2008-11-01 Not as exciting as a Christmas book should be

This book follows on from "A Slice of Organic Life" which was a very sweet book with lots of proper advice about beginning to keep chickens, make your own compost, etc.

However this book is a lot weaker than the previous title. The pictures aren't tempting, especially of the dried orange tree decorations - they look (to me) disgusting, old and dried up! It also has some factual errors such as claiming that if your Christmas tree goes to landfill it will take "hundreds of years" to rot down. Hmmmm.... And many of the craft projects are the kind of thing where it looks like a good idea at the time (making felt birds for the Christmas tree); but where eventually you realise it's going to take about 3 days of solid work and a lot of shopping and money to make these so-called "simple and homely" decorations...

If you are a real fan of Sheherezade you might enjoy the book but NB that she was the editor, rather than the writer, and the only bit copyrighted by her is the introduction - she is clearly credited on the cover as "editor in chief", not the author.

I totally agree with what Village Preservation Society says in her review - it's sweet, and it's a goal we all want to aim for. But honestly, lots of the stuff (like sticking dried seed heads to a photo album cover) look as if they will fall apart instantly, which nobody wants! Sorry to be so down on the book, because it's a nice idea, but it's just NOT done nicely enough for me to give it more of a recommendation.