Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping
by Judith Levine

Judith Levine's latest book is a very intimate look at her life and finances during the year 2004. She chose that year to throw off the bonds of consumerism, and buy nothing that was not necessary. Oh, and to arrange with Simon and Schuster to publish her results.

With her cohabitating partner Paul, she agonizes page after page, seeking a definition of "necessary" purchases. They end up including the New York Times, specially-roasted coffee beans, and diabetes medicine for their cat. For a childless couple of urban professionals (besides their place in Manhattan, they stay at their country home in Vermont for half the year), giving up theatre and taxis was viewed as cutting their links to contemporary culture and setting themselves adrift.

I began the book curious about their choices, and quickly found their concerns almost comical. They never get very close to the kind of simplicity that would redefine their lives.

I kept reading because of the various mentors, teachers and hucksters she finds and includes in the tale. And I kept going because she is just such a good writer. For example, check out this description from the book (on page 77) about Moscow's own MaryJane Butters: "A new entry (among the simplicity lifestyle magazines), MaryJanesFarm, is Martha Stewart Living with dirt under its nails and a clean criminal record."

The experiment lasts a full year. Judith falls off the wagon a few times (the first time was the compulsive purchase of $130 pants), but at the end of the year, she figured that she saved $8,000 and spent lots of time doing fun free stuff with Paul and others. And surviving with a better idea of the insidious nature of consumerism today."

Review by Bill London