The Joy of Small Things

'A not-so-small joy in itself.' Nigella Lawson

Hannah Jane Parkinson

• Publisher: Guardian Faber Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781783352371
• Year: 2021

'This book is a not-so-small joy in itself.'
NIGELLA LAWSON

'Parkinson has the gift of making you look with new eyes at everyday things. The perfect daily diversion.'
JOJO MOYES

'Always funny and frank and full of insight, I absolutely love Parkinson's writing.'
DAVID NICHOLLS

'I loved this book . . . Parkinson's writing transports you to unexpected places of joy and comfort . . . these pages contain happiness.'
MARINA HYDE

'The twenty-first century feels a lot more bearable in Parkinson's company.'
CHARLOTTE MENDELSON

Drawn from the successful Guardian column, these everyday exultations and inspirations will get you through dismal days.

Hannah Jane Parkinson is a specialist in savouring the small pleasures of life. She revels in her fluffy dressing gown ('like bathing in marshmallow'), finds calm in solo cinema trips, is charmed by the personalities of fonts ('you'll never see Comic Sans on a funeral notice'), celebrates pockets and gleefully abandons a book she isn't enjoying. Parkinson's everyday exaltations - selected from her immensely successful Guardian column - will utterly delight.

FEATURES BRAND NEW MATERIAL

'A compendium of delights.'
OBSERVER

'Delightful . . . a love letter to those little moments of bliss that get us through the daily grind.'
RED

Table of contents

• Landing Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• The perfect dressing gown
• Always look up
• Plays without intervals
• Kissing
• Fonts
• Cover versions
• Ice-cream vans
• Clean bedding
• The all-day breakfast
• Petting cats
• Window seats
• Pockets
• Autumn leaves
• Private jokes
• Petrichor
• Techno music
• Foreign idioms
• Recovering from a cold
• Dogs in parks
• Phone calls
• Reading on the beach
• Pattern
• A fit of the giggles
• Brushing teeth
• Finding lost things
• Being wrong
• Being right
• Red lipstick
• Pettiness
• Secondhand books
• Compliments
• Saturday’s papers
• Being a regular
• Closing browser tabs
• Cheating a hangover
• Acknowledgements
• Cold-water swimming
• Blue plaques
• Little acts of kindness
• Baths
• Arriving early
• Wallpaper
• Flirting
• Pot plants
• Three-minute pop songs
• Compersion
• Video games
• Airplane mode
• A last-minute goal
• A cup of tea
• Polling day
• Antique shopping
• Scratching an itch
• Tipsiness
• Being inside when it’s raining
• Memes
• Free upgrades
• Silence
• Overhearing
• Empty cities
• Staying over
• Massages
• Chocolate
• Day trips
• Gig encores
• Perfect pens
• Regional accents
• Setting the out-of-office
• Good coffee
• Night buses
• Mint
• The final dab of paint
• A Sunday roast
• Fixing things
• Local graffiti
• Bingeing on boxsets
• The sounds of sports
• Pharmacists
• The moment after waking
• Mastering a new skill
• Bonding with strangers
• Travelling light
• Being fed by friends
• The to-done list
• Caring less
• The smell of wood
• European town squares
• Tech reprieves
• Abandoning a book
• Playing board games
• Handwritten letters
• A clean home
• Favourite songs on shuffle
• Bumping into friends
• A shimmering reflection
• A running high
• An open fire
• Cancelled plans
• Going to the cinema alone
• Trainers
• Changing your mind
• Browsing property websites
• Cemeteries
• Tiles
• A trip to the hairdresser’s
• The sea
• Black and white photos
• House parties
• The journey home
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Copyright