Looking for a Good Winter Read?

For Christmas, my aunt visited her local used book store and picked up a book for me to read. (Fitting, considering sustainability issues, so thanks Aunt Maria for not buying it new!) I'm just starting this new-to-me book, and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's called Not Buying It, by Judith Levine.

It's all about this woman (who just-so-happens to be a writer, so it's easy on the reader) who decides she and her life-partner, Paul, have had it with the consumer driven society that we've built around ourselves. So, in 2004, she and Paul go a year without shopping. So far, it's been thought-provoking. It's written like a journal, with entries every so often about what they are missing and what they are learning about what it is like to break away from the expectations we have about ourselves and the stresses of the consumer market. I've only read the first two chapters, but so far I'm very intrigued as the rules start to unfold as to what "not buying it" means to this couple and how their journey will present itself.

I think this book ties in nicely with Andree's own "Nothing New" resolution. She is anxious to read it once I'm finished and it has been fun comparing "not buying it" with "nothing new" journeys. It is also timely in that the Voluntary Simplicity class, which the whole office is participating in, started last night. A lot of people might say that going for 3 months or a whole year would make their lives much more complicated, but so far from this book I'm getting the sense that "not buying it" really enhances your life by reminding us about what is important, rather than making it more complicated.

I'll let you know how it goes.