JANUARY 2016 - AudioFile
Sumalee Montano’s soothing narration beautifully complements Japanese organizing expert Marie Kondo’s Zen-like approach to decluttering homes. This sequel to her global blockbuster, THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP, offers detailed steps on how to tidy and organize one’s home, including instructions on how to fold and store clothes and other items—one of the author’s signature skills. Montano’s calm voice exudes the peaceful and contemplative mood that is necessary for successful decluttering. Her purposeful pacing and pauses convey the typical participant’s’ hesitation or bewilderment as he or she decides which items to keep and which to discard. A subsequent lightness in Montano’s tone marks the participant’s eventual sense of relief at saying goodbye to items that do not—as Kondo says—“spark joy.” M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
New York Times Best Seller
". . . the organization expert who dazzled the world with her Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is back with more spirit-rousing advice."
— People
"Just in time to make good on your New Year’s vow to get organized."
— The Washington Post
". . .perhaps the world’s only decluttering celebrity."
— The New York Times
"If the first book was merely an introduction to Kondo’s radical philosophy, known as the KonMari method, the new one goes deep into the details . . . the result is inescapable: a home, and a vision of life, that truly sparks joy."
— ArchitecturalDigest.com
"If you wanted more from her first book, this is what you've been waiting for."
— MindBodyGreen
"In her new organizational how-to book, Kondo's mission is to help us identify what brings joy while simultaneously cultivating more of it."
— Los Angeles Times
"I'm an evangelist for Marie Kondo, the Japanese organizational guru whose unique tidying techniques have become a worldwide sensation. I've read both of her books and completed the full decluttering/reorganizing program in six months. In the last year, it has been my favorite thing to bring up to my friends, co-workers, heck, even distant cousins. I am obsessed, because it really has transformed my living space and shattered many of my bad habits related to tidying."
— PopSugar
"Kondo’s way of anthropomorphizing belongings and paying them the respect of taking them out of the closet for a proper dismissal makes a big difference. . . . consider me a Konvert."
— Chloe Malle, Vogue.com
"From the perfect underwear drawer, to how to store socks, Marie Kondo is helping the world to properly (and lovingly) store their most beloved possessions, one fold at a time."
— Bustle
Praise for Marie Kondo and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up:
"Ms. Kondo delivers her tidy manifesto like a kind of Zen nanny, both hortatory and animistic."
-- The New York Times
". . . a literal how-to-heave-ho, and I recommend it for anyone who struggles with the material excess of living in a privileged society. (Thanks to Ms. Kondo, I kiss my old socks goodbye.) ... To show you how serious my respect for Ms. Kondo is: if I ever get a tattoo, it will say, Spark Joy!"
— Jamie Lee Curtis, TIME
"This book is a cult. A totally reasonable, scary cult that works, doesn’t kill people (a bonus), but does drastically change your life. In this case — for the better."
— Buzzfeed
"The most organized woman in the world."
— PureWow
". . . her voice . . . is by turns stern and enchanted, like a fairy godmother for socks."
— The Wall Street Journal
"Reading it, you glimpse a glittering mental freedom from the unread/uncrafted/unworn, buyer’s remorse, the nervous eyeing of real estate listings. Life’s overwhelm, conquered."
— The Atlantic
"I can only describe the way I felt afterward as an organizational high. I had a sense of being more in control of my life than I ever had before, which inspired me to maintain the order in the months that followed. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon."
— In Style
"All hail the new decluttering queen Marie Kondo, whose mess-busting bestseller has prompted a craze for tidying in homes across the world . . . one proper clear out is all you need for the rest of your life."
— Good Housekeeping (UK)
"Kondo's method really can change your life — if you let it."
— TODAY.com
"Kondo challenges you to ask yourself whether each object you have is achieving a purpose. Is it propelling you forward or holding you in the past?"
— USA Today
"Its strength is its simplicity."
— The London Times
Library Journal
02/01/2016
Best-selling author Kondo (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up) has written a companion book that delivers additional instructions for "tidying up." Essentially, the key criterion to keeping a specific object is that it brings joy. Not only does Kondo advise readers about what to keep/discard, but she discusses storing items happily and offers an encyclopedia of tidying clothes, books, papers, sentimental items, and so on. Focusing more on the spiritual than the material, the author suggests that restoring order brings relationships into focus and causes one to concentrate less on others' faults. VERDICT Kondo presents not a decluttering manual but a way to look at the relationships and things that are meaningful in life.
