Fantastic read. Timely as I turn a bit inward (in a good way, I think), reduce my use of technology and social media and wrestle our own budget under control. I like her humanity as well. I recently tried reading a book on a similar topic and I found the author cold, judgemental, and apparently flawless in their pursuit of simplicity. It's not very motivating for me to read that.

Ms. Levine, on the other hand, still wants to buy stuff, struggles with the idea of "necessity" and shares the good and bad of her experience.

After reading another "1 year project" book in which it seemed the author's partner did little but belittle and ridicule her and her project, I liked how Ms. Levine's partner was. Refreshing to read a book where the author really likes the people in their lives. ( )

I liked the idea of the book and I actually enjoyed reading the parts about their challenge/study, but I hated the commentary and source citing. Overall it made the book boring and ineffective. I skimmed quite a bit of it because of this. ( )

Awful. The only good thing about this book is that I didn't pay for it but got it from the library. It's boring and badly written (even though the author is a professional writer). I was looking forward to some reflections and analysis but the author is about as self aware as a rock. There was basically a whole chapter dedicated to the tantrum she had when she couldn't find her favourite socks. Really.

P.S. I actually resent adding this book to my bookshelves because it was so bad but I'm terrified that I'll block the memory of its awfulness and may attempt to reread it again in the future and would end up subjecting myself to further trauma. ( )

By the time I got around to reading this, I couldn't help remembering someone's crack about the simple-living movement not being new; it's called being poor. Of course, simple living is a deliberate lifestyle whereas being poor isn't anything people really strive for. Still, I just couldn't really buy this story about a childless, educated, intellectual couple making a decent living and owning a New York apartment and Vermont cabin, attempting to live simply. The author does a lot of intellectualizing and quoting philosophers, and by the September chapter I just lost patience. I rode it out through the December chapter and the one thing I could appreciate about their year-long experiment is that it got them more civically engaged. If it were written from a different approach, I might have enjoyed it more. ( )

The author of this book and her partner decide to cut out all unnecessary spending for a year, which started out as an interesting concept but veered off into too much emphasis on political points. Several times the author refers to their home in Vermont as being in the "Northeast Kingdom" which I had never heard of and had to look up - turns out the Northeast Kingdom consists of just 3 counties in the northeastern corner of Vermont - seemed kind of snobby. I found the book disappointing. ( )