Suggestions for the Garden Bloggers’ Book Club are rolling in and we are getting quite a list with many good choices.
Here’s my original list, thrown together to get us started.
Mrs. Whaley and her Charleston Garden by Emily Whaley
The Old Farmer’s 2007 Almanac
Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden by Eleanor Perenyi
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis
One Man’s Garden by Henry Mitchell
And here is a list from Colleen, In the Garden Online
The Passionate Gardener by Rudolf Borchardt
Bird-by-Bird Gardening by Sally Roth
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.
The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden by Stanley Kunitz
Beautiful Madness: One Man’s Journey Through Other People’s Gardens by James Dodson
The $64 Tomato by William Alexander (My sister, a non-blogger also suggested this one.)
Leslie at Growing A Garden in Davis came up with these suggestions
A Garden Story by Leon Whiteson,
Slug Tossing by Meg DesCamp,
Gardening in Eden by Arthur T. Vanderbilt,
Paths of Desire by Dominique Browning
Any of Henry Mitchell’s books
Old Roses who’s blog is A Gardening Year, chimed in with these suggestions.
Tulipomania : The Story of the World’s Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused by Mike Dash
The American Gardener by William Cobbett
We Made A Garden by Margery Fish
An Island Garden by Celia Thaxter
Green Thoughts,
A Writer in the Garden by Eleanor Perenyi
John Curtin of Spade Work commented with this list…
Seeds of Change, Henry Hobhouse, (six plants that transformed mankind)
For Love of a Rose, Antonia Ridge (story of the creation of the Peace Rose at the end of WWII)Deep in the Green, Anne Raver (collection of her pieces appearing in New York Newsday and now The New York Times)
El, Fast Grow the Weeds, provided these suggestions:
At least 3 by Michael Pollan,
Anything by Wendell Berry,
The Secret Life of Plants from way back when.
In our virtual garden book club we have room for all, we won’t run out of food or coffee (because everyone provides their own refreshments) ,and you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the house for company if you happen to be the host of the month!
If you are a bit shy about coming up with a list of suggested books or want to wait until you see the list to decide if you want to “join”, that’s cool, too. You can join any time by posting your thoughts on whatever book-of-the-month we are all blogging about.
Oh, and if you have a list of suggested books on your blog that I’ve missed, let me know and I’ll visit to pick it up!
Hi Carol,
I am still bookless in San Miguel de Allende, but when I get back to Chacala I will send the titles/authors of my four books.
I am trying to remember the titles of my favorite books from when I still had lots of books. Maybe something will come to mind.
Well, one was Dan Hinkley’s Plant Explorer book, but I can’t remember the title right now. And another was Tom…..
never mind. Later. Andee
I’m in–I just posted my list over at my blog:
http://blackswampgirl.blogspot.com/2006/09/winter-garden-book-club-list.html
Forgot to say: Thanks for coordinating this, Carol. It sounds like a fun bit of “homework” for the winter!
There are so many favorites!
My entries:Anatomy of a Rose..Sharman Apt Russell
Garden Poems…selected and edited by
John Hollander
Night Gardening..E.L. Swann ….(by far my favorite enchanting journey into a real and metaphorical garden!) I’ve read it 3 times and posted about it “mid summer nite” back in June I think.
All this reading about gardens and roses should keep our spirtis high in winter!
Here are my suggestions:
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Night Gardening by E.L. Swann (I’m stuffing the ballot box because it sounds so interesting.)
Anything by Henry Mitchell
The Wild Braid (again because I want to read it.)
There was also a book about an Elizabethan lady who discovered gardening when forced to spend time in her country estate. I haven’t read it but I understand it is a classic
What a great idea. I used to work in a bookshop – never made any money but aquired a nice library of books about plants, gardens, and plant/gardening people.
I am reading Dig, by Meredith Kirton at the moment – great photographs.
I love anything by Richard Mabey – Flora Britannica is fabulous. I heard he has a new one out, which I am putting on my Christmas list.
I love anything by Anna Pavord – The Naming of Names and the Tulip are both fabulous.
Other inspirational reads are two books I have already mentioned in my blog:
The Plant Hunters by Musgrave, Gardner, and Musgrave and
The Origin of Plant by Maggie Campbell-Culver.
More to follow . . .
I would second anything by Henry Mitchell and add anything by Allen Lacy or Elizabeth Lawrence.
I also second Margery Fish’s “We Made A Garden”, Celia Thaxter’s “An Island Garden” and “Mrs. Whaley and her Charleston Garden”.