Small Happiness & Other Epiphanies

Sparrow

Paperback
978-1-948626-29-3
US $15.95 Bookshop  Amazon
eBook available
October 2020

From the sublime to the ridiculous, Sparrow deftly guides his readers into the art of living happily.

"Happiness starts small; learn to recognize it. It's like a weed we see every day but cannot identify." Thus begins Small Happiness, an invaluable guide to “all” of human life including such vital subjects as: decorating with books, dancing as medicine, composting, the "Slow Read Movement," how to conduct a wedding, secrets of invigorated aging (including an interview with Sparrow's 100-year-old father), the art of aroma, and self-psychoanalysis. After buying Small Happiness, you may guiltlessly burn all your previous self-help books.

Sparrow is the author of seven books, the most recent being On certain nights everyone in the USA has the same dream (Inpatient Press), a journal of his 2016 Presidential campaign. (Sparrow is also running for President in 2020.) He has been published in The New Yorker, The Sun, The New York Times, The American Poetry Review, and Reptiles of the Mind. Sparrow plays flutophone in the pro-Zoroastrian pop group Foamola. He lives in a doublewide trailer in Phoenicia, New York with his studious wife Violet Snow. Follow Sparrow on Twitter: Sparrow@Sparrow14

“A most enjoyable read—quirky, witty, and whimsical, with healthy doses of absurdity, a diversion of little tales, and large amounts of actual good advice. Think about this brief epiphany: ‘Fight for what you believe in. If you don’t know what you believe in, guess.’ And my own community would greatly benefit from this one, if only we could be persuaded to try it: ‘Be kind to your neighbor, even if he dislikes you. Sometimes neighbors change their minds.’ Thanks for this much-needed compendium of uplift and good sense!” — Lydia Davis, author most recently of Can’t and Won’t and Essays One and translator of French classics Swann’s Way and Madame Bovary

"Sparrow combines the humor of a stand-up comic with the wisdom of a sage. Every time I tell him he’s a genius, he scoffs at me. But I’ve published his work for nearly forty years, so I should know." —Sy Safransky, editor, The Sun magazine

"The sunshine of this book is the only known remedy for the moment we’re living in. It makes me happy. Sparrow is a genius." —Eileen Myles, poet, performance artist, and author of many books including Evolution

“One of the funniest men in Manhattan…over and above everything else Sparrow offers something to believe in” –Robert Christgau, Village Voice

“A cult hero” –Publishers Weekly

“The poet laureate of comic relief” –Philadelphia City Paper

“…Sparrow is a genius and everything he says is true…Sparrow is poet whose words will rush over you and leaving you gasping for breath…and if all that means nothing to you, then read Sparrow for the pleasure of his company, which is truly pleasurable indeed” –Stephen Elliot, Happy Baby