Each November, I used to check this book out of my local library and browse through its lovely pages. But alas, before I could get through – it had to be returned. I did this for three consecutive years, until this year – finally – I found a used copy at my favorite book store .
The Christmas Chronicles takes the reader from November through January and covers everything most-British-holiday.
Each day of the season, Mr. Slater writes about food and its preparation sensuously and lovingly, but also gardening, practical tips, and decorating his home. He delves into childhood memories and fascinating insights into Christmas traditions and their origins.
There are lots of recipes, many of which I would never attempt, but are bound to make the cold months in the UK bearable. There are mince pies, malt loaf, winter drinks and Christmas wreaths, candlelight and carols.
There are much-loved (again very British) Christmas classics, such as goose and turkey (and making the most of the leftovers), mincemeat pies and, the infamous Christmas pudding –a flaming dome of booze-drenched cake which is featured in many a Dickens’ Christmas.
Here’s one I have tagged and may try — Panna Cotta flavored with buttermilk with cranberry and orange sauce.
Here are some favorite quotes:
The icy prickle across your face as you walk out into the freezing air. The piercing burn to your sinuses, like wasabi. Your eyes sparkle, your ears tingle. The rush of cold to your head is stimulating, vital, energising.
Home means more to us in cold weather. Making ourselves comfortable is a duty. Making friends and family comfortable is an art.
And some photos – and a sample of the lovely text – click to make larger:
The book itself is gorgeous. It’s beautifully produced, with thick paper, and gold leaf on the cover which catches the light prettily — as a bonus, it has a ribbon bookmark (something I always appreciate).
This book is not for everyone but if you are (or know) a raging anglophile then this would be a wonderful gift for the season. It celebrates the joy of simple pleasures — such as a cup of hot chocolate or the scent of oranges spiked with cloves.
I’m loving reading it every day, (I’m a bit behind) and will miss dipping into it each day once I get to the end. It’s like a daily dose of Dickensian joy during the season.
Fair warning here’s yet another post about books-about-books, if you’re not into that sort of thing, (despite the Book Barmy name of this blog) please feel free to skip this.
I am a book hoarder accumulator, not a book collector in the literal and rare sense. But I have, over the years, very much enjoyed reading about book collectors, their collections, and especially how they find their books. Two of my favorites authors in this genre are the the husband and wife team of Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. I own all three of their books about books and recently revisited them while dusting.
(Side note: Dusting my books takes several days as I get down the books and have to remind myself – Did I read this? Will I read this? Yes, I read this and will keep it. Often I find myself reading away the time I should be dusting and sorting — such was the case with these three books.)
Their first book is titled Used and Rare – Travels in the Book World
A book for anyone who loves books, the Goldstones didn’t know anything about rare books when they started visiting antiquarian book shops — all they wanted were nice hardback copies of the authors they loved. It all started when Ms. Goldstone tracked down a ten-dollar copy of War and Peace as a birthday gift for her husband, this set the couple onto an unexpected, delightful and expensive journey of book collecting.
Used and Rare was written in 1997, before Amazon or Goodreads took off, so most of the book shopping is done the old fashioned way — the Yellow Pages and a full tank of gas. Over the next three years they haunted used and rare bookshops between New York and Boston — from dark, dust-filled barns to elegant Park Avenue galleries. Starting with cheap, out-of-print used books, their addiction soon graduated to first editions and, finally, to three-quarter morocco, custom-bound antiquarian classics that they could not afford. Along the way, they gained an education in books—and in people—that we can all savor. This warm and witty story is filled with eccentric characters, from a punk book dealer peddling fifty-thousand-dollar modern firsts to a golf-obsessed Shakespearean scholar with books on demonic possession in his basement. Part travel story, part love story, and part memoir. If you’re looking for a very gentle introduction to the art and business of used, rare, and fine book dealership, Goldstone’s humorous book is an absorbing place to start, a delightful journey, and a love letter to book lovers everywhere.
The squeal is titled Slightly Chipped – Footnotes in Booklore
This follow upis different – a collection of essays which detail the couple’s further explorations into the curious world of book collecting.
They get hooked on the correspondence of the Bloomsbury group (especially their romantic liaisons), they track down Bram Stoker’s early notes for Dracula, and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. (Recently published books that prove very collectable. A first edition of Sue Grafton’s “A Is for Alibi” sold for $1,250 in 1998. Yes I checked my shelves, just in case…but no.)
The Goldstones chronicle their visits to bibliophile’s dream places such as the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia and the Pequot Library in Connecticut. They are fascinated by the reading habits of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and attend the auction of the contents of their library at Sothebys. This auction ultimately brought approximately $24 million and included a number of collectible books.
Slightly Chipped was published in 1999 at the dawn of the Internet era, and therefore touches only lightly on impact to booksellers.
Again, unlike their first book, Slightly Chipped is written as separate essays and I missed learning more about their story and their book collecting. I had to laugh when Nancy says to her husband: “Do they really think people are going to use a computer to buy books they’ve never seen from a dealer they’ve never heard of and give him a credit-card number to boot?”
Again Slightly Chipped is different from the first book, and while I enjoyed the various essays I did miss the couple’s story of their own book adventures and collecting. Don’t get me wrong, this book is another delight for both the general reader and book collectors alike.
Warmly Inscribed is the third and last of Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone’s books about rare book collecting.
This book finds them once again visiting book fairs and many antique book sellers. Written in 2001, the authors once again write about the internet and how it was starting to change the way people buy and sell books and the devastating effect on brick and mortar bookstores.
There is a chapter devoted to the New England Forger, Kenneth Anderson, with the details of his forgery of signatures on books and the difficulty in getting law enforcement to prosecute him.
The Goldstones treat us to a great tour of the Library of Congress Rare Book Section led by one of the library’s rare book specialists — an insider’s look most people will never experience. (Okay on my bucket list…)
As always, the writing is easy, personable and inviting. The stories are engaging, the gossip is juicy. I found it a great book to read a few chapters at a time while cuddled up in bed on a cold night.
I’m lucky to stumble across books in a myriad of ways. A Book Barmy follower from England, has become an email pal over the years. She lives in a picturesque area of England, is an avid reader (natch), and a gardener. A subscriber to Slightly Foxed quarterly, she read about an American book, Gardening for Love and wrote me about it. I searched and found this nice used copy on Ebay.
Eudora Welty put Ms. Lawrence’s name the mailing list of The Mississippi Market Bulletin, a twice-monthly collection of classified advertisements founded in 1928. Our author soon discovered market bulletins from the other Southern states, as well as similar bulletins published privately in the North. She began ordering heirloom plants from the bulletins, and started a lively exchange of letters with the gardeners who sold them, took trips to acquire plants, and met a cast of fun and interesting characters.
Thus sparked Ms. Lawrence’s interest in this fascinating topic and the compilation of this book filled with gardening lore and snapshots of the gardeners she befriended in the 1950s and 60s.
Before the internet, avid gardeners sold seed and plants through classified ads in state agricultural bulletins. Tiny, small print classified ads that farmers and gardeners would pore over. Often the ads did not involve money, but merely the trading of seeds and plants.
These ads were posted by gardeners who had something to offer or wanted something. The only expense involved was postage.
Here’s a sample:
“Anything I have for three wandering Jews.”
“Come to my place for pretty flowers cheap, have so many.”
Then there is this farmer’s ad seeking a family to work his cotton and help milk forty cows. He offers a comfortable home to a small family of good workers but, he says, “People who live here must be happy. A beekeeper is needed who must not be afraid of bees or work; wages will be determined on worth.”
I found the correspondence back and forth most interesting – especially when it digs into the southern regional folk names of various plants and the lore behind the species.
Some of my favorite tidbits:
The dogtooth violet is called wild peanut because the bulbs are edible and have a taste of green peanuts. Bluets are the southern name for forget-me-nots. Grape hyacinths are known as blue bottles or blue jugs.
And this one made me giggle — a shrub, which is normally called a butterfly bush, but if anyone asks the name, the custom is to answer kiss-me-and-I’ll-tell-you.
As you can probably ascertain, Gardening for Love is a quirky, charming, and admittingly, a very niche gardening chronicle that celebrates the bond between gardeners of any sort and the simpler times in American gardening.
I found it’s not a book to read in order or even in one sitting. I kept it out to dip into when I had a few moments here and there.
Best enjoyed in snippets throughout a long winter.
It was a cold, rainy day when a small publishing house sent an email requesting a review of this memoir about a couple who find and restore a 300-year old Italian farmhouse. As nothing had grabbed me recently, book wise, I was still in much pain with my knee, and craving a warm escape — I replied ‘why yes, yes please’.
Pinch Me takes place in a part of Italy that really appeals to me – the Piemonte region. Now, unlike our friends who moved to France, I would prefer Italy, specifically this area of Piedmont, bordering France and Switzerland — and (sigh) at the foot of the Alps.
At first, this memoir seemed typical of this genre — a couple discovers a crumbling old stone farmhouse and face the challenges of purchasing it and then setting about to rebuild. But soon, I was transported with the author deeper into the beautiful area, exploring the village, looking over the landscape, sipping coffee in the little cafe, and being introduced to the neighbors in their new community. I especially liked getting to know Biagio and Angela who live on the same property and let the author and her husband rent a separate apartment in their home (while their property is in construction) — they soon become family.
Ms. Doyle relates how she and her husband struggled with the language, the endless Italian paper work, wrestling with builders, and their own long hours of hard labor, including hauling heavy stone away from the foundation. She also waxes on the zen-like calm found in doing dishes by hand and the joy of shopping at the village street markets where the produce is so fresh it comes with dirt attached.
The couple have kept their apartment in San Francisco, and are able to go back and forth once they found a trusted and reliable contractor to keep the house renovations moving. But, as their new home nears completion, the call of Italy is soon too irresistible and they make the permanent move, with heart break at leaving friends and family, but also excitement.
As they settle into their new life, Ms. Doyle’s writes beautifully of their piece of paradise — the beautiful landscapes, dinners with neighbors, trips into the alps, spending hot afternoons napping, and refreshing dips in their pool.
There’s a very funny (okay maybe not for our intrepid couple) tale of trying to get their American car licensed – which perfectly captures the long drawn out and confusing frustrations of Italian bureaucracy.
As a good cook and self-acknowledged foodie, Ms. Boyle shines with her descriptions of the good food, long meals in Italian restaurants, and even shares her favorite recipes learned from local home cooks–Bagnetto Verde and Risotto Milanese – as well as, her mom’s southern pecan pie.
A delightful new experience for me — Ms. Doyle has included her photographs via QR codes at the end of each chapter. Here’s photographic evidence of the before and after – just incredible.
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A short read, Pinch Me is a warm, wonderful escape. Sit back and immerse yourself in a couple’s dream come true, and the home they created. Enjoy the warm evenings, gracious neighbors, and the food (oh the food!) of this beautiful region. Maybe like me, as soon as you close the book, you’ll be researching this area as a possible future destination.
Many thanks to She Writes Press and Books Forward for an advanced readers copy.
Happy New Year. The last couple of weeks have been busier than expected, between physical therapy, some lovely visits from friends, and (surprise) a water heater issue – bad timing – brrrrr.
I decided to continue and settle in with more light and easy reading. I saw THIS video from Ann Patchett talking about Truman Capote’s short story called A Christmas Memory. I realized I had never read it and found it in this lovely collection of Christmas Stories from my shelves.
“A Christmas Memory” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor” were inspired by Capote’s early years with a family of distant relatives in rural Alabama. These two childhood tales pay loving tribute to his eccentric old-maid cousin, Miss Sook Faulk, who became Capote’s best friend.
In A Christmas Memory, Miss Sook, Buddy (the narrator), and their dog, Queenie, celebrate the yuletide in a hilariously tipsy state as they have adventures gathering ingredients to make the annual fruit cakes they give away. And in between baking they fly kites they made together. Later, we learn that Buddy is shipped off the military school where he is homesick for his friend and their traditions he grew up with. It’s a sweet but sad story about two gentle souls who were best of friends and loved one another genuinely. Warning tears may occur.
I have no memory of where this book came from – I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I purchased it myself – given the pretty cover. I am a sucker for attractive Christmas books which become part of my holiday decorating
The Stowford Bookshop has been on High Street in Stowford a small village in the Cotswolds for over forty years. Nora grew up living above the thriving bookshop with her mother. Now, Nora and her husband Simon have inherited the shop, and they help their customers find books for themselves and as gifts…
Nora rang up the picture book, then reached down to hand it back to the little boy in the stroller, who hugged it to his chest. I love my job, she thought happily.
In reality, the bookshop is suffering from a leaky roof, competition from online book stores, and to top it all off, the unpaid taxes have tax enforcement officers at their door. Nora tries to uphold the ‘all is well’ facade in order to protect Simon who has had some heart issues — but for how long?
One rainy evening close to Christmas, an elderly gentleman enters the bookstore looking for a specific book for his grandson who is in the hospital. He has looked everywhere and the Stowford Bookshop is his last resort. He buys ‘The True Story of the Christmas Truce’ which was one of the very first books that Nora and Simon ordered for the store, has been on the shelf for over thirty years. Buoyed by the sale of the book, Simon and Nora decide to give away six books to anyone who needs an act of kindness. They soon discover that their small gifts multiply after the books are delivered.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Christmas By The Book, which is reminiscent of ‘The Greatest Gift’, the heartwarming story that became the classic film, It’s a Wonderful Life. The story of the bookshop, the residents of Stowford, and its lovely Cotswold setting made for a delightful holiday read.
I’ve been a fan of Ina Garten’s for over 20 years and I own several of her cookbooks. (Note: every recipe I’ve tried has been great!)
Be Ready When the Luck Happens is her new memoir and I put it on hold at the library — which came through a couple of weeks before the holidays. Opened it up the other day and devoured it in one or two readings. This is a relaxing, low stakes book — perfect for my ‘light reading time’.
Her warmth and humor sparkle throughout. If you like Ina, as I do, you will enjoy the story of her leaving her White House job and buying a high end food specialty shop (called The Barefoot Contessa) in the Hamptons. We read of her long hours and back breaking work to make it a success. It also highlights how a woman building a business and the available financial options in the 70s/80s were very different than today.
I admired Ina’s determination, can-do attitude, and lack of fear throughout this memoir. She struggles with the decision to sell The Barefoot Contessa after many years of building its success, and then the obstacles that get in the way of her vision for the creation and publication of her first cookbook.
However, I had to suspend my brain from going on a ‘say what?’ reality check as she tells of her experiences. Ina comes off tone deaf as she never really acknowledges that she has had immense privilege, financial stability, and connections — which most of us mere mortals lack.
When moving from Washington DC, Ina and Jeffery just dumped all their belongings on the side of the street and restarted anew, (who does that?). They built their dream house in the Hamptons and furnished it utilizing expensive interior designers and furniture makers from around the world. She owns a convertible car on her therapist’s advice, and hosts expensive dinner parties with notable and famous people.
I did sigh with delight during the chapters describing Ina’s love of Paris and her search for the perfect apartment in just the right arrondissement — be damned the cost of flying first class back and forth to see multiple possibilities. To add to the over-the-top Frenchness – Ina buys copper cookware from Dehillerin, the famous Paris cookware shop, and orders a La Cornue stove – this is it in her Paris apartment. Oh dear, I’m just a bit jealous – but well beyond my budget.
I agree with another reviewer who said –but hey, no shade on Ina!
I admire her and really enjoyed reading about her life and no matter how privileged, she earned it with determination and most importantly, never letting anyone shame or guilt her onto another path.
With hard work and some lucky breaks, Ina was able to build a remarkable career and fulfilling life with Jeffrey by her side encouraging and supporting her every step of the way.
Now that I finished it, I’ve decided that Be Ready When the Luck Happens was an interesting, enjoyable read, and in the end, a good time. Plus, Ina includes some yummy recipes.
Happy New Year to all my bookish friends out there.
I always find it difficult to review a memoir. How does one comment on another person’s life experiences? Often, if it’s well written and when I find myself relating to and/or learning from a memoir – then I can go from there.
Such was the case with Between Two Kingdoms. Ms. Jaouad is best known for her Emmy-award winning column titled “Life Interrupted”. Her writings have been featured in many magazines and she has appeared on NPR. And finally, she is featured in Jon Batiste’s documentary “American Symphony” — but more on that later*.
You might question, like I did, if you really want to read about a young woman’s experience with cancer. So, I entered the book gingerly, but quickly found her story captivating and both devastating and uplifting in equal measures.
Ms. Jaouad tells of her leukemia diagnosis at just 22 years of age and the toll this disease took not just on her life, but also on the lives of her family, friends and her relationship with a wonderful man. But despite all of those things, she was a survivor ready to pick up where life left off. Rather than succumb to depression, instead she picked herself up and took steps to actively re-engage in life (a study guide for anyone).
Her writing is beautiful and brave as she shares how the cancer ravaged her body. Her writing is painfully honest and — fair warning — she does not shy away from sharing the details. I never thought it possible to write poetically about nausea – but she does. One can certainly see why she is a respected reporter.
Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” Susan Sontag wrote in Illness as Metaphor. “Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.
But it’s not all gloom and doom, Ms. Jaouad also has an adventure story. While a patient in Sloan Kettering, she wrote articles about her real-time experience fighting cancer which were published in her New York Times column “Life Interrupted”. This fame sparked a correspondence with other cancer warriors across the country. In an adventuresome exercise, when Suleka’s health improves she takes off on a 100-day 15,000 mile car ride across the country to visit some of these people whom she had become to know. This road trip is full of surprises, warm meetings, and much bad driving.
Between Two Kingdoms is not only marvelous storytelling, it is also an insight into one woman’s struggle to make sense of a world that seems impossibly and devastatingly uncertain. Ms. Jaouad gives her experience eloquence without shying away from the hard truths.
All of us have experienced cancer – either your own or a loved one’s. If you’re like me, you’ll perhaps find that Ms. Jaouad’s memoir deepens the way you view sickness, recovery…and the importance of loved ones throughout the battles. In the end, this memoir is an uplifting celebration of life – as they say through sickness and in health.
* N.B. “American Symphony” is a Netflix documentary about musician, Jon Batiste, who sets out to compose a symphony. But, Ms. Jaouad, his life partner, learns that her cancer has returned. The documentary showcases the portrait of these two artists at a pivotal crossroads in their relationship and their respective creative journeys. Well worth watching – with a box of tissues nearby — and his music is just wonderful.
First and foremost, I knew I had some loyal and friendly followers here at Book Barmy, but I have been overwhelmed with all the lovely thoughts and tributes — such heartfelt emails and comments after my last posting. You are my tribe. Thank you.
This post has taken some time, as my mind kept wandering. When I tried to list some of my mother’s favorite books, the memories came flooding back.
We always had books, lots of books, when I was growing up. My grandfather had an extensive collection and my mom’s library was quite large for a young struggling couple with three kids. We had bookshelves in every room and one of us, if not all of us, could be found secreted in a corner reading. There were exceptions, we weren’t allowed to read at the table and, if it was a nice day, I was sent outside to play.
I remember some afternoons, Mom would sneak some time for herself, reading on the couch in the sunlight.
Artist: Deborah Dewitt
Mom and I had our difficulties, but we loved each other greatly — and our absolute best times were talking about books, trading books, shopping for books, and yes, quietly reading together.
So here I go with her favorite books – many of which I have never read myself.
My mom is one of the only people I’ve known who has actually read The Federalist Papers – yes read it cover to cover. I have her well-worn copy but have never attempted it myself.
Mom was fascinated by American history and that spurred her to read almost all of David McCullogh’s books. These were her two favorites if I remember… again still haven’t read.
We grew up just outside of Washington DC, so politics we also of interest but here she turned to fiction and feasted upon all of Allen Drury’s political novels.
Allen Drury was a reporter in the Senate, covering both Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, among others. Mr. Drury is largely unknown and unread these days, but I may seek out this one – as she said it was her favorite – never read him either.
We we both enthralled by mysteries, but we agreed they had to be well-written and compelling.
I admit, I turned her into a Louise Penny addict which was great for both of us, because I would buy her newest installments in the Gamache mystery series on the day they were published – read them as fast as I could and then ship them out to my Mom. Enablers – you bet! If you haven’t read this well-written and very addictive series start with Still Life. You’ll get hooked too.
Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf series was another pleasure, and it’s been years since I’ve read one…but I remember they were very clever and the characters were sharp with great dialogue.
We shared a fondness for books about bookstores and The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap was one of our favorites.
Mom introduced me to Little Women when I was 8 or 9 (I think) and she let me keep her copy in my bedroom so I could read and re-read it late at night. We recently laughed and bemoaned all the film versions that have been made and questioned how could they possibly make another.
Then we also wryly admitted that we had both watched each one when they came on television.
We moved from DC up to New Hampshire when I was in my teens. During one snow day, attracted by the jacket cover inviting me down a snowy path to a snug home in the pines, I picked up my mother’s copy of We Took to The Woods and happily wiled away the afternoon. She told me she picked up this copy in a used bookstore right after we moved, so she could ‘get a feel’ for life in New England. It turned out to be one of her favorite books. More about this book HERE.
Side note — when I first posted about this book, and told how I found my own copy but it lacked this great cover, a Book Barmy follower and friend tracked down a copy for me — with that exact cover! Book lovers are the best.
Mom delighted in the Anne of Green Gables series of books and I found her this spin off for her birthday one year. A re-imagining of Anne’s adoptive mother Marilla. Mom called me a week later having read it almost non-stop, and said it was wonderful, and she laughed and cried. I scored with that one.
Mom was a keen Dickens fan and has read them all. Her favorite by far was The Pickwick Papers. I made the mistake of making my first venture into Dickens with David Copperfield which gave me great trouble. Mom urged me to read Pickwick to restore my interest in Dickens – she was right a much better book.
This a mere fraction of the books she read in her lifetime, but I’ll stop here, as I have got to get back into reading myself.
My brain hasn’t been in that space, but writing this post about our shared ‘reading thing’ has reminded me how much I miss getting lost in a book.
I’m currently attempting this ~~ but have gotten bogged down – I know this is going to be a great read, but at I wonder if I have the persistence?
Life maybe too short for 700+ page tomes. So many other books to read.
I’ll let you know.
I found this snapshot going through some old photos.
Humble apologies to my Book Barmy followers for the lack of content here. Sadly, I’m in a reading slump, a reading desert if you will, with several recent books cast aside in disappointment.
I know this is natural and happens to every reader, but oh how I miss being lost in a good — nay, a great book. Without such diversion, my evenings are not spent in my lovely reading nook, with said good/great book — but instead re-watching episodes of West Wing.
I had such high hopes for this novel, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World and told from the point of view of the woman herself. Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the twentieth century.
I actually got well into A Piece of the World and was quite enjoying it, so much so, I sent a friend a copy to read during her up-teenth snowstorm.
But, alas, after a great start, the novel became belabored with the focus on Christina’s disability and struggles quite dreary. So, I put it down. Perhaps another day, I’ll try it again.
The Book Hater’s Book Club was sent to me by the publisher for review. A blog aptly named Book Barmy tends to attract such books, for which I am grateful. The book’s blurb “All it takes is the right book to turn a Book Hater into a Book Lover” had me intrigued.
I usually enjoy books about book stores and the very interesting people that run them. So knowing this would be a lighter read, I tried it.
Elliott, co-owner of Minneapolis’ Over the Rainbow bookshop, has recently passed away, leaving the other co-owner, Irma, in trouble. Business is failing and the bills are piling up. Irma is also grieving the death of her longtime boyfriend. Irma calls a meeting with her two daughters, Bree and Laney, and Elliott’s partner, Thom, at the lawyer’s office. She has decided to sell to a developer who plans to raze it and replace it with high-rise condominiums. Hmm I thought, okay, just give it another few chapters…
I tried folks, I really tried, but the characters were a bit too simplistic and plot very predictable from the outset. Another book tossed aside. Sorry Park Row publishing.
I picked this up at my local library from the new arrivals shelf. (I have a special weakness for library new arrivals or librarian recommendation shelves.)
It sounded fun, a memoir about how Ms. Orenstein got through the pandemic by shearing a sheep, carding the wool from said sheep, spinning it into yarn and then making a sweater. I’ve never really been interested in spinning, but am a knitter, so I thought this will cure my reading slump – something completely different…and, as it turns out, completely BORING.
My eyes crossed at the detail; every little step of finding someplace that would teach her to shear a sheep, the minutiae of that practice, the endless discussion of choosing dyes for her wool, and the struggle to learn to knit. I know everyone needed something to do during the lock down time, and I’m happy Ms. Orenstein found her own coping mechanism. I just wish she had made it more fun and entertaining. But as Unraveled is written – it just felt like a forced march.
One thing is for certain – as the book cover proclaims — she did produce a very ugly sweater.
So here I am, aimlessly searching my bookshelves and Kindle for something to read – I need something to read. Perhaps I’ll just let it go and not put pressure on myself.
As a distraction, our record setting rainfall this winter has resulted in some of my best rose blooms ever.
So, I’m off to the garden – there are always aphids to spray with soapy water and dead-heading. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.
And “West Wing”, in case you’ve forgotten, was a great show, and I’m really enjoying re-watching the series one episode an evening – from the beginning.
With apologies to those in colder climes, spring has come to our little garden. The daffodils are up and earlier this year, we let our seven year old friend plant our bulbs wherever he wanted. The result is a lovely madness of blooms. Bunched together in some spots and varieties mixed together willy-nilly. Makes me smile with delight.*
So there I was cutting these daffs to take indoors when my thoughts turned to our garden at large. So much to do after the rains – oh the weeds – the weeds. Luckily, our seven year old child laborer gardener is also keen to help weed. No matter if he pulls up the wrong thing – odds are in our favor that he does indeed pull mostly weeds.
The other evening, my thoughts turning to more gardening, I turned to my collection of gardening books and pulled out an old favorite. Not an instructional garden book, but a memoir of a first garden.
From the Ground Up by Amy Stewart
I read this first when it came out in 2001 — during those dark days after 9/11 and I needed simple distraction. I just re-read it again and was once again surprised by how much I enjoyed this little gardening book.
From the book’s flyleaf:
Amy Stewart had a simple dream. She yearned for a garden filled with colorful jumbles of vegetables and flowers. After she and her husband finished graduate school, they pulled up their Texas roots and headed west to Santa Cruz, California. With little money in their pockets, they rented a modest seaside bungalow with a small backyard. It wasn’t much—a twelve-hundred-square-foot patch of land with a couple of fruit trees, and a lot of dirt. A good place to start.
From the Ground Up is Stewart’s quirky, humorous chronicle of the blossoms and weeds in her first garden and the lessons she’s learned the hard way. From planting seeds her great-grandmother sends to battling snails, gophers, and aphids, Stewart takes us on a tour of four seasons in her coastal garden. Confessing her sins and delighting in small triumphs, she dishes the dirt for both the novice and the experienced gardener. Along the way, she brings her quintessential California beach town to life—complete with harbor seals, monarch butterfly migrations, and an old-fashioned seaside amusement park just down the street.
This garden memoir is set just down the coast from us in Santa Cruz and I can relate to the coastal garden trials and tribulations. Furthermore, Ms. Stewart captures the mindset of the amateur gardener with all its joys, mysteries and disappointments. And I’ve made all the mistakes and I’ve had the joy and disappointment. From the Ground Up is interwoven with some viable garden tips — but it’s more than just a gardening book – it’s a book about life. Just read this excerpt:
But gardening is none of that, really. Strip away the gadgets and the techniques, the books and the magazines and the soil test kits, and what you’re left with, at the end of the day, is this: a stretch of freshly turned dirt, a handful of seeds scratched into the surface, and a marker to remember where they went. It is at the same time an incredibly brave and an incredibly simple thing to do, entrusting your seeds to the earth and waiting for them to rise up out of the ground to meet you.
If you have the gardening bug or you know someone who does. Whether you are into one specific species of plant or an eclectic gardener (we definitely fall into the latter category) — or even if you’d rather garden from your comfy chair – From the Ground Up is a delightful story of a new gardener, her first garden, and how she and her garden grew and changed.
Ms. Stewart is also know for several other garden books which are very well regarded.
One about the history of poisonous plants and their victims.
And another about the flower industry
Both look very interesting for someday.
But for now, From the Ground Up will go back to its place on my shelves for yet another re-read.
* Out here we have to plant new bulbs every year because in our temperate climate and without frost — very few bulbs re-bloom.
Lest you think we are the only ones with bulbs planted in wild abandon – check out the tulip garden in Golden Gate Park…also makes me happy. I wonder if they have their own child gardening helpers?
