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The Complete Book of African Violets

by Helen van Pelt Wilson

This is an older book about the specific cultivation of african violets as houseplants, written when they were new on the scene and wildly popular. It is easy to read having a friendly style, and quite informative in spite of its age. I learned for example, that foliage isn\’t necessarily damaged by water contact- only if it is a lot colder in temperature and of course keep it out of the crown. In fact this book recommends regularly rinsing leaves off with light spray, to keep clean of dust. I didn\’t know that violets could be grown hydroponically, nor that propagation can be taken from the same individual leaf multiple times by restarting each instant the new young plant is cut free of the petiole. The care instructions are very thorough, but I would look for modern methods of pest control. The chemicals and pesticides the author recommends sound downright dangerous. There are chapters explaining how to share plants and leaf cuttings through the mail, how to grow violets commercially in greenhouses, how to conduct judged violet shows, and the difficulties of describing and naming new varieites. Illustrations in linework are quiet nice and have a lovely detailed texture of fuzziness on the leaves. The actual color photographs are amusingly quaint. I\’m keeping this one around, and am now perhaps interested in acquiring a few more african violets myself. (I only have two right now, but am awful fond of them).

Rating: 4/5 247 pages, 1951

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Wily Violets and Underground Orchids

Revelations of a Botanist
by Peter Bernhardt

One of the few instances where I bought a book I\’d never even heard of before at a shop, just because the title was so intriguing. Wily Violets and Underground Orchids is a curious book describing all sorts of interesting things about plants. Mostly it\’s about the intricate relationship flowers have with their pollinators, be it birds, insects or small mammals. A lot of the focus is on Australian plants, which was interesting because I know next to nothing about them. There\’s also a chapter on tallgrass prairie, and several about orchids. It even has something of a literary bent: one chapter is all about how an Australian author/illustrator made native flora such an intricate part of her children\’s fairytales (Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, ever heard of them? I hadn\’t) that generations of Australian children grew up being familiar with the names and habits of their native plants, without even being conscious of it (I still struggle to identify common trees in my neighborhood!). Another chapter describes the Victorian orchid craze, when people had such trouble keeping the plants alive they were rare and expensive- and then goes on to describe a myriad of sci-fi stories that describe orchids turning into ominous, vampire-like monsters!

I think what fascinated me most was reading about the mistletoes that grow in Australia. There are so many but they are so well-camouflaged that most people don\’t even notice them. They grow as parasites on other trees, and usually their leaves mimic the shape of the host leaves. What\’s so interesting is the debate about why the mistletoes look like their hosts. One theory is simply that they have evolved to blend in and thus avoid browsing animals that would eat them. Another is that trees make hormones in their roots that determine leaf shape, then send the hormones up to the leaves through their xylem. Since mistletoes don\’t have their own roots, and absorb whatever is in flowing through their host\’s xylem, they also take in the hormones; thus their leaves look the same. Isn\’t that interesting?

I was also really intrigued to read about the giant water lilies (that can support the weight of a person) and how difficult it was for botanists to learn to propagate and grow them in greenhouses. One botanist, after studying how the thin leaf structure could support so much weight, applied the same physics to architecture, and amazed everyone with his glass palace!

If you\’re interesting in plants- especially orchids and mistletoes, I\’d say this book is a pretty good one.

Rating: 3/5 …….. 255 pages, 1989

more opinions at:

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Beaks, Bones and Bird Songs

How the Struggle for Survival Has Shaped Birds and Their Behavior

by Roger J. Lederer

Very factual book about the body features and behavior of birds, in particular how they came about because of evolutionary pressures. Each chapter is about one particular aspect: physical attributes (from beak shape to digestive tract), their very fine senses (including the ability to see ultraviolet light), all aspects of flight (feather structure, wing shape and so on), why and how birds migrate and how shifts are happening, how birds survive weather extremes including global warming, the complexities of bird communities- interactions between different species and the pressures they put on each other, and finally, the lasting impact that humans have had on bird life- both positive and negative. This book was one of those that delivers a lot of information at a very rapid clip, giving myriad examples in quick order without a lot of lingering over the details. I found it plenty interesting, felt like it was pretty seamless in motion from one topic to the next, but can readily see how other readers might find it a bit overwhelming. Learned many new interesting things, such as: that toucans use their large bills to dissipate heat, that many shorebirds have pressure sensors in their bills to find prey under the sand, there is an owl that deliberately puts a live snake in its nest as pest control, zebra finches move their eyes independently of each other, and finally- birds never have hearing loss from old age, because their hair cells that detect sound waves continually regrow. Also, I used to assume when I saw a perched bird with wings drooping, that it was injured or perhaps tired. Now I know it was probably drooping the wings because it was simply hot– its one of the methods birds have of cooling off. There’s much in here about how birds fit specifically into their environment, and how things that happen to that environment change them- or they disappear. But many are adapting, too, in hopeful ways that I hadn’t heard of before. A good read.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5

280 pages, 2016

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Animals Nonfiction, Current Reads

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

This book is quite short but so thoughtful and I liked it very much. It\’s a detailed memoir of sorts, from a period of time when the author was bedridden with a serious illness in a convalescent home. A friend brought in a pot of violets and a small snail from the woods for her bedside table. She gradually became interested in watching the snail\’s daily habits- and had a larger terrarium set up with soil and woodland plants so the snail would have a more natural habitat. Eventually curious to learn more about the little mollusk, she requested books and articles from the library about them- and shares a lot of what she later learned. I kind of giggled when the snail started laying eggs- in spite of being a single member of its species- and ended up producing one hundred and eighteen offspring in that ten-gallon terrarium. (Much the same thing can happen with aquatic snails in an aquarium, as I well know). She gave some away, had the majority released in the woods, and kept one when moved back home as her health improved. The personal observations of her little snail are so charming, and the details she shares from natural history tomes quite intriguing. Her thoughts on the nature of illness and how it changed her life overall, makes the reader slow down and ponder too. A wonderful little book that I hope to add to my own collection someday.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5 187 pages, 2010

more opinions:
Vulpes Libris
Citizen Reader
Bermudaonion\’s Weblog
The Black Sheep Dances

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Animals Nonfiction, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads

Easy-Care Guide to Houseplants

by Jack Kramer

Like any other book on plants, this one goes over the basics of selecting healthy plants, situating them in the correct location in your home, general care in terms of feeding, watering, pest and disease control (non-toxic methods emphasized), very basic soil mixes and propagation. There\’s also an entire chapter about how to choose plants that look nice in the room- complementing decor and using design principles. A lot of it was repetitive information for me, but I did appreciate the diagrams on how to hang plants with proper support, and how to build a simple rack for grow lights. The second half of the book is species profiles, arranged by families (I didn\’t know that my foxtail fern is in the lily family! or that coleus are also called \”painted nettle\”). I was hoping to find some specific instructions on a few plants I\’ve struggled with- but the info here was very general. The best I can figure is that my boston fern simply needs repotting with fresh soil every season. This book says that orchids are easy, but I\’ve killed every one I had. In one case I found a picture that seemed mislabeled. African violets were on the same spread; this picture looks just like another kind of African violet to me.

And my mother used to grow primroses, they have different kind of leaves. Which makes me wonder if there are more errors. Because I was happy to learn the names of many common foliage houseplants I see all the time- but now I don\’t know if they\’re all accurate in here. For example, this photo looks just like a plant my daughter recently bought (sans flowers), which was only labeled as \”foliage plant\” so I didn\’t know its name. I look up Medinilla and I think it\’s the same plant but she\’s doubtful.

I do have to say, the photographs in here are all excellent quality. Very nice-looking lush plants, quite a few I\’d like to add to my own collection now. I found this book at a library discard sale.

Rating: 3/5 192 pages, 1999

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Setting Up An Aquarium

A Complete Pet Owner\’s Manual
by Axel Gutjahr

This is a book from one of those educational series, the kind of pet manual you\’d probably find in a store alongside fish supplies (my copy came from the library). Barron\’s, in this case. It has lot of the solid, basic information I\’m looking to brush up on, plus plenty of bright, enticing photographs of fish species. Like most fish-keeping instructionals, the book goes over basic aquarium necessities, fish care, some disease control, easy live plant choices, how to balance and maintain water quality and so forth. For such a short book, it has a lot of information! I read about some things I\’d never heard of- that some people use computers to regulate the lighting in their aquariums and simulate sunrise/sunset conditions?! (sounds expensive), that some filters pass the water through ultraviolet light to sterilize it?! And while the book advises to test for pH and water hardness and to control oxygen exchange, it makes no mention at all of ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, which is what I\’ve been monitoring. It\’s only five years old, I didn\’t think the chemical testing I\’m doing was such a very new thing…

Regardless, it\’s also given me plenty of new ideas on how to beautify my aquarium with water plants. And has suggestions on finding and making your own decor out of bamboo stems, coconut shells, river rocks and driftwood (must be cleaned and prepared, but I\’m going to try some of this!) The pictures and descriptions of popular fish have changed my lineup a little bit. I\’m now adding zebra danios, swordtails, black skirt tetras, blue gourami, striped panchax or other killifish varities to the list of possibilities for my tank.

Rating: 3/5 64 pages, 2008

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Animals Nonfiction, Current Reads

-ahem- more aquisitions

I just can’t seem to help myself. When the books are free, I grab everything that looks interesting. Regardless of whether I’ve ever heard of it before. And I hadn’t been to the Book Thing in several years, so I was extra-excited about the prospects. So… I brought seventy-two new-to-me books home this weekend. I won’t make notes on them all, because I know so little about most of them- but really, how can you pass up titles like Wooden Fish Songs or The Grasshopper King? And things like Through the Eyes of a Young Naturalist look like they were written just for me.

Well, here they are! Some brief mentions about each stack just below it. You can click on any image to see the titles larger. If you recognize some of these books, please do tell me how wonderful (or awful) they are! I’d love to know.

Those three little black books on the top seem to be humorous accounts of a young physician’s first years of practice. They look entertaining.
Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune. I read this wayyy back in the days when I was also going through all the Jim Kjelgaard books I could get my hands on. Like Lassie, it’s about a remarkably intelligent hero-dog man’s best friend yadda yadda. But I might still like it and get some nostalgia out of reading it again.
Snake by somebody Gody seems to be about a black mamba that terrorizes New York City. I probably won’t be frightened but might get some good chuckles out of it.
The Kitchen Madonna and The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden- always anxious to read more Godden but I’m hoping Diddakoi isn’t the one that I recall Jenny decrying as the worst Godden book ever…. !
The Mimosa Tree by Vera and Bill Cleaver- I picked this one up just because I am so delighted in the little mimosa tree in my windowsill, not that I have any clue what the book is about!
Love, Let Me Not Hunger by Paul Gallico- another author I’ve loved but read very few of his works. Never heard of this one before and curiously turning some pages it seems to be about a little circus that falls on hard times.

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville- I picked this up because I read some reviews about it who-knows-when and thought it looked interesting.

Egret by Helen Collins- is not about a bird, but about a young artist in New York City. I’m really curious about that one.
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera- remember the movie of same title, that was out some years ago? This seems to be the original story.
The Midwife’s Tale by Gretchen Moras Laskas- when I got home I realized not only did I already have this book, but I tried to read it and didn’t finish it. Oops! Anyone want a copy?
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx- I saw all the hype about this when it was a new film. I didn’t realize it was at first a short story. I was surprised the book was so little. I\’m hoping since it’s so short there’s not too many -ahem- explicit scenes so I might read it.
I’m Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti- I still recall the moment when a roommate’s friend in college recommended this book to me. And I put it on my list but never read it. That was roughly fifteen years ago. Yet when I saw it on the shelf I immediately recoginzed it and remembered who told me about it. How’s that for memory!

A Zoo for All Seasons– published by the Smithsonian Institute, this book is about the National Zoo. I like books about zoos. And not only does it have photographs (a bit old fashioned, but still good!) but also some lovely drawings.
How I Photograph Wildlife and Nature by Leonard Lee Rue- I don’t know who this guy is, and I don’t know if his photography advice is still pertinent (maybe outdated, at least as far as equipment recommendations go) but just from thumbing through I saw that he had a lot of notes about animal behaviour, because he tells you how to get close enough to wildlife to get good pictures. That alone interests me.

The rest of this stack is mostly National Geographic books focused on various places in the world- mostly about nature, as you can see. I hope they’re good reading! If not, the pictures will still be appreciated.

The Maine Woods by Henry Thoreau- I didn’t know he wrote about the woods in Maine. Perhaps this one will be a bit more accessible to me than Walden, which I’ve tried a few times but made little headway…
Bodach the Badger– I’m stoked about this book! It wasn’t until I got home and looked inside the cover more that I realized it was by the same author who wrote String Lug the Fox, an old favorite of mine that I found by chance at a used bookstore one day ages ago. Delighted!
The Searching Spirit by Joy Adamson- I did so like her books about Elsa the lioness, the cheetahs and leopard she also raised. Curious to read what else she has to say, although I think from what other sources tell me I should temper this by reading George’s words as well (that’s always been a goal of mine anyways).
Animal Liberations by Peter Singer- I think this is a classic in the animal-rights world.
Rosy is My Relative by Gerald Durrell- all the books I’ve come across by Gerald Durrell were about his forays around the world animal-collecting: I didn’t know he wrote fiction. But of course, even his fiction features animals- at a glance this one seems to be about an elephant.
Donkeys Galore by Averil Swinfen- a book about a stud donkey farm. How fun is that?

The Giraffe by Marie Nimier- apparently a little fable about a zookeeper who falls in love with a giraffe. Sounds a bit bizarre.
Lie Down in Darkness by Williem Styron- this is one of those titles I have always recognized, it sticks in my mind for some reason. Now perhaps I’ll finally learn what it’s about.
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore- I assumed, as did the people who shelved this book in the natural history section, that it was about birds. But it’s actually a short story collection. Hm.
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan- this is an old favorite of mine but I got a second copy on purpose so I can give it to one of you when I finally write about this dear book!

African Violets by Helen van Pelt Wilson- mine aren\’t flowering. Maybe this book will tell me why!
In and Out of the Garden by Sara Midda- this book looks absolutely lovely. It’s little notes and tidbits about gardening all with the most wonderful handdrawn lettering and illustrations. Here’s a few samples I pulled offline.

the rest of that stack is mostly books about birds, especially birds of prey. I’ve always had a minor fascination with falconry. Picking up on that once again…

see anything you recognize? What should I read soonest?

Mirror Me

I have just not been reading much lately. The one book I am reading is going slow; I\’m not much interested in it, but it\’s the final in a series I read long ago so I do want to finish just to see how it all closes. More on that later. I\’ve mostly been busy gardening, and the baby is still sick (going on a week now of this miserable cold). Hopefully the blog will pick up again soon!

So I looked around for one of the baby books I haven\’t mentioned here yet. I bought this one back when the baby was just four or five months old, to entertain her on a plane trip. I thought she would like it because of the mirrors. Turns out it didn\’t entertain her then, at all. But now it\’s her favorite book to read when she\’s sitting on the potty. I sit behind her and she can see my face next to her in the little mirrors- each page has one. It\’s cute enough- all about imitating gestures and facial expressions. Smile, stick out your tongue, make your eyes go wide. The baby\’s favorite is the page where a cow puffs her cheeks full of air- I always blow on her hair when I make the puff noise, and she giggles. Some of the characters are just named by their identity- Frog, Gecko, etc. But others have names- Violet the mouse, for example. I\’m assuming they\’re characters from other Baby Einstein products, but I\’m not sure.

Tags: 2/5- Just Okay, Baby books, Current Reads

the list

never stops growing! (of course). This week I just added a few to my TBR, thanks to the wonderful bloggers linked to below (and a few other sources).

Bound to Last by Sean Manning- The Indextrious Reader
Far Afield by Susanna Kaysen- Bookfoolery and Babble
Get Me Out by Randi Hutter Epstein- The Book Lady’s Blog
Oranges by John McPhee- Caroline Bookbinder
The Hopes of Snakes by Lisa Couturier- found online
The Plant Hunters by Tyler Whittle- found listed in Wily Violets and Underground Orchids

Tags: TBR additions

Hanging Plants for Modern Living

by M. Jane Coleman

Okay, so this isn\’t really a book but more properly a booklet, or pamphlet. Or at least it feels so to me, because the binding is stapled, not sewn or stitched. It\’s a plant care book specifically about suspended houseplants. I\’ve kind of taken a fancy to hanging plants lately, and so picked this one up mainly to look at the pictures. Like most plant books, it has information on specific plant care and troubleshooting problems with pests and health. It points out the special care hanging plants need, as they tend to dry out quicker. The bulk of the book is a gallery of plant species that do well or look nice in hung pots or baskets. I tend to think of trailing plants like pothos as suitable for such display, but others I\’d never have thought to put up in the air are shown here too- like African violets, flowering geraniums and zebra plants. Mostly I used this book to make myself a list of all the new plants I find attractive, to add to my plant wishlist. As far as plant books go, the care information is pretty basic and the photos all look outdated; the style and decor feels very much from the seventies. I\’m really only noting this book here for my own records; not really expecting anyone else will be moved to read it!

Rating: 2/5 …….. 80 pages, 1975

Tags: 2/5- Just Okay, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

How the Struggle for Survival Has Shaped Birds and Their Behavior

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