- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd; First Edition edition (1 Mar 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0715632639
- ISBN-13: 978-0715632635
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.6 x 3.2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,102,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Product Description
A veritable Eden of garden writing, by the best contemporary authors With selections grown from the fertile imaginations of the twentieth century's most remarkable authors, editor and writer Michele Slung has assembled an enchanting and evocative anthology - the word itself comes from the Greek terms for 'flower' and 'to gather' - of short stories about gardens and all that grow in them. The gardeners here are young and old, male and female, and the gardens themselves are delightful mix of the formal and the wild. The twenty-four stories in The Garden of Reading comprise a diverse and unexpected collection but one that stays true to its central and harmonious theme. Included are Colette's sensuous 'Grape Harvest,' David Gueterson's poignant 'The Flower Garden,' Stephen King's sinister 'The Lawnmower Man,' J.G. Ballard's lovely and otherworldy 'The Garden of Time,' the ominous 'Green Thoughts' by John Collier, Rosamunde Pilcher's touching and simply titled 'The Tree,' and the splendid 'the Fig Tree, by V.S. Pritchett - as well as classics from such masters as Saki, Robert Graves, and Eudora Welty, and contemporary writing from the likes of Sandra Cisneros and Garrison Keillor. If you've ever nurtured a flower, a green plant, a tomato plant, or a gleam of imagination, there's something in The Garden of Reading that is sure to delight.
About the Author
Michele Slung is an editor and reviewer whose books include Momilies: As My Mother Used to Say and More Momilies, as well as the anthologies Crime on Her Mind: Fifteen Stories of Female Sleuths from the Victorian Era to the Forties; Murder & Other Acts of Literature; Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters; Living with Cannibals and Other Women's Adventures, and Slow Hand: Women Writing Erotica. She divides her time between New York City and Ulster County, New York.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
a garden of delightful stories
30 Nov 2009
Format:Hardcover
If you love gardens and gardening as I do, you know you are thinking about gardens all the time, even in, or especially during, the winter months. That's one of the reasons that I so much enjoyed a book I read recently entitled Garden of Reading, edited by Michele Slung.
With a selection of outstanding writers that includes such notables as Eudora Welty, Robert Graves, Doris Lessing, Colette, Barbara Pym, and Edna O'Brien you know the quality of the writing will stand the test of time like a fine heirloom rose. The stories are not merely paeans to the glories of gardening, however. More often the gardens serve as the backdrop or setting of stories that are quite compelling and sometimes disconcerting examinations of the minutia of human emotions and interactions.
In Eudora Welty's story, "A Curtain of Green", an eccentric Southern widow finds reality and memory meshing in a kind of vegetative haze. In Stephen King's slightly mad story "Lawnmower Man" an unlucky everyman finds his worse gardening phobia realized. James Thurber enjoys his usual comic romp in the delicious "See No Weevil"; while V. S. Prichard's sly take on adultery gives new meaning to the symbolism of a fig tree. Gardens as symbols of greed and power are evoked in Rose Tremain's story "The Garden of Villa Mollini". In "The Secret Garden" by Victoria Rothchild, a young woman's naive belief in organic gardening is lost; while in "Blue Poppies" by Jane Gardam, a middle- aged woman struggles to keep her patience while her senile, garden-savvy mother rambles over the grounds of a crumbling but still beautiful estate.
In each story no matter what its theme or intent, the world of plants and people come together, sometimes colliding, sometimes colluding, always aware on some level of their importance to each other. As winter days shorten and our gardens temporarily disappear, it's a treat to pick up a book in which flowers, trees, shrubs, and grass are forever blooming, growing, and waving in the warm, scented air.
With a selection of outstanding writers that includes such notables as Eudora Welty, Robert Graves, Doris Lessing, Colette, Barbara Pym, and Edna O'Brien you know the quality of the writing will stand the test of time like a fine heirloom rose. The stories are not merely paeans to the glories of gardening, however. More often the gardens serve as the backdrop or setting of stories that are quite compelling and sometimes disconcerting examinations of the minutia of human emotions and interactions.
In Eudora Welty's story, "A Curtain of Green", an eccentric Southern widow finds reality and memory meshing in a kind of vegetative haze. In Stephen King's slightly mad story "Lawnmower Man" an unlucky everyman finds his worse gardening phobia realized. James Thurber enjoys his usual comic romp in the delicious "See No Weevil"; while V. S. Prichard's sly take on adultery gives new meaning to the symbolism of a fig tree. Gardens as symbols of greed and power are evoked in Rose Tremain's story "The Garden of Villa Mollini". In "The Secret Garden" by Victoria Rothchild, a young woman's naive belief in organic gardening is lost; while in "Blue Poppies" by Jane Gardam, a middle- aged woman struggles to keep her patience while her senile, garden-savvy mother rambles over the grounds of a crumbling but still beautiful estate.
In each story no matter what its theme or intent, the world of plants and people come together, sometimes colliding, sometimes colluding, always aware on some level of their importance to each other. As winter days shorten and our gardens temporarily disappear, it's a treat to pick up a book in which flowers, trees, shrubs, and grass are forever blooming, growing, and waving in the warm, scented air.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
