What's are some good mustachian novels?

[tryharddaniel]

I'm simply in want of a bit of mustachian-inspiration, so if you had any good fiction reading about anything mustachian or tangentially mustachian that would be great!

Take the above prompt in any direction you'd like.  Bonus if it's a book that a local library would probably carry.  I'm picking up some books today!

[ixtap]

We had a Jane Austen book club going for awhile.

Sense and Sensibility offers suggestions for DIY ("We could start our own fires" - ok, that might have been the movie, rather than the book, but the idea is there when they are down to two servants). Don't accept a gift horse because the associated costs are too high. Find hosts and hostesses so that you can minimize travel costs.

Persuasion has some advice about foregoing noblesse oblige and leaving all that to your new tenant.

Seems Grapes of Wrath might have some tips about frugality and geo arbitrage. Sinclair's works have similar themes...

[feelingroovy]

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

It's been years since I read it, but it's about someone choosing to live a meaningful life over a materialistic one. IIRC he has a trust and can live simply off the interest. His friends want him to get a job so he can live it up. Ha navigates society's expectations.

It's the ultimate mustachian novel.

[cool7hand]

The Grapes of Wrath?

[StarBright]

Not a novel, but Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is my ultimate mustachian inspiration read. And because the author, Barbara Kingsolver is a novelist, it has a fiction quality to the flow of the writing.

[evme]

I don't know what makes me think it's "mustachian" but I adore the book "The Rosie Project".

[Morning Glory]

Not a novel, but Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is my ultimate mustachian inspiration read. And because the author, Barbara Kingsolver is a novelist, it has a fiction quality to the flow of the writing.

I enjoyed that one when I was getting into the whole homestead/acreage/clean eating thing. Her novel "Unsheltered" has some themes around frugality and coping with bad economic conditions (and also carnivorous plants!).

[cool7hand]

It finally came to me: Demian by Herman Hesse. It's all about awakening to a life separate from the herd.

[StarBright]

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts is both melodramatic but also mustachian in that it is about a woman building a rewarding life out of very little.

Even though I call it melodramatic, I truly loved the book when I read it almost 20 years ago.   

[change_seeker]

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

It's been years since I read it, but it's about someone choosing to live a meaningful life over a materialistic one. IIRC he has a trust and can live simply off the interest. His friends want him to get a job so he can live it up. Ha navigates society's expectations.

It's the ultimate mustachian novel.

@feelingroovy I read this book on your recommendation yesterday.  I wonder how many people have ended up at an ashram in India based on this book?

[raincoast]

The March family in Little Women were previously rich but lost much of their money and have to stretch and save to make ends meet. There’s a lot in the novel about everyone pitching in, economizing on clothing, prioritizing family over material things, while still finding time and resources to help those less fortunate. The novel is a bit more overtly Christian then most film adaptations of it, though, which some may find a bit heavy-handed.

[GuitarStv]

It's hard to fault Walden on this front.

[feelingroovy]

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

It's been years since I read it, but it's about someone choosing to live a meaningful life over a materialistic one. IIRC he has a trust and can live simply off the interest. His friends want him to get a job so he can live it up. Ha navigates society's expectations.

It's the ultimate mustachian novel.

@feelingroovy I read this book on your recommendation yesterday.  I wonder how many people have ended up at an ashram in India based on this book?

Okay, that's how long it's been. I don't remember an Ashram, though I can imagine that's where the protagonist ends up. I guess it's time to reread it.

Did you like it?

[change_seeker]

I enjoyed it, but it may have dredged up some existential angst.  I was having a hard time keeping my nose to the grindstone at work.  Read the book at work, definitely not trying harder after reading it.

[cats]

I also really enjoy the Razor's Edge.

These are more YA but I'll add Homecoming (Cynthia Voigt), Dicey's Song, and subsequent books in the series.

[getsorted]

"A House for Mr. Biswas" by V.S. Naipaul is a great story about attempts to build wealth gone wrong!

[tryharddaniel]

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

It's been years since I read it, but it's about someone choosing to live a meaningful life over a materialistic one. IIRC he has a trust and can live simply off the interest. His friends want him to get a job so he can live it up. Ha navigates society's expectations.

It's the ultimate mustachian novel.

I just finished reading this one.  I think it was pretty solid although it actually may have had the opposite effect on me.  The characters who chose more superficial paths didn't seem to be that much worse off in the end.

I actually found myself looking at Elliot's life throughout and thinking wow he's pretty cool.

Some of the philosophy stuff was really well written. I need a break from classics for a while.

[Ichabod]

Jack Reacher is anti-consumerism/anti-materialism. It's not really the point of the books, but it is an important part of the character.

[Metalcat]

Madame Bovary is a pretty scathing criticism of consumerism and it's accompanying miseries.

[Cannot Wait!]

It's hard to fault Walden on this front.

"Walden on Wheels" is a modern take on this that I really enjoyed. Written by a smart kid that had a lot of things figured out by the time he was 24.

[rockeTree]

The protagonist of Neal Stephenson's Zodiac has quit his fancy scientist job to work for an environmental nonprofit, ditching the car and nice apartment for a house share and a bike for the chance to do work he believes in. Adventure ensues!

[BeanCounter]

I also really enjoy the Razor's Edge.

These are more YA but I'll add Homecoming (Cynthia Voigt), Dicey's Song, and subsequent books in the series.

Boy does this bring back memories. I had forgotten these, but really enjoyed them when I was younger.

[lifeandlimb]

I read the Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway a few years ago and personally found it reinforced some of the themes put forth in Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin. Certainly this is up for interpretation, but I'd be curious if anyone else felt the same way.

[tygertygertyger]

In a weird way, Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed might be considered mustachian. Being satisfied with what you have, a strong sense of community, and one society is strongly contrasted with another more consumerist society with poorer outcomes...

Though also, it's about a group of anarchists who broke away from a capitalist society to form a utopia, and comparing the cracks in that utopia against what they left.

[Dicey]

It's hard to fault Walden on this front.

Another vote for Thoreau.

Also, Ken Ilgunas' "Walden on Wheels".  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15815613-walden-on-wheels. I haven't read the actual book, because I followed his blog in real time, way back when. At the time what he was doing was a fairly out-of-the-box solution. He's a good writer and it's been out long enough that your library should have it.