Being Perfect & A Short Guide to a Happy Life
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Being Perfect & A Short Guide to a Happy Life
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Narrated by:
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Anna Quindlen
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By:
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Anna Quindlen
About this listen
In Being Perfect, Anna Quindlen gives a name to, and invites us to laugh at, a lifestyle that is all too familiar to many people, one that emphasizes the pursuit of trying to be perfect in the eyes of others, and to win the world's good opinion, rather than focusing on the most important goal of all: "Giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." With wit and wisdom, Quindlen offers a keen understanding of how to create a life that is rich in meaning for you, by living on your own terms and by listening to your own deepest instincts, rather than to the demands and values of the world outside. This audiobook is an inspiring guide to living a rewarding and happy life, a life fulfilling in all its flaws, a life that is truly yours.
In A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen reflects on what it takes to "get a life", to live deeply everyday and form your own unique self, rather than merely to exist through your days. "Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us," Quindlen states, "because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives." Her mother died when Quindlen was 19: "It was the dividing line between seeing the world in black and white, and in Technicolor. The lights came on for the darkest possible reason....I learned something about enduring, in a very short period of time, about life. And that was that it was glorious, and that you had no business taking it for granted." But how to live from that perspective, to fully engage in our days? In A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen guides us with an understanding that comes from knowing how to see the view, the richness in living.
©2000, 2005 Anna Quindlen (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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A Short Guide to a Happy Life
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Anna Quindlen
- Length: 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 85
In this treasure of a book, Anna Quindlen, the best-selling novelist and columnist, reflects on what it takes to “get a life” - to live deeply every day and from your own unique self, rather than merely to exist through your days. “Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us,” Quindlen writes, “because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives.”
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
short=thin=not worth the price
- By CARL V PHILLIPS on 04-09-04
By: Anna Quindlen
-
Write for Your Life
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Anna Quindlen
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
What really matters in life? What truly lasts in our hearts and minds? Where can we find community, history, humanity? In this lyrical new book, the answer is clear: through writing. This is a book for what Quindlen calls “civilians,” those who want to use the written word to become more human, more themselves.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An inspiring telling
- By JV in FL on 08-22-22
By: Anna Quindlen
-
Good Dog. Stay.
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Anna Quindlen
- Length: 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
With her trademark wisdom and humor, Anna Quindlen reflects on how her life has unfolded in tandem with her dog Beau's, and on the lessons she's learned by watching him: to roll with the punches, to take things as they come, to measure herself not in terms of the past or the future but of the present, to raise her nose in the air from time to time and, at least metaphorically, to holler, "I smell bacon!"
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
this is not a book!
- By MaryPat on 01-24-14
By: Anna Quindlen
-
This Time Tomorrow
- A Novel
- By: Emma Straub
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Emma Straub
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,261
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,895
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,884
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved!
- By AE on 05-25-22
By: Emma Straub
-
Platonic
- How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends
- By: Marisa G. Franco PhD
- Narrated by: Marisa G. Franco PhD
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 347
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 284
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 286
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-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Too much and yet, not enough
- By Kali on 04-05-23
-
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive
- A Leadership Fable
- By: Patrick Lencioni
- Narrated by: Charles Stransky; introduction by Patrick Lencioni
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,388
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,765
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,769
As CEO, most everything that Rich O'Connor did had something to do with at least one of the four disciplines on his famed "yellow sheet." Rich never suspected that it would become the blueprint of an employee's plan to destroy the firm. Best selling author Lencioni brings us a fable that focuses on a leader's crucial role in building a healthy organization.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A great reminder about the important basics.
- By Joel Ordesky on 03-08-03
By: Patrick Lencioni
What listeners say about Being Perfect & A Short Guide to a Happy Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Máxima Estrella
- 08-23-05
A little book to remind you what's important...
and what's not.
I haven't read "Being Perfect" yet, but my sister gave me "A Short Guide to a Happy Life" as a gift, and I've since given it to a small group of close friends as gifts as well.
I like to read it when I have the blues. I like it because it doesn't pretend to cure you, but somehow I always feel better after I read/while I'm reading it.
Now I know I'd like to have both in audio form to carry with me in mpg form!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jane
- 02-07-12
Just okay
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would definately appreciate these narrations if I were attending one of the graduation ceremonies at which she delivered them. They were short and to the point. However, I wasn't really wowed by this book.
Did Being Perfect & A Short Guide to a Happy Life inspire you to do anything?
No
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Mike
- 08-23-05
Straight to the point
Anna Quindlen cuts straight to the point that LIFE is not a dress rehersal and we need to live every minute of every day to the fullest. This short book makes you feel like she is talking directly to you and sending you a personal wake up call.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Chad
- 01-27-07
Blah, Blah, Blah
The most boring audiobook Ive ever heard.
I checked this book out for techniques on how-to
rid myself of a over-perfectionistic personality.
Because this book was the only searchable title
that covered perfectionism I used a credit.
What a waste !! This woman rambles on with absolutely no point for what seems an eternity.
I grade this book an F-
Terrible, with no usefull information..
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4 people found this helpful