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Rating: 
Summary: Clear advice for living a clear life.
Review: A beautifully written guide to living a simplified life. No hype, no muss, no fuss. Right to the point. Clear writing from someone who seems to really know what she's talking about.
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Summary: More Than I Wanted to Know
Review: I looked forward to reading this book, based on reviews I'd read elsewhere; however, the actual read was a disappointment. Although the book started out with a great premise, it quickly turned into a self-absorbed meditation on this particular woman's life habits. I found the tone to be annoyingly smug and unnecessarily detailed. (Who cares if she catches a dish when she drops it, or if it smashes on the floor?) I applaud the desire to live a simple life and experience it to the fullest, but I felt that the author wanted me to believe that her way was the only way. By the time I finished, I was glad it was a short book and there were no more pages left over. I was exhausted.
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Summary: Open windows -- This is fresh air.
Review: Lippe's book of rather weak maxims left me high and dry. ...her somewhat brief inner meanderings were continually punctuated with such things as a lecture on the rewards of cleaning out my clothes closet, or advice about how to prepare my wardrobe for the next work day, or lists of what to take when traveling...I expected something much more inspiring! In conclusion, she writes: "I cannot claim that any of it (what she has recorded) is original..." And herein is the author's own disclaimer.
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Summary: Nothing Left Over has Something for Everyone
Review: Nothing Left Over by Toinette Lippe is an extraordinary spiritual teaching about how to make full use of one's potential, energy and time. No spiritual teaching can exist with a body of lessons from a Master teacher, and Ms. Lippe gives generously of her own extraordinary life in order to help the reader fully examine how to mazimize the moments of our outer and inner lives. The application of these lessons to our inner lives is refreshing and insightful as Ms. Lippe identifies events in her own life as a mother, wife and senior book editor which explore how inner "house cleaning" can transform one's life through honest and impeccable attention to the details of our lives. As in the manner of all great spiritual teachers, Ms. Lippe gives enough detail of her own life to help the reader understand the underpinnings of her spiritual lessons and faith. She does this with wit, warmth and charm. Her beliefs are based on truths which have worked for her and can work for others, and her expression of these truths are self-assured but never smug. Living simply in our society is not always looked upon as a plus. Ms. Lippe shows that simple living is not a life of poverty. It offers a rich partnership with the universe and the circumstances of our lives. I believe readers will come away energized to clean out their inner and outer closets to make room for opportunities sometimes missed in the tumult of our chaotic lives. I encourage anyone who has the capacity for self-examination to buy this book. It is a tonic for modern times with beneficial results lasting far beyond the pleasurable hours spent reading this insightful and inspiring book.
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Summary: Not Plain & Simple, but Clear as a Bell
Review: Nothing Left Over impressed me most in its unusual clarity, both in the writing and in the life it describes. Toinette Lippe's sure touch arises, it would seem, from innate gifts, enhanced by her wealth of experience as an editor and her deep and broad familiarity with spiritual traditions. Her life is "plain and simple" not in terms of who she has known and what she has accomplished, but in its focus. Her example, gentle and generous, may inspire others toward living with greater ease and clarity. The spare elegance of the cover is a perfect expression of the style and content of the book.
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Summary: Stealth Simplicity
Review: Nothing Left Over is a sneaky book. As I read, I felt myself in familiar territory, the softness of a gentle reminder from a close friend. The book became my companion. Without trying, I contemplated the gradual considerations Ms. Lippe brought into the landscape, never feeling required to do so. The issues grew naturally, like a garden, without aggression or unnatural intent. When I finished this book, I had been on a journey and felt refreshed and nourished. I honestly hope that she continues to write and publish because subtlety in the field of spiritual writing is a rarity and extremely welcome by this reader.
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Summary: A subtle invitation to go deeper
Review: Nothing Left Over is Not, in my opinion, a clarion call to lead a "plain and simple life." It is a subtle and beautiful invitation to become aware of what life simply is. Nothing Left Over was a delightful few hours in a cozy chair being warmed from the inside. In the end, I knew clearly that Toinette, her life, and her awareness of her life were the gifts those hours had for me. I recommend it to Pilgrims on the Way.
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Summary: Spirituality without the dogma
Review: Reading Toinette Lippe is as comfortable as settling in for a cup of tea and a long chat with an old friend. You know the advice you are getting comes from a caring person with insight and realistic experience. Her writing is literary without being stuffy. The spiritual aspects of her shared thoughts glimmer from the pages, but you never sense any proselytizing. The essence of her style, it seems, is to instruct without preaching. She is always sensible, often whimsical, and as nurturing as a hug. A good read.
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Summary: PRACTICAL WISDOM
Review: the style fits the title: simple, straighforward without the need for embellishments. lippe offers a way of seeing what is rare to the popular culture, for which she exclaims "less is enough"! her inspirational influences varies greatly from traditions and genres... in example further demonstrates an open mind accompanied by an equally open heart. seeing the beauty and the true reality of the everyday mundane is refreshingly unique yet wise, since it is not the spectacular fireworks that compose our daily lives... it is the little bits and pieces that collage to make our masterpiece.
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Summary: Open windows -- This is fresh air.
Review: Toinette Lippe speaks in a clear voice about her quiet, thoughtful life. In her unpretentious, straightforward style she tells the truth: Most people are not having a more perfect, more wonderful, more satisfying life -- like we think they might be. And, at the same time, she shares her heartbreak, bits of wisdom, and life experience. She's a lot more practical than most of the people I know, but this adds to her value as she shares her "recipes" for making a decent life. I loved her book and her realness. It was refreshing to be able to take something in without being assaulted by excess, flash and hyperbole. And to her credit, she does not mention the word "sanctuary" once.
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