A treasured moment in my life was the chance to sit down and talk with Adelma Simmons shortly before her death. The conversation was wide ranging and, of course, included the phenomenon of gardening as a hobby in the 80's. As Mrs. Simmons is undoubtedly the author who brought herbs out of the closet and into the mainstream, her comments suprised me. Though she encouraged anyone with a pen to give it a shot, her concern was that the garden book world would be overrun with "fluff" and little substance. This prophecy seems to have come full circle. There are just so many "how to design a border" books that one can read and gain from. Publishers took full advantage of the surge in interest and flooded the market for a quick buck. I really think that this is why there is a decline. Those of us who are serious gardeners (serious enough to "talk" about it on a daily basis with webfriends) will always buy anything that's there of interest. But the backyard hobbiest only wants one or two coffee table books, not anything of substance. So, while book sales may be declining, it could be that there's not a lot out there to buy that hasn't been rehashed many times before. You're right, Ginny, everyone wants to see their name in print and publishers take full advantage to make a quick buck despite the quality. I admit that I have stopped buying gardening books en masse. I don't have the room, nor the time, to read 10 or 15 new books at a clip. Substance seems to be what's missing. "How To's" have given way to "look how lovely this is." The "lovely" books rarely mention the financial part of designing and implementing a full-blown garden worthy of publication. So, IMHO, while I feel for the writers whose rights are contracted away, and I feel for those of us with this plant passion who can't get enough, I give Amy all the credit in the world for doing an ad hoc "market survey" and not putting out pages for the sake of putting out pages. And, I truly still believe, that the masses sway the market. The decline in sales is a perfect example of this. People still have money, people still have interest, and now the publishers need to catch up. Martie

This month my Book Club read: 1,000 White Women-The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus I thought it was wonderful! I'm usually not a big fan of historical fiction, but this was great! Based on a true event, and then the author writes about what could have happened. Back in the 1850's the Cheyanne Indians wanted to increase their tribe numbers, so they asked the US govt to "trade" 1,000 white women for 1,000 horses. The US govt said no, but in the book, they agree. Very interesting idea. Characters were outstanding!! Written in journal form and quick read. Some language & violence esp at the end, but it's not too bad. Next month we read: Whistling in the Dark We read Water for Elephants at the beginning of the year and I thought it was okay. Normally would have never read about the circus. Others seemed to like it more then me. Read Life of Pi, but it took me about 3-4 times to get through it! Has anyone read Middlesex? I want to know if it's worth reading. Ii don't mind the topic, but it seemed really hard to get into? I've got my list made of all the books you guys have recommended. Teresa-who once had a dream about being locked in a library all night. (Wouldn't be so bad!)

Another Sort of Learning (James V. Schall) 1988 In this book with the unorthodox subtitle, "Selected Contrary Essays on the Completion of Our Knowing or How to Finally Acquire an Education While Still in College, or Anywhere Else: Containing Some Belated Advice about How to Employ Your Leisure Time When Ultimate Questions Remain Perplexing in Spite of Your Highest Earned Academic Degree, Together with Sundry Book Lists Nowhere Else in Captivity to Be Found", Father Schall has written a delightful collection of essays for people like me who made it all the way through college without managing to get a truly liberal education. The book talks about gathering books on diverse subjects for a personal library. There are essays on reading, education, teaching, philosophy, sports, politics, history, and prayer. After each essay there is a short list of the books such as, "SchallÂs Unlikely List of Books to Keep Sane By", "Books You Will Never Be Assigned", "Eight Collections of Essays and Letters Not To Be Missed", "Ten Books on Grace and Thought", and "Five Books Addressed to the Heart of Things". True bibliophiles will love the lists. Schall states in the book: "Education, philosophy, science, politics, history, revelation - these are the themes that I have considered here in various ways. I have often talked of Plato and Aristotle, of Augustine and Aquinas, of Chesterton, Pieper, and C.S. Lewis. I have done this to underscore their importance. And I have repeated favorite book titles worth emphasizing in different contexts. I wanted to suggest that anyone with some diligence and some good fortune can find his way to the highest things even if such higher level concerns are not formally or systematically treated in the schools, even if they are in fact denied there or by our own friends or culture. Indeed, I would suspect that there is a certain basic loneliness in our relationships to the highest things. I am not a skeptic here, but we should not expect too much from our formal educational institutions in this regard. "Throughout these pages, I have talked of 'another sort of learning.' I have talked about why we should read, what we should read, books we should keep. In a sense, we can tell a lot about anyone by looking at what books, if any, he reads, at what books are on his shelvesÂ."

The Bobbsey Twins, Little Women, Little House on the Prairie. There was a school library book called Matilda, about a black cat. It was written as if Matilda were telling the story of her life as a stray, describing her new family, her new kittens, and the little boy with a new puppy. I checked out and re-read that book so many times during the school year when I was in 2nd grade! One day a few weeks after school let out for the summer, the school librarian showed up at our door. She told my Mom that I'd read that same book so many time that only a few other people had a chance to read it. I was feeling a little guilty until she reached into her bag an pulled the book out and handed it to me. She said they had made a book order right before the end of the year, and she'd ordered another copy of Matilda for the library. They were pulling the older books and donating them or selling them to make room for new books, so she paid the 15 cents for the old copy and gave it to me. I still have it and have read it to our grandkids. It was my first chapter book, too!!