book reviews

I while back I did a review on Everett Bogue's The art of being minimalist ebook - and a few weeks later he took the book off the market! I hope that doesn't happen this time around, too!

Today I am going to review a 105-page ebook by Leo Babauta called A Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.

The book gives what it promises in the name - it's a simple, straightforward guide to It's one that is stripped of the unnecessary, to making your life more minimalist.

I got Knitting Without Tears as a birthday present a year or so ago, after widhing for it in very straight words. But as it happens so often with me and books - I didn't read it straight away, just used some of the instructions from time to time. In fact, just recently I grabbed the book and read it from cover to cover.

A while back I started following several minimalist and simple life blogs - and I am fascinated my their message. Therefore when I was presented the chance to purchase several minimalist e-books for a good discount, I did so. This book is the first one I read, mostly because it's a basic introduction to minimalism, but also because I'm a secret fan of Everett Bogue and his blog, Far Beyond the Stars!

The book starts with the scenario: "Imagine a world where your life isn’t dominated by the things you carry. The freedom that comes from a closet that contains a handful of stylish clothes. One nice pair of shoes. You have the freedom of an uncluttered schedule. So you can pursue your dreams." Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

If there's one book which I have continuously looked at at the book store, browsed through, found everything lovely, and put the book away again, it would be this one. I must have held Fitted Knits: 25 Projects for the Fashionable Knitter a hundred times before I finally ended up buying it a while back. Why the back and forth? Simple - I'm not much of a sweater knitter, and to buy a book with just sweaters seemed like a waste. So why did I buy it?

I've been ill this week, so I've had some knitting done, but haven't taken many photos. I'll show you some WIPs and FOs next week! In the mean time I hope you'll enjoy the following book review - for a change not about knitting or politics, but personal finance.

I've always been rather good in saving money and being kind of frugal and have never had problems with debt. That's all really good news and I'm really proud to be this far financially at the age of 26. Somewhere along the line I've been starting to think about owning a home, or accumulating so much wealth that I could quit my job (or keep sabbaticals now and then) and just sell stitch markers and volunteer for animals and people in need all day. With my current salary and lifestyle this won't be the case any time soon.

Last autumn I suddenly remembered my love for the band Green Day and went to see them in concert even. For a while I felt like the fangirl I used to be 10 years ago - it felt fantastic! So when I learned that Billie Joe's wife Adrienne Armstrong is a knitter and has made a book with Vickie Howell, and learned that the book will be concentrating on ecologically conscious knitting (something very close to my heart), I just had to get the book!

After my last book review about child prostitution I decided to present a book that doesn't have anything to do with the darker sides of our society. It's another book currently only available in German, but I would suggest it will be translated at some point. It's a new book, published in 2008 and it's called "Greenomics".

This is a book for marketing professionals and anyone interested in market trends (for the record: I studied marketing.) It talks about a new group of consumers - the LOHAS. These are people who follow the Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability, which according to the book now over 30% of consumers belong to.

The LOHAS are interested in sustainability and "green lifestyle" and they buy accordingly. However, these are not the "hippies" from past days - they want the best design, the best quality and the best enjoyment out of their purchases.

The problem with living in Germany and being a patron to the local library, and blogging in English is that I get to read really interesting books - which are available only in German. I usually then just leave them be and blog about something else, but recently I've read two books which I really want to write a review about. Maybe they will one day be translated, or you will get interested in the theme and find some books on the issues in English / your own language.

The first book is called "Kinder auf dem Strich" by Cathrin Schauer. The title translates to "Children on the game" and it talks about child prostitution on the German-Czech border. The author has worked in the region as a social worker for years. The book discusses the views of the different parties involved - the children, the pimps, the adult prostitutes, the buyers, the police and the general public.

Read this book. Seriously, if you are a woman and haven't read this book, you should. It wouldn't hurt men either. It's such an eye-opener to the theme beauty and how it's not at all as it's usually percieved. The book is almost 20 years old, but it's still current and important.

The book is called "Alles zuviel" in German, which ist just the translation of "It's All Too Much " basically. This interesting book name made me take the book with me from the library a few weeks ago. I read it in one day, and after reading it cleared two plastic bags full of clothes to donate out of my closet, got rid of quite an amount of paper, packaging materials, and other trash, plus sorted one more bag full of items to donate (like old computer games, books, even some yarn). I even sorted out my patterns!