A lovely gentle feel good book. I really enjoyed it. Loved the stories told as you work your way through the year. A joy to read

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'A Year of Living Simply'. I enjoyed reading about Kate Humble's efforts to live the simple life. and was inspired to look up the New Mexico community that she visited.

It would be lovely for us all to adopt 'greener', less complicated ways of living but it would mean taking a giant leap for most people and needing a reasonable amount of money to make the transition..

A Year of Living Simply is inspiring, forward and helpful in aiding you to strip back your life to find more happiness and joy. I loved the simplicity of it and how it’s accessible to everyone - even to people who might find it difficult to let go of things (whether material or not). 

It’s a self-help book with a difference. The author integrates her personal experiences into the advice, which was a lovely touch and made this book better and easier to connect with. 

Overall, it was comforting, especially in the current situation, and I’ve already started trying out some ideas to live life a little more simply!

Whilst as a 20 something currently based in Cambodia, I am not the target market for this book - I loved it all the same!

Kate's A Year of Living Simply is like a warm hug. It's an ambient read about ways to make life simpler, and although I am not sure I will ever have a large vegetable garden - I still enjoyed reading all about it.

I particularly loved the focus on house building and on mortgage-free living.

Thanks for the inspiration to live a quieter life.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

I must admit, I was a little disappointed. I felt that to live the simple life like Kate does, money is required. For example, Kate lives in the countryside, has enough land to grow her own veg, and hires a gardener to help her. Not everyone has this luxury. To me, living life simply would mean spending less too.

I felt at times the book was lacking Kate's personal experiences of living simply, and was merely a collection of how people she has met are living simply, developing community projects etc. I expected to be reading more about Kate's trials and tribulations of living simply.

She does contradict herself too: flying to New Mexico to help build an eco-friendly house, which I felt was a bit unnecessary in a book about learning to live simply, especially when the particular project referred to was not a new concept.

Kate writes well and her bubbly girl-next-door persona from TV still comes across, but sadly not a page-turner.

I loved this book - you could read it at whatever pace you liked and get so much out of it. There was so much information in it but you could feel your heart rate slow as the author went on each adventure. I would recommend it to anyone. Makes you think long and hard about what you are doing, perfect in a corona season,

This is a fabulous, thought-provoking book. I read it in less than two days.

We live in a world dominated by consumerism, the need to make money and live what we perceive to be purposeful lives; however, for some people, this desire to have the latest gadget, fashionable clothes and eat in fancy restaurants, no longer matters. Or never mattered at all.

Kate Humble has spent several years living in Wales, a wonderful part of the world. She explores in this book what it means to live simply, stripping back the layers (a bit like peeling an onion) to find the meaning and purpose of connecting with the world around us.

A number of people Kate meets share their experiences, whether it is building Earthships in New Mexico, living in a floating house in Amsterdam, or sharing recipes and demonstrating what to do when you grow too much veg!

Kate finds out a lot about herself, and redraws the boundaries of what she thought she couldn't do - carpentry, successfully growing fruit and veg, and sewing.

What is clear from the book is that it is possible to live more simply, and waste less, by listening to and observing what is around us, as well as sharing the resources and skills we already have. Having less clutter around and learning new skills can enrich our lives and help eliminate stress.

Reading this book has made me realise I have a very cluttered life and need to take a step back, reassess what is important and let go of the things that aren't.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Octopus Publishing, in return for an honest appraisal.

Another fascinating and uplifting book from the TV presenter known for her love of animals and the outdoors, and for her smallholding in Wales.

This is a wonderfully soothing and inspiring collection of thoughts about how to rid ourselves of some of the clutter of our lives.

There are some fantastic stories here, and some great ideas, with a few recipes too - toasting banana bread, for example, never occurred to me but delicious!

Kate meets a woman who teaches her how to wash clothes by hand - two tubs of water, takes 10 minutes for a load of washing including cleaning, rinsing and hanging on the line. She introduces us to community initiatives which encourage people to restore rather than buy new. There are snippets of information about the mental health benefits of feeling the soil in your hands, and the giving and receiving of compliments. And she explains how having more 'things' can make you feel less secure because you feel a pressure to hold on to them.

Despite its title, this book is not presented as a diary, instead the chapter and section breaks are led by subject, and it really is a collection of thoughts and meetings. It reads almost as if we've been sent a letter from a friend.

It would be possible to dip in and out for distraction in a quiet moment, but actually I couldn't put the book down, reading it quickly from cover to cover. I even felt a bit lost when it was finished - I was enjoying Kate's company and loved hearing about her encounters with these fascinating and inspiring individuals. A great book and certainly reassuring for these times. I highly recommend it!

✨What are your thoughts on the slow living movement and what does simple living mean to you?

This book really took me by surprise in the best way possible. I’ve read so many slow living/authentic living book as I just adore the whole movement but some books on the subject can be hit or miss for me.
This one though was so different to anything I’ve read before in the way that it was laid out and the tone of the book.

The author is so engaging and so likeable. There is no ‘this way to live is better than others’ vibe to the book which a few others I’ve read have had.

I enjoyed that the book chronicled Kate’s journey of learning more about how to live simply and how she shared the stories of all the people who have helped her learn new things about the movement along the way!

Such a warm and inviting book and one that is perfect if your looking to learn to live a bit more simply than you already do!

Here’s the blurb...
“If there is one thing that most of us aspire to, it is, simply, to be happy. And yet attaining happiness has become, it appears, anything but simple. Having stuff - The Latest, The Newest, The Best Yet - is all too often peddled as the sure fire route to happiness. So why then, in our consumer-driven society, is depression, stress and anxiety ever more common, affecting every strata of society and every age, even, worryingly, the very young? Why is it, when we have so much, that many of us still feel we are missing something and the rush of pleasure when we buy something new turns so quickly into a feeling of emptiness, or purposelessness, or guilt?

So what is the route to real, deep, long lasting happiness? Could it be that our lives have just become overly crowded, that we've lost sight of the things - the simple things - that give a sense of achievement, a feeling of joy or excitement? That make us happy. Do we need to take a step back, reprioritise? Do we need to make our lives more simple?

Kate Humble's fresh and frank exploration of a stripped-back approach to life is uplifting, engaging and inspiring - and will help us all find balance and happiness every day.”✨

This was a lovely book to read at this tough time with a global pandemic. I found it very uplifting and thought provoking. It made me look at life and sort of re-evaluate what was happening at the moment. There definitely is light at the end of this long, dark tunnel and we will all get through it.

This was a fab book, just what I need to read! Thank you Kate for giving me an eye-opening read and to NetGalley for this ARC!

Uplifting.
I looked at this book and wondered why I had asked for it as I am an avid fiction reader.
As soon as I started reading it I remembered the introduction and was captivated by Kate and her simple yet deep philosophy.
After the first chapter I cleared out my kitchen cupboards, giving my unneeded pots, pans and crockery to a charity which rehouses homeless people. Later I recycled some clothes particularly an 18 year old jumper which just needed the shoulder pads removing (yes that old)and have asked for a sewing machine for Christmas. We have an allotment so the gardening success and failures were good to hear. I am afraid I was not convinced by the hand washing but who knows.
The people Kate meets and the places she visits are absolutely fascinating and the projects she gets involved in. So pleased she lists the links especially to Earthship so I can explore more.
I am seriously thinking of giving up facebook, it is that fear of missing out, but I would gain time and a clearer head.
I can honestly say this book put a spring in my step and hope in my heart, thank you so much Kate and NetGalley.

I slightly expected this to be an obvious rendition of how someone in the public eye has taken a less damaging approach to life this year but I was wrong. Instead it is a very well and heavily researched book introducing some very interesting topics and conversation starters. There could definitely be more specific and defined ways to make a difference but as an eye opening and thought provoking as well as genuinely interesting read I would recommend it.

I requested to read this one some weeks ago at a time when I was revaluating my life. Thoughts brought on by lockdown and the horror that is 2020 really shining a light on what is important in this life. It’s not usual that I read non-fiction, and if I do it tends to err on the side of historical memoirs and the like. But there was something about this that drew me to it.

I vaguely recognised the author’s name from tv shows my husband and son enjoy watching. They are both outdoorsy country types (I enjoy the countryside we live in during fair weather or alternatively through the window) and so I absorb some things, at least by some sort of osmosis.

I didn’t get the chance to read until recently, by which time (as happens) my mood had changed somewhat and I couldn’t really remember why it was I requested it. I began to read therefore a little bit grumpily and with unfair expectations that I would be preached at.

It couldn’t be further from the truth. What I experienced was actually a really interesting book, which explores, as the title suggests, the idea of living simply. The author’s narrative is very conversational and anecdotal, and in the time of corona, where we have been unable to converse face to face in the way we normally would, I felt as if this was the closest thing to a good conversation (albeit one-sided) I’ve had in a long time. It’s a truly fascinating read, and one which really resonated with me. As a country born girl, who moved to the city, and then back to the country I always feel I have a foot in both camps. I love the rush of the city, but the pace of life can be exhausting and there is always something relaxing about open spaces and fresh air, that even my adopted city ways can’t deny.

There are so many discussion points in this book which struck a chord, one being Stuff. How much we accumulate. We’ve been renovating a house and we have rather a lot of our belongings in storage on account of our rental house being too small. I recently went to reclaim the Christmas decorations and was astounded as I looked around at a) how much we had and b) how we hadn’t needed it in the slightest in the last twelve months – begging the question, why do we have it!? This book has encouraged me to really see things I perhaps have been glazing over.

This is actually a book I would really like as a print copy, I didn’t really read in a linear fashion once I got going, I dipped in and out and really appreciated the soothing, gentle tone. It’s a relaxing read, and one that I know I will revisit. It has without doubt got me thinking about how we can live differently, more sustainably and much more simply.

a glorious book for these dark times. Kate makes me feel the gentle calmness of her life and the lives of the people she meets. Simple pleasures are the ones she talks of, and I felt calmer and less stressed during the reading of this. Bliss.

Loved this book. It certainly was thought provoking and a Lockdown Winner.
There's some wonderful tips in here of which I'm certainly going to take onboard
An excellent read

Refreshing in this throw away society which we have all succumbed to. Some of the people’s ideas were quite wacky but they worked! An interesting read.

A fabulous book exploring the idea of living a more simple life, less clutter, less material items and enjoying the bounties that the earth and hard work can provide. Kate meets people who have already made the transition and help her to achieve her ideas for a life change. The book has some fabulous recipes as well, so if the idea of a slower way of life appeals then this book is a fabulous introduction. I enjoyed it immensely.

I absolutely loved this book! So much so that I actually bought a copy of it too. It really appealed to me as simple living is something I strife for. Beautifully written. I just loved it

I simply loved this book.

Who doesn't feel a tad guilty for the amount of waste we produce everyday, for buying things that we don't necessarily need, or for not considering that something could have been repaired before we toss it aside and buy a replacement. This book takes the reader on a journey with Kate looking at how people have created happier and simpler lives for themselves in various ways. It is down to earth and doesn't at all feel preachy in the way that these types of books sometimes can. It is honest and heartfelt.

Like Kate I live in South Wales and really struggle with gardening so I particularly enjoyed reading about her plans for her first vegetable patch. Perhaps after learning from her mistakes I could give it another go myself next year.

I highly recommend this book and thank the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book is a book for the troubled times we live in in 2020 - we all need a book like this, which draws on learning about nature and getting to the root of problems and having space and time to learn. I enjoyed this book very much. This is a book that educators can discuss with their students and how we can all become less infatuated with the rush of Life and just calm down.