The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

After reading a book about a hoarder, I decided to read one that might help me avoid that fate.  

I had seen this book touted on talk shows and blogs.  It was one of those books that every store I walked into seemed to be selling.  I bought it and then didn't read it (as is so often the case with me).  After reading The House We Grew Up In, a fellow book club member and close friend told me she read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and it was helping her to purge so much unnecessary junk.  

pretty little book

Kondo is an organizing specialist in Japan.  In this non-fiction, somewhat self-help book she explains her process of organization, down to how to fold laundry correctly.  She is very earnest and sincere which shines through her efficient text.  Sometimes, though, her sincerity can come off as comical. 

"The socks and stockings stored in your drawer are essentially on holiday.  They take a brutal beating in their daily work, trapped between your foot and your shoe, enduring pressure and friction to protect your precious feet.  The time they spend in your drawer is their only chance to rest.  But if they are folded over, balled up, or tied, they are always in a state of tension, their fabric stretched and their elastic pulled."

While I laughed over the the personification of my socks, I have taken her advice on rolling socks and been very pleased with the results.  My sock drawer really does make me happy.  I also reorganized my other drawers and am working on my closet.  The extra space and functionality are totally worth it.    

Kondo outlines categories to sort, purge, and put away, all in a very specific order and with the basic criteria of "'Does this spark joy?'"  It may sound simplistic but after trying it out, it works.  The process is thorough and forces you to go through all of a specific category before moving on, while throwing away lots and lots of useless, unwanted, or used up items.  According to Kondo, this could take 6 months or more.  

I wish I had discovered this book sooner.  With six people living in this house it seems like it will take a loooong time to get the stuff under control.  But, I will keep at it, slowly but surely because a clean, organized home makes for more mental space and joy.  I bought her follow up book that goes deeper.  Someday, I hope to have a Kondo-approved house, but for now, I'm happy with the little strides I can make in a weekend.  

To be honest, reading this felt difficult.  Reading is something I do for pleasure and reading about cleaning made me kind of dread my reading time.  I kept with it, though, because I was learning. 

The only part I really disagreed with was her stance on books (as you might imagine).  She encourages her readers and clients to get rid of any books they aren't planning to read soon or any books they have read that don't give them a great deal of joy.  This is one organizing tip I will not be taking.  I love having a large library and I'm always happy to give/loan books to friends or family interested in reading them.  Different strokes for different folks, you know.  

If you struggle with a never ending cycle of tidying this book could give you fresh insight without being dull or monotonous.  It's certainly helping me.  

Madame Bovary

I've been reading a lot lately but not blogging very much so I'm kind of behind.  

I read a challenge on a website at the beginning of the year to read the books your favorite author recommends.  I love, love, love Ernest Hemingway and so I went looking for a list of books he suggested.  I found this site and looked at two lists from Hemingway.  

The first book I decided to tackle was Madame Bovary.  

the adaptation is on Netflix...can't wait to check it out

I bought it on my kindle and really enjoyed having the dictionary available to me.  Looking up complicated words was easy.  The introduction was excellent and gave a deeper insight into Flaubert's world and style, but it did have some major spoilers.  

The novel is one of the first "realist" masterpieces and was considered a bit scandalous when it was published because it didn't have a moral and highlighted women behaving badly.  

Madame Bovary is about a girl named Emma who falls for a country doctor.  Though she longs to experience the world and broaden her horizons, her gender and station in life don't allow for that.  She can't seem to find joy or passion and the book follows her closely as she discovers that other men have an interest in her and her marriage slowly disintegrates.  

"But her own life was as cold as an attic with a north-facing window, and boredom, that silent spider, was spinning its web in the darkness of every corner of her heart." 

One thing I absolutely adore in classic literature is the way, when characters are well developed, we can see ourselves or others we know in various works.  There is a timelessness to the struggles that are presented.  Though I could not personally relate to Emma, I know so many people who are frustrated and looking to climb a social and economical ladder to happiness.  

"In her desire, she confused the sensual pleasures of luxury with the joys of the heart, elegance of manner with delicacy of feeling."

I actually wasn't very fond of Emma.  She was always dissatisfied with what she had.  However, I did feel a sense of pity for her because of the straight-jacket of womanhood.  Reading this book I realized how far women have come in their fight for equality (and how far we still have to go).  Though I'm not sure Flaubert intended this as a feminist novel, the themes of Emma being trapped primarily because of her sex make it almost a call to action to right the wrong of inequality.  

"She longed to strike out at all men, spit in their faces, crush every one of them; and she walked rapidly straight on, pale, trembling, enraged, searching the empty horizon with tearful eyes, as though reveling in the hatred that was suffocating her."

As a modern woman, I can't imagine being confined to live at the whim of men and say good bye to my husband each day only to anticipate nothing more than an existence of cooking and cleaning while he is educated and contributing to society.  Emma finds joy in books but her mother-in-law and priest agree that they are the cause for her discontentment and make sure she puts such frivolous things away.  That is just cruel.  I would lose my mind, too.  

Flaubert doesn't offer a happy ending or solution to Emma's struggle.  He just states it, for the reader to contemplate.  This is what makes it realism.  His descriptions are often beautiful and mundane.  The places that Emma lives and visits are the same places that Flaubert lived and visited, and when he describes them it's obvious.  He tells you about the details of the streets and the sounds and the smells just as if you are on a tour.  

I'm so glad I finally checked this one off my list (it's been there since college).  I can definitely see how it impacted Hemingway and many others who came after Flaubert.  Overall, it was dark but truthful, and I understand why it is called a masterpiece.