Becky is a huge fan of Gretchen Rubin. Her life changed course when she read The Happiness Project, and she’s been following her ever since. Becky’s been aware of her book club for a while, but it always seemed just a bit too far afield. This year she made it a Thing.

This is part of our 100 Things in 2016 challenge. Here’s the full list.

Here’s how it works: every month there are three book recommendations. One of them is happiness- or habits-related, one is kids’ or young-adult fiction, and one is something “eccentric.” Becky committed to reading just one of the recommendations from each month throughout the year. Here are her picks:

1. Troubled Waters, by Sharon Shinn (eccentric)
2. Here is New York, by E. B. White (happiness)
3. Revenge of the Lawn, by Richard Brautigan (eccentric)
4. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (eccentric)
5. Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry, by Leanne Shapton (eccentric)
6. The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by William Anderson (eccentric)
7. Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, by Roz Chast (eccentric)
8. Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (children’s)
9. Judy’s Journey, by Lois Lensky (children’s)
10. My Ántonia, by Willa Cather (happiness)
11. D. V., by Diana Vreeland (eccentric)
12. Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, Warren Susman (eccentric)

Becky loved doing this, because it took her off her usual pathways for finding books (zombies and memoirs mostly). Sometimes this works out well, and sometimes not, but you always learn something about yourself.

Her favorites were 1, 2, and 10, she was surprised by 5 and 7, and she absolutely dreaded picking up 6 and 12. She read #8 aloud to Lucy, and they both loved it.

She’ll probably do this again. She really liked how far out of her realm these took her, and she reads fast enough that the less-than-stellar ones don’t take too long to finish.