A rich feast of a book that celebrates the extraordinarily satisfying joys of making and keeping a garden.
A novice beguilingly describes making her first garden, understanding that this project involves as much learning about life as about digging a flowerbed.
Stewart, raised and educated in Texas, moves with husband Scott to Santa Cruz, California, where they rent a bungalow opposite the local fairground and across from the boardwalk. Being within walking distance of the ocean and the beach more than compensates for the noise and lack of privacy in the summer, though on one occasion Stewart finds tourists sunbathing on her patio. The garden has been neglected and, with the exceptions of a lemon tree, an orange tree, and a wisteria, is mostly bare dirt. Stewart knows what she doesn’t want: something that looks like the lawn-covered suburban tracts she grew up with in Texas. Appending a collection of helpful tips to each chapter, she recalls beginning the garden on her first Saturday in the house, when she starts clearing the weeds and finds herself contending with the ubiquitous and obdurate oxalis. Soon she is a regular customer at the local nursery, where she splurges on plants and learns about the value of adding compost and raising red worms. When a houseguest is expected, she suddenly discovers the benefits of planting already blooming (but hitherto despised) annuals. Stewart writes about her two cats’ delight in sampling newly planted catmint; her vegetable garden, which eventually has to be corralled into more formal beds; the gratifying sensations of eating homegrown lettuce and tomatoes. She closes in October, as she puts the garden to bed for winter and observes migrating Monarch butterflies enjoying the last of her summer flowers. While gardening, she learns about her neighbors, about the town itself, and about the seasons that order a garden and a gardener’s life.
A rich feast of a book that celebrates the extraordinarily satisfying joys of making and keeping a garden.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2001
ISBN: 1-56512-240-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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