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16 reviews for:
Rhapsody in Green: A Writer, an Obsession, a Laughably Small Excuse for a Vegetable Garden
Charlotte Mendelson
4.11 AVERAGE
16 reviews for:
Rhapsody in Green: A Writer, an Obsession, a Laughably Small Excuse for a Vegetable Garden
Charlotte Mendelson
4.11 AVERAGE
informative
lighthearted
reflective
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
The recounting of a woman's love affair with her garden. The audiobook is narrated by the author, and listening to her is like sitting with her over many cups of tea, nodding along, smiling and grimacing with the triumphs and tribulations. I have never been successful at gardening, and I am fine with that. But this book certainly does inspire one to give it a go.
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Absolutely hilarious and relatable gardening book! Loved it. The only downside was that the author often gave hints about certain gardening procedures but didn't develop, as this isn't a teaching manual, so I was left wondering and needing to know more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, nodding with recognition as Mendelson takes us through the seasons in her tiny London garden. I laughed through her descriptions of buying seeds, foraging for plums, and ignoring the standard advice found in most gardening books. I paused twice to purchase books she mentioned. Luckily Amazon told me I had already purchased one of the books in 2008 so it is now my next one to read. (Why hadn't I already read it?) I briefly contemplated leaving my Midwestern "acreage" (one-third acres, actually) to move to a tiny enclosed garden in London. Gardeners especially will enjoy this book. It will validate you. And if it doesn't? If you don't laugh and nod, but instead merely shake your head from side to side, you probably aren't a gardener. Go on to some other hobby. The rest of us gardeners will be considering the merits of Asian greens compared to old-fashioned lettuce and plotting how to get a glimpse over the garden wall of Mendelson's garden.
A little dry. Is more something I’ll pop into every now and then.
liked this less as it continued. felt like it got bogged down in lists and words that just didn’t conjure anything in me poor horticulturally-ignorant brain. love the structure, the tiny little chapters with musings on different subjects is gorg, but just ended up feeling vvv repetitive. would love to give this 2 and a half stars but goodreads won’t allow it :/
This reads like a series of articles, which means that you can dip into these whenever you have a spare five minutes. The author takes us on a circuitous journey through her obsession with gardening and the complications of doing it in a tiny, city space. If she were interested in growing flowers this wouldn't be too much of a problem but her passion is for things you. can eat, and for that you need space, or the ability to focus on one crop and be delighted with eating kale 12 months a year. Mendelson does not do this. Her obsession and passion cause her to sprint from new thing to new thing, always trying something out, always experimenting and rarely, it seems, getting anything she grows to produce enough to feed even one person. If you're a keen gardener you will delight in this as Mendelson, despite her protestations, clearly knows her stuff. If you're an amateur and you're hoping for tips, I think you'll find plenty of warnings of what not to do and as you progress you can recall just how bonkers some of this gardening really is.
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
I waited for the end of winter to read this, just when Spring is round the corner. It's a collection of essays about the author's passion for her garden. It's refreshingly not a "how to" guide, and it is written with a lot of humour. Charlotte Mendelson has an eye for the minute details that make up the natural world - the descriptions are very evocative.