Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2015), Paperback, 392 pages
Description
In 1925, Harold Ross hired Katharine Sergeant Angell as a manuscript reader for The New Yorker. Within months she became the magazine's first fiction editor, discovering and championing the work of Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, James Thurber, Marianne Moore, and her husband-to-be, E. B. White, among others. After years of cultivating fiction, she set her sights on a new genre- garden writing. On March 1, 1958, The New Yorkerran a column entitled oOnward and Upward in the Garden,o a critical review of garden catalogs, in which White extolled the writings of oseedmen and nurserymen,o those unsung authors who produced her ofavorite reading matter.o Thirteen more columns followed, exploring the history and literature of gardens, flower arranging, herbalists, and developments in gardening. Two years after her death in 1977, E. B. White collected and published the series, with a fond introduction. The result is this sharp-eyed appreciation of the green world of growing things, of the aesthetic pleasures of gardens and garden writing, and of the dreams that gardens inspire.… (more)
Media reviews
Newsweek
"You don't have to be a gardener to love this collection of essays. White observes that a talent for the soil and a taste for writing and editorializing often go together, and she proves it-creating her own distinctive voice in the process."
User reviews
LibraryThing member JBD1
A compilation of Katharine S. White's essays on gardening, collected into a single volume after her death and published with a gem of an introduction by her husband, one E.B. White. Who, other than Katharine White, would have thought to review seed and flower catalogs for The New Yorker? Her
Utterly charming from start to finish, and the introduction is worth a read all on its own.
Show More
lively, opinionated prose makes for wonderfully enjoyable reading, even if the annual reviews which make up the first part of the book do get ever-so-slightly repetitive. The more thematic essays in the second half (on roses, house plants, winter gardening, and on horticultural books generally) are excellent.Utterly charming from start to finish, and the introduction is worth a read all on its own.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MsMixte
One of my all time favourite gardening books, this is a delightful book for a cold winter's day of reading and dreaming in front of the warm fireplace.
LibraryThing member theeccentriclady
I will admit this book is not for everyone and if you are not passionate about flowers and flower gardening or reading about a woman living in the 50's then just skip this book but I found it to be a treasure. I did take my time reading it, I think this is the longest I have ever taken to finish a
Apr 11, 2009 Marguerite rated it 4 stars
I've never met an opinionated gardener I like more than the late Katharine S. White. The essays in this book shaped me somewhat, to the extent that they helped me accept my own gardening prejudices and limitations. More than anything, though, they helped me to dream, to visualize perfection in my own little piece of sod. I've come close to that mark a couple of times, but not on the shady lot we now call home. This is a book for winter months, the times you'd like nothing better than to sink your hands into some good earth and make things grow. The only thing better than reading about it is doing it. But, if you're going to read about it, read White
Char rated it 4 stars June 13, 2007 Katharine's wit is very English, genteel, 50's and I found myself laughing aloud at least once per chapter. This is a book to savor over time. Read a few pages or a chapter when you need a respite, put it down, then come back to enjoy again
Show More
book! I chose to pick it up at different times of different seasons when my interest was inspired. This is not a book to be read at one time. Katharine had spunk and she drew me in right off the bat and when I thought I just might give up on a certain topic I was finding dull she would write something that would make me chuckle. I just fell in love with her. I looked up some of the seed companies and found them to still be doing business and I actually bought some bulbs from one of them! I was drawn to this book because I was born in 1959 and was curious to see the writing style of that time and hoped to get a glimpse into what my Mother's life might have been like. I have copied 2 other reviewer's opinions because they described Katharine and her book better than I could. If you choose to give it a try, I hope you fall in love with her too!Apr 11, 2009 Marguerite rated it 4 stars
I've never met an opinionated gardener I like more than the late Katharine S. White. The essays in this book shaped me somewhat, to the extent that they helped me accept my own gardening prejudices and limitations. More than anything, though, they helped me to dream, to visualize perfection in my own little piece of sod. I've come close to that mark a couple of times, but not on the shady lot we now call home. This is a book for winter months, the times you'd like nothing better than to sink your hands into some good earth and make things grow. The only thing better than reading about it is doing it. But, if you're going to read about it, read White
Char rated it 4 stars June 13, 2007 Katharine's wit is very English, genteel, 50's and I found myself laughing aloud at least once per chapter. This is a book to savor over time. Read a few pages or a chapter when you need a respite, put it down, then come back to enjoy again
Show Less
LibraryThing member encephalical
I don't garden so after the novelty wore off it was rough going. I'd consider spreading it out, say a chapter a week, otherwise it's a bit much. I also had to look up quite a few of the flowers to keep pace. The writing is fine, though dated in style, in my mind it definitely read as pre-WWII.
Show More
There's a definite underpinning of the white middle class experience as normative. Show Less
LibraryThing member MrsLee
A collection of articles Katherine S. White wrote for the New Yorker in the 1950s and 1960s. Most are reviews of seed catalogs, while the end chapters focus on reviews of nature and garden books being published at that time. If you like to read about gardens and flowers, reader beware. This is FULL
White has a straightforward way of discussing both the good and the bad in the garden books. She doesn't hesitate to tell you her preferences and opinions in flower arrangement and garden blooms. At the same time, I felt as though I were sitting with my grandmother discussing the various seed catalogs and possibilities for the garden. She is both charming and literary, well spoken and firm in her ideas. She weaves in history, lore and childhood memories in the most natural way.
At the end of the book, there is a large section with seed and plant nurseries which were still operating at the time of this publication, 1979. There is also an introduction by E. B. White. Very charming line drawings of plants and flowers at the beginning and end of each chapter of the book.
Show More
of books you will want to look at and read, and with the ease of the internet now, it is all to easy to find yourself clicking away and ordering books mentioned here. I bought two. I count myself restrained.White has a straightforward way of discussing both the good and the bad in the garden books. She doesn't hesitate to tell you her preferences and opinions in flower arrangement and garden blooms. At the same time, I felt as though I were sitting with my grandmother discussing the various seed catalogs and possibilities for the garden. She is both charming and literary, well spoken and firm in her ideas. She weaves in history, lore and childhood memories in the most natural way.
At the end of the book, there is a large section with seed and plant nurseries which were still operating at the time of this publication, 1979. There is also an introduction by E. B. White. Very charming line drawings of plants and flowers at the beginning and end of each chapter of the book.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
392 p.
ISBN
1590178505 / 9781590178508