I read a nicely-written book:
Give It Up: My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less by Mary Carlomagno. It caught my eye because I love her name - it's the Italian translation of "Charlemagne" - and because I'm into themes of simplicity. Uncluttering metaphorically as well as literally.
It was, in fact, a delightful read. But... useless. The theme: Mary Carlomagno gave up one thing each month for a year. It wasn't cumulative: she gave up smoking, for example, for a month, and then went back to smoking. It was like giving things up for Lent, which is what inspired her - not giving things up permanently.
Then look at the things she gave up. I couldn't give up any of them, I don't think - and if I did, who would notice the difference? She gave up alcohol, newspapers, shopping, dining out, taxis, cell phones and television. I don't have alcohol more than a couple of times per year. I seldom read newspapers, especially since they have become sensationalist entertainment. I shop when I must, but not often. Certainly not every month, unless we're talking about groceries, which she wasn't. Taxis? I can't recall the last time I took a taxi - probably during my last trip to Stratford. I walk. I take the bus. I go places with friends in their cars. I only take taxis when travelling. I don't have a cell phone. It isn't any kind of virtue here - I'm just not into those things. That leaves television - and I wouldn't want to be without my fannish favourites; don't have time to watch much else anyway. Eating out? My favourite and most extravagant pleasure! But I like to think I don't do it in an extravagant way.
But I could give up eating out for a month. Giving up comic books? That would be a real challenge, and I don't plan on trying it. But she doesn't talk about that. I suppose I could give up libraries, or visiting friends, or (shudder) reading and writing Livejournal - but I can't think of any reason I should! Just to prove I could? I love these things, and I do them because I love them. I think that's a terrific reason to do them.
All in all, her choices of 'what to give up' reflected a lifestyle and tastes very unlike mine, and a general sense of life in New York that seems pleasantly foreign to me, like reading about Nick and Nora Charles, or Dorothy Parker.
Despite all this, it was fun to read Mary Carlomagno's commentary on life and the things she does. There's a friendly reflectiveness to it all. Very readable.
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