Book Review- Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out Marie Kondo’s much hyped book: The Life- Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Kondo has been in the news a lot this year. She has a new reality show on Netflix and some of her ideas have been quite controversial. For example, she advises to keep only about thirty books in your personal library. Book lovers lost their minds!

Kondo preaches the idea of only keeping items that spark joy. If you do not feel joy towards an object, you should not have it in your home. Rather than just dumping joyless objects, she gives these objects a little consideration. For example, if you bought a sweater on impulse and realize that it doesn’t suit you, you should take a moment to thank this sweater for teaching you a lesson or for perhaps fulfilling that moment of needing to shop, before sending the sweater to its next owner. It’s okay to let things go, but you should acknowledge their presence in your life, even if you feel that it made a minor impact. You should treat objects with respect and gratitude.

Along with this, she has a lovely ritual of greeting her home after a day out. I’m sure this could feel silly for a lot of people, but I like the idea of gratitude and taking pride in your home. The more I considered Kondo’s method, the more it hit me that it isn’t so much about organization, but about deep gratitude and careful consideration for the material objects that you allow into your life.

I’ve embraced a few of her suggestions. For example, the Kondo or “KonMari” method recommends folding clothing into drawers, rather than stacking them. I could use more practicing folding, but the concept is solid. If you open a drawer, it allows you to see all of your items at once and eliminates messy piles that tend to topple over. I redid our drawers with the KonMari method while my husband was on a business trip and he loved the change. We are moving soon, but when we get settled in our new place, the first thing we are splurging on is a new dresser! This method is not limited to clothes. The idea is to stop stacking items and to have them all clearly visible when you open a drawer or box. Having items visible and displayed in a pleasing manner will make you appreciate what you own and cut down on unnecessary items.

I know that I’m guilty of over shopping and shoving the evidence into drawers or closets.

Back to the books…I am one of those book lovers who freaked out at Kondo’s thirty book statement. That said, Kondo never forces people to give anything away. It is not about a specific number of items, but about only keeping the items that you truly love. In her TV series, she made a comment that really changed how I viewed my bookshelf. She mentioned only keeping items that you could see in your life moving forward.

I really listened to this advice and it rocked my world.

Last week, I took a hard look at my bookshelf. Admittedly, this process was made easier, since we are moving soon and having to physically haul masses of heavy books is not appealing. As a book lover, I am often gifted with books or pick up books along the way. As a writer, I love supporting fellow authors, even if they have written books that are not my taste. I had cookbooks that I never used. I mean, a cook book filled with recipes based on The Hunger Games, seemed like a good idea at the time. Right? I don’t even cook. With Kondo’s words in my heart, I ruthlessly culled my bookshelf and ended up donating over a hundred books to our local coffee shop that has a “take one, leave one” pile. I took none and I felt a million times lighter. My bookshelf is still full, but it is no longer bursting. Most vital, it only has books that I am excited to read.

I’m pretty darn excited at this new perspective. I even let go of some sentimental items, like pictures that my grandmother painted in the 1930’s. I had been holding on to those bulky paintings for purely sentimental reasons, but I no longer needed them in my life. Hopefully, someone else will find joy in them and if not, I will never know and that’s okay too. I was ready to let go.

If you’re in need of a new perspective or a good declutter, I highly recommend Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. The Netflix series is inspirational too, especially being about to see Kondo in action. She has a very warm and happy energy.

Book Review - Lauren Acampora's The Paper Wasp

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for providing me with Lauren Acampora’s novel, The Paper Wasp, in exchange for an honest review.

Abby and Elise were childhood best friends raised in a small town in Michigan. They began to grow apart when as a teenager, Elise became involved in acting and her career took off.

Flash-Forward to their late 20’s: Elise is an actress living in Hollywood, while Abby is stuck in their small town, a college dropout. She is working retail and dreaming of a career in the film industry. Abby obsesses over Elise, saving every magazine article that features her former friend. The two women reconnect, when they both attend their high school reunion. Following the reunion, Abby decides to run off to Hollywood, showing up on Elise’s doorstep. Elise, takes Abby in for an extended stay, treating Abby to a taste of her lavish lifestyle. Soon, the boundaries of their relationship are blurred, when Abby accepts a job being Elise’s personal assistant. The situation is further strained by Abby’s growing ambition, a ticking time-bomb that is ready to explode.

I absolutely loved The Paper Wasp. Acampora is a masterful writer, combing gorgeous prose with complex characters. I could not put The Paper Wasp down and plowed through it in a single afternoon.

I’m a Los Angeles native and I found the way that Acampora captured the city to be perfect. There is a wonderful moment where Elise drives Abby through Hollywood for the first time, noting its lackluster, dingy atmosphere, which is a strong contrast both Abby’s perceived image of Hollywood and to Elise’s glamorous lifestyle. Elise takes meditation classes at an exclusive institute and although I’m not sure of a real-life counterpart, it is certainly something that exists in Los Angeles. It has strange, ethereal quality, but is also is a bit of a cult. I could easily imagine the type of fellow Angeleno’s, not only celebrities, who would have a membership to this type of club. One of the more memorable aspects of the institution, is their crazy costume parties, where members come dressed as images from their dreams. It’s strange and magical, with a hint of a nightmarish quality; akin to a scene from Alice in Wonderland.

There is another contrast, when Abby travels back to Michigan to see her sister. Her sister is a drug addict, who has recently had a baby daughter. Abby visits her sister and niece, seeing that they live in a filthy trailer barely able to make ends meet. Abby’s heart tells her to kidnap her niece and save her from the poverty and neglect, but she can’t act on it.

Abby’s obsession with Elise creates a tension throughout the story. In the start, she appears to be a bit of a stalker, but then as we see the dynamic between the two women, it is clearer that Abby is more concerned with the lack of direction that her life has taken. She is envious of Elise, who doesn’t seem to deserve her lucky breaks. Rather than wishing to be Elise, Abby thinks that she is more deserving or at least, if she were to have a good opportunity, she would know how to make the most of it. We learn that Abby has been carrying around a terrible secret that is making her more motivate to take risks in life. Abby becomes emboldened throughout the story, making her actions increasing erratic, creating a sense of danger.

When Abby is confronted with the real Elise, not the Elise from the magazine articles, she realizes that her friend lacks self-confidence. Elise lives a messy life. This sets up a social commentary on how we view celebrity, or even ordinary people, via carefully curated social media accounts. Abby couldn’t imagine the real Elise, because she was so caught-up in the fake, media version. Not only that, Abby spent a decade so hyper-focused on this fake Elise, that when she was confronted with the truth, her world cracked open.

The Paper Wasp is my current favorite read of 2019. I was hooked from the first page and cannot wait to read Acampora’s collection of short stories, The Wonder Garden. She is such a talented writer.

Columbia River Maritime Museum

A trip to Astoria would not be complete, without an educational trip to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. This first-class, highly interactive museum shares the story of the Columbia River, including Oregon’s rich history with the fish industry.

The entrance to the museum is filled with cool photo opportunities, such as giant anchors and propellors.

Basic admission was a bargain at only fourteen dollars for adults ( children 6-17 are only five dollars). We had the option, which we declined, to add a 3-D film for five dollars. Also notable, the Columbia River Maritime Museum is a designated “Blue Star Museum,” which offers free admission to active military members and their families.

Admission includes the opportunity to board the Lightship Columbia, a decommissioned vessel that was a former floating lighthouse. We arrived when the museum first opened and we were advised to tour the Lightship Columbia first, as it gets very busy. This was great advice, as we pretty much had the vessel to ourselves.

We were met by a cheerful volunteer, who introduced us to the Lightship Columbia, before allowing us to explore on our own. We were allowed to walk around a majority of the vessel, including the crew quarters. It’s hard to imagine spending weeks at a time in cramped spaces with terrible weather tossing the boat around. I felt seasick just thinking about it!

A U.S. Coast Guard Vessel was parked across from the Lightship Columbia. It was heavily guarded!

Dan took this great picture of ships out in the Columbia River.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum is massive. I absolutely love museums and could have spent all day here. I’m one of those people who likes to read everything. However, my husband is not as much of a museum person. We both compromised and did a speedy, yet thorough tour of the museum.

One of the first things we encountered was this amazing map of the known shipwrecks in the Columbia River. The Columbia is a very treacherous stretch of water.

Among the most memorable exhibits included a section on Oregon during World War Two. There was a very moving exhibit regarding the Obon Society. The Obon Society is non-profit humanitarian organization that is headquartered in Astoria. During WW2, many American soldiers took Japanese flags home as souvenirs. These flags were carried by Japanese soldiers as a token of good-luck, signed with well-wishes from family and friends before the soldiers headed off to war. The Obon Society is collecting flags from American soldiers and trying to return the flags to the families in Japan. The museum had several flags on display that the Obon Society has not been able to trace to a Japanese soldier. These are active cases and if the Obon Society can discover the owner of the flag, it will be mailed to Japan. I was very moved by the mission of the Obon Society and the act of helping families heal that spans both cultural barriers and many generations.

In no particular order, here are some pictures from the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

When I was a kid, my mom loved nautical themed prints. We had one nearly identical to the picture below hanging in my living room.

They were not my aesthetic at all. When my mom died, I dumped what I called our “Shit Pictures.”

We spent about two hours at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, but we could have easily spent double the amount of time. It is really first class with exhibits that will educate both children and adults.

No museum visit would be complete without a stop to the gift shop.

Dan was convinced that I needed this spiffy hat!

But I really wanted the octopus!

We managed to escape the gift shop with zero purchases: a museum miracle!