Merry Christmas to you and yours! We had a lovely, warm gathering to discuss The Year of Less, by Cait Flanders. Up next for January is Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. We have ample copies of Bradbury's book, so we shouldn't have any trouble getting a copy to each of our members, however, if you don't need a copy of this title, would you mind letting us know? It helps us be more efficient in book distribution~ thanks in advance for your help!
To the book!
In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found
herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn
more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way
out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again.
When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her
happy—only keeping her from meeting her goals—she decided to set herself
a challenge: she would not shop for an entire year.
The challenge became a lifeline when, in the course of
the year, Cait found herself in situations that turned her life upside
down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to
shopping, alcohol, and food—and what it had cost her. Unable to reach
for any of her usual vices, she changed habits she’d spent years
perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her.
With the exception of one of us, we thought this book was just ok. The most prevailing observation was that we were initially under the impression that this was something along the lines of a self-help book, but in the end it also had a heavy memoir feel to it. We largely thought it should have been one or the other, rather than a short glance at both... as neither genre was represented particularly well. One member said, they thought the entire premise of the book could have been condensed down to the very last chapter, entitled "Your Guide to Less", as it gave a good list of tips and tricks to better financial management with some handy examples as well for illustration purposes.
On a more positive note, I think we liked Cait. We discussed at length what the differences might be in those who are more financially savvy than those that are a bit more careless with their money/resources, and we didn't find any tried and true formula that could account for the masses. The Year of Less got a handful of us to think about putting together a personal budget, just to see, on paper, where their money goes and if there are any places things could be tweaked.
Overall, we talked more about our own spending and saving habits, and why we think they are what they are, than we did about the book itself. What are your thoughts on the read? Let us know in the comments below! 👇
Did you really like The Year of Less? Fans of the book also enjoyed, How to Keep House While Drowning, by K.C. Davis, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, by Margareta Magnusson, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. All of these titles are available within the Viking system~ reserve your copy today!
Would we
recommend this to a friend to read?
"NO"
Would we
recommend this to another book club for discussion?
"YES"
