"The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner

If you enjoyed this book here are some interesting web sites:

Listen to Eric Weiner report on Bombay's Laughing Clubs:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId+=1147789

The World Database of Happiness:
http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/

or this book "Stumbling on Happiness" by Dan Gilbert

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book is a delightful read. It is tailor-made for book lovers like myself. In 1946 London writer Juliet receives a letter from Dawsey Addams about Charles Lamb. Through multiple letters Juliet, and the reader, is introduced to the world of post-occupation Guernsey and it's colorful heroic characters. Writers Barrow & Shaffer deftly handle multiple character voices and move the story along at a fast clip. The use of epistolary is genius since it controls how information is doled out between characters and the reader. When the story gets a little too light in the middle the writers bring in a surprisingly amount of heft when discussing the horrors of war. Islanders begin to recount for Juliet stories of the German Occupation which are grim and realistic. The book is much more substantial than I expected. I was delighted by the wit and humor these characters exhibit. This is a must-read for bibliophiles like myself. Highly enjoyable. (from Reading List of a Book Pusher, gettsr-bookpusher.blogspot.com who led the book discussion)