I finished The Brother Gardeners
on my way to work on Friday. Which meant that Saturday would be my next trip to the library (whee!) and the first selections of books from The List.
After a great day in the City today, I headed over to my local library and ended up with two books off the list:
Beautiful Boy is going to be hella depressing, but it sounds like it is well written. I have high hopes. Before Green Gables is about Anne Shirley, whom I have loved since childhood. (You’ll be horrified to know that I learned about the Anne of Green Gables books from the PBS series, but I love both, so it’s all good. 
)
I also checked out a couple of books about herbs and spices:
They weren’t on the list, but the Spice and Herb Bible is a repeat checkout because I didn’t get to it last time. I’ve been eyeing the Spice Lover’s Guide for a while. I suspect that you will see some blog posts related to these books in the near future.
For those of you here for a gardening update: Aruncus dioicus (Goat’s beard), Lilium ‘Blackout’, and Iris versicolor (Flag Iris) are sprouting.
(FYI, links to books are Amazon Affiliate links…)
Published on
March 2, 2011 in
Books.
I found out on my way home that today is Read Across America Day. Really? Shouldn’t that be everyday? It might explain my sudden urge to review my list of books to read on GoodReads (282, thank you very much!) and my need to start reading through them one by one.
I started to get a little bit obsessive about how I would proceed with this project. I decided to alphabetize the list (easy peasy, thanks to the GoodReads export option and Excel) and start there. And then I started thinking about rules I would have to follow.
- I have to finish all of the books I have from the library right now (16 currently – I TOLD you I have a problem!)
- Read The List alphabetically.
- If the first book in the list is in the middle of the series, I have permission to start at the beginning of the series, even if it isn’t in List order
- I don’t have to read work books in the order that they appear in The List.
- I will get all books from the library (either public or the college) unless it is something I need for reference/work.
- I will, from time to time, post commentary on what I’m reading via my blog.
Oh, and I might have signed a pledge…
I have a problem. A book problem. I am addicted to books, so I take large stacks out of the library. I read a bunch and return them, but occasionally I end up with a couple that I’m just not ready to return. So renew them. And renew them again. I bet you can guess which ones are hardest to return: The gardening books.
It’s not like you can just read them straight through, am I right? You read a little and then go back… drool over the pictures (especially in the winter), and flip forward to the plants you are currently lusting after. Then you want to cozy up on the couch with a cup of tea and a big splashy book full of gorgeous plants and gardens that you will never achieve in your current incarnation.
My current compulsion (which I won’t be able to renew again unless I bring it back and check it out again) is The Nonstop Garden. I’ll be putting up a review of this book in the near future. The previous item of obsession was 365 Days of Garden Color, which I ended up buying using a coupon from Borders (love my Borders Rewards card!).
Other recent gardening books I’ve had trouble returning to the library include:
Books I want to read (that will probably contribute to the problem):
What books do you renew again and again?
I’ve started to put together a list of gardening books for children. Here is my list so far. Some of these may be harder to find, but as of this posting date, they are available through Amazon.
If you have suggestions for or comments about this collection, please leave them in the comments.
