jackie says:
"Oh, seriously, how can ANYONE resist this book?  I had a pile of these books from the beginning of my life, and one of my most important yet heart breaking tasks as a young adult was to hand them down to other children.  I can't imagine that there are many people who haven't read at least one book from the seventy years these lovely books have been in print.  This is a book that I will happily give again, and again, and again."