G-972, For beginning,I'd recommend you contact the Bromeliad Society International Inc. at their website WWW.BSI.ORG,and find their listing for their excellent cultural manual,Bromeliads. I think its only $3.50,and packed with all the info you need to know for starting an interest in broms. This manual is also available from the Book Section of a good bromeliad supplier,Tropiflora,for the same price, (see their website,at WWW.TROPIFLORA.COM ) There are a few other books that are really good as well,but far more expensive [$30 (to $1000 for 'Blooming Bromeliads',if you can find it,being out of publication;some times on e-bay)].Another very informative book is 'Growing Bromeliads' by the Bromeliad Society of Australia.Might be available thru Amazon.Com. But the best place to start is with my first suggestion, 'Bromeliads,a Cultural Manual' Good reading ! Bob

Ive picked up and discarded dozens of gardening books from anywhere from 2-50 years old. I find most of them to have out of date information. However, the best rose resource Ive ever seen is Peater Beales Antique roses, he does cover "some" moderns, but its dedicated to the oldest classes, even the copy I have really needs updating, the grainy pictures wouldve been cutting edge when it was published, but compared to even modern day point and click digitals, the pictures are terrible. There is so much online resources about plants, planting, methodolgy , applications , that are current, that you can just research online in a few minutes. You can also ask people who have grown what you are looking for right on gardenweb for decades, that resource is worth more to me then anything published in the 60's 70's 80's or 90's even. IF you are talking about books that speak to the enjoyment of gardening, thats timeless, the same sort of satisfaction working the earth was had by humans for thousands of years, even if we couldnt relate to anything else, we can all understand the call of the earth, the fruit of the labor and the fulfilment of the flowers. Silverkelt

My favourite Books of 2011 - no particular order - 1) ""Get Me Out of Here" - Henry Sutton A dark -- very dark -- satire set in modern-day London.... Tells of a once-successful financial professional who's on the skids -- yet, still hankers for the luxuries and amenities so many of his ilk had during the '80s - early-2000s - until the global financial crash. 2) "Bleak House" - Charles Dickens My first reading of this classic. Like the above -- another tale of riches-to-rags -- for some characters, rags-to-riches. Teeming w/ delightful or creepy characters, high drama, ugly-beyond-belief slum scenes and human cruelty, enough neuroses to keep a psychiatric clinic busy for a decade (or more!), generosity of spirit, healthy lust for life, etc., etc. ... a rich cornucopia of humanity -- both wonderful and lousy. 3) "Left Early, Took My Dog" - Kate Atkinson Very "juicy" mystery involving a kidnapped spunky little girl and one of the most delightful female police detectives I've ever encountered. ... She reminded me of the actress Dawn French. 4) "King Solomon's Carpet" - Barbara Vine / Ruth Rendell One of the best books she's ever written ... even though I was annoyed w/ how meagre the explanation was at the end -- of a couple of the characters' outcomes. But, still, a fascinating ride -- in both senses! -- the story as well as the hair-raising subway ("Underground" in Brit speak) scenes. Some of the weirdest, most intriguing characters I've come across in a book in a long time! 5) "Bad Behavior" - Isabel Wolff A woman's storybook -- I call this genre -- some call it "Chick Lit", which turns me off. Anyway -- a lovely story about a young, single woman setting up a new veterinary practice in London. She has a very awful secret in her past. A war photojournalist comes into her life, and the secret if blown open. 6) "My Cousin Rachel" - Daphne du Maurier Several of us "chatted" about this in the August thread. I still think the dame did it! 7) "The Private Patient" - P.D. James A professional investigative TV journalist goes to a posh country clinic to have an old scar removed from her face. But much more than that happens to her. Really intriguing who-done-it... although I felt that bringing Dalgleish's personal life into the story interrupted the flow. That's it. This year think I'll read more non-fiction. After going over the lists of all the books I read - 2011 - I noticed I've been reading way too many mystery books! Some books keep popping up in the lists above and in discussion that I want to try -- "IQ84", "Discovery of Witches", "The Assassin's Cloak". Kathy9norcal - You named 2 of my all-time favourite books: 1) "Brazzaville Beach" - Wm. Boyd -- Every time I mention this novel I have the feeling I'm the only person who's read it, as no one seems to've heard of it! Although I've read some awfully good books set in Africa (fict. &...

I've read, and loved, so many books, including The Metamorphosis. I've read and enjoyed Fyodor Dostoyevski and Louisa May Alcott, Stephen King and Edna Ferber, to name a few. My late husband had a large collection of sci-fi, which I read when he finished each book. Janie, it's nice to hear from another Heinlein fan. When I think of all time favorites, two come to mind. One I read when I was a child, Miss Hickory, by C.S.Bailey, and one about a child, Ray Bradbury's loosely autobiographical Dandelion Wine, specifically the chapter about the grandmother's kitchen. The latter is the book I've re-read most often, because it reminds me of my own beloved grandparents.