Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Can you say this about yourself? Nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book.

Hmm.  This seems like the kind of pat statement that is a little true of a lot of people, and wholly true of not very many.  Sitting down with a good book makes me happy–there are times and moods when it will make me happier than anything else in that moment–but does nothing make me happier?

My husband makes me happier than a good book.  So does my family and my friends.  It makes me very happy when the opening orchestrations begin of Phantom of the Opera performed live on stage.  Writing at its best makes me happier than reading–though it also requires more energy, and at its most challenging causes me more frustration than reading.  Music is a good mood lift, and I have TV shows I like to watch when I’m stressed because they make me happy.  But it’s also true that reading brings happiness into my life, that finding a good book makes me very happy, and I’m not as happy in general if I’m not making time to read.

So I guess I’d say, there are times when nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book.  But there are many other things in life that have the potential to make me happier than even the best book.