beaneater

I don't usually read nonfiction, but this piece intrigued me. As has been mentioned here, the author over-promoted his favourite brand for my taste, and it may then appear to the reader that he likes to brag about it.
I didn't think I'd be taught as much by the content of the book, as I've been interested in minimalism myself for a while now. But it surprised with tips that were also focused on the psyche and mindset of the individual and not just material things. The book overall was written in the style of the author's confession and told us the ins and outs as if we were longtime friends meeting for afternoon coffee. That's one of the reasons the book earned a high rating from me - it feels more real and the reader doesn't feel like they're reading in a textbook.

There are some favorite passages that I had to file away in my reader that are important for me to think about:

“When we look at things this way, we realize that many of our wishes have actually been granted. So why don't we feel satisfied? Why do we become unhappy?”

“All these things eventually turn on us; we become slaves to our belongings, forced to spend time and energy caring for them. We lose ourselves in our possessions. Our tools become our masters.”

“Holding on to things from the past is the same as clinging to an image of yourself in the past.”

I made the mistake of reading the book in English before I read it in Czech. I'm not ashamed to brag that my English is C1, but no one prepared me for Victorian English.
Because of this, I found the first few chapters very difficult to read and although the chapters are very short, I found the reading long.
Thanks to what a very rich vocabulary Mr. Dickens had (and that he wasn't afraid to use it), I learned quite a few new/old words. Maybe that's why Oliver Twist came out at almost 500 pages, when I think half that would have been plenty. But it wouldn't be Dickens if he hadn't written so much and we didn't know the grand story of Oliver Twist.
By the end of the book, I was relieved that the main character of the story had finally achieved the well-deserved peace and understanding he had lacked since birth.

The all time favourite. The masterpiece. The chef's kiss.

I would read this piece anytime in a year with a blink of an eye! It has amazing plot with all the background details, likeable characters with very realistic reactions and behaviours AND the sad twist at the end.
If Mr. Blair would be alive today I would kiss his feet thousand times.

I don't think I've ever read something so terrible in my life before. Pointless narrative, flat characters and unnecessarily long. Even though I've read this book way back in my teens I can still remember how horrible it actually was. I felt like the whole plot was lifeless and unimaginably naive with zero logic... just like our main protagonist.
I take this book as a kind of satire on Twilight saga. I guess there's no other way to put it, unfortunately. I think there was a stab at it but I think it missed me.
If it would be possible my rating would be zero for sure.

Just re-read this a second time to remind myself what it is so appealling about this book that people still read it after 36 years that it has been published the first time.

I get that it suppose to be motivational and inspire you in some way but I'm a realist and if you like to have rose-colored glasses on, this book is for you.

I was really looking forward to getting into this piece. I was partly disappointed and partly “learning for life”.
I don't like very detailed descriptions, and fishing doesn't really do anything for me, but I found Hemingway's detailed descriptions quite entertaining as well. I did have a little trouble getting through the beginning, though. Being a thin book of a few pages, I spent perhaps more time reading it than I needed to.