Kate


she/her

Kate loves to read fiction and is drawn to excellent storytelling, history, and social issues. In between novels, she likes to read non-fiction and has a particular interest in nature & science writing, theory, criticism, social justice and memoirs.


 

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Detransition, Baby: A Novel By Torrey Peters Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780593133385
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: One World - October 5th, 2021

Fun, sexy, and smart as hell! Torrey Peters does not shy away from uncomfortable and complicated topics while examining motherhood, gender, sexuality, and culture in this fresh take on a love triangle. This book goes all the way, satisfying every nook and cranny of the mind while also pulling at your heartstrings. This book is revolutionary for contemporary general fiction. Read it!


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Things I Learned from Falling: A Memoir By Claire Nelson Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780063070189
Availability: Special Order
Published: HarperOne - June 28th, 2022

This book is thrilling, remarkable, and educational for those who like to be outside. Claire Nelson recounts her story of falling while hiking solo in the California desert. She is stranded for 4 days with a shattered pelvis and very little water. As intense as her story is, her voice is amusing throughout. Her gratitude and gain from the experience is apparent, yet her enlightenment after the fall only lasts so long. Things I learned From Falling is a captivating glimpse into the journey of survival.


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Hades, Argentina: A Novel By Daniel Loedel Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780593188651
Availability: Special Order
Published: Riverhead Books - January 11th, 2022

At times I am skeptical of anything in the realm of 'surreal' fiction, but this book was very well done and in the tradition of  Argentine story-telling. Daniel Lodel has a way of making the brutality of torture and political upheavel beautiful through attempting to render the confusing relationship between love and pain.


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Make It Scream, Make It Burn: Essays By Leslie Jamison Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780316259651
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Published: Back Bay Books - October 20th, 2020

I really began to respect and enjoy this book in Part II of the book, Looking. Beginning with a smart examination of tourism in the essay, Jaffna, I was reminded of Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place. The two essays about photography were told in the spirit of Susan Sontag - one was  about Civil War/war photography and the other, the title essay, was about a photographer whose life work centered around a family and their home in Mexico. These two essays were evocative and carried me through the rest of the book to The Museum of Broken Hearts - a fabulous essay about Vegas and to the humble and real last essay that may make you cringe; yet the completed collection will leave you with an overall warmth.


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The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner) By Sarah M. Broom Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780802149039
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Published: Grove Press - June 30th, 2020

The Yellow House is a portrait of New Orleans, a family, a home. It is rich with history. The cartography of a city and a family tree is told from the perspective of Sarah Broom who grew up in The Yellow House. She examines the story of her family home and the story of a mythologized American city with stunning detail. Broom is successful in her delivery, mapping out the history of a place while telling a story at the same time. Her writing style seems influenced by Joan Didion, who's mentioned a couple of times throughout the book. Overall, I really enjoyed this read and was pleased to find myself at the end with what felt like a natural path to my next read - Slouching Toward Bethlehem.


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Lonesome Dove: A Novel By Larry McMurtry Cover Image
$23.00
ISBN: 9781439195260
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Published: Simon & Schuster - June 15th, 2010

Lonesome Dove is a sweeping epic and journey across the American west. The characters, the land, and the animals come to life with the humanity Larry McMurtry writes with. This novel felt so immediately classic, yet it took the Western genre to a totally new level. It's funny and harrowing and filled with soul and depth. I should stop here cause I don't want to spoil it if you might read it.


The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency By Tove Ditlevsen, Tiina Nunnally (Translated by), Michael Favala Goldman (Translated by) Cover Image
By Tove Ditlevsen, Tiina Nunnally (Translated by), Michael Favala Goldman (Translated by)
$20.00
ISBN: 9781250829788
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Picador - February 22nd, 2022

Tove Ditlevson's trilogy is a portrait of an artist whose eccentricities are timeless and relatable. The first book, Childhood, captures her perspective as a kid in Denmark during the 1930s. The Second, Youth, describes her ascent from adolescence to adulthood and the coming of age during the rise of the second world war. Reading the last book, Dependency, is like being plunged into a deep, sick, and twisted world with Tove. Despite the horrifying images and thoughts that her story sometimes left with me with, there is a redeeming quality to her dedication and passion. Her reflections are brutally honest and at times, darkly humorous. Her story is damning.


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The Look of the Book: Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature By Peter Mendelsund, David J. Alworth Cover Image
$50.00
ISBN: 9780399581021
Availability: Special Order
Published: Ten Speed Press - October 6th, 2020

You do not have to be an avid reader to adore this exhibition on the art of the book. This book is for lovers of design, history, and/or pulp and literary fiction. The text is compelling and the images inspire. My imagination was left to run wild with ideas for what to read next, what to research further, and what to make.


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Queen of Tejano Music: Selena By Silvia López, Paola Escobar (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Silvia López, Paola Escobar (Illustrator)
$18.99
ISBN: 9781499811421
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: little bee books - August 25th, 2020

Did you know that the name 'Selena' means moon goddess? This book is stylish, timeless and inspirational. I learned all about the life of Selena, both onstage and offstage. The dazzling and playful illustrations help to tell about her family, the music, her heritage, giving back to the community, and her legacy as the Queen of Tejano Music.


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Late in the Day: A Novel By Tessa Hadley Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062476708
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Published: Harper Perennial - February 18th, 2020

Set against the background of an English chapel-turned-art gallery, four friends and their families reckon with loss, love, lust, and the past.

Late In the Day is written like a movie. The easily imaginable characters are well-developed and the plot is dramatic.

A very good book.


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Sabrina & Corina: Stories By Kali Fajardo-Anstine Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780525511304
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Published: One World - April 7th, 2020

A beautiful book rooted in the tradition of telling stories with memories, warnings, remedies, and spirit.

Sabrina & Corina is a remarkable story collection set in the beautiful state of Colorado. From the high desert to the Metropolis of the West (Denver), women find their connection to the land, each other, and themselves.


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From Thread to Needle: Contemporary Embroidery Art By Charlotte Vannier Cover Image
$49.95
ISBN: 9781584237471
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Published: Gingko Press - November 12th, 2019

From Thread to Needle is a beautifully detailed look at dozens of contemporary embroidery artists. The high-quality photos make the book a tactile experience while the artist profiles are smart and evocative. This is perhaps my most treasured art book in my collection and has yet to make it to the shelf because I can't seem to close it.


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Molly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World By Molly Bloom Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780062213082
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Published: Dey Street Books - January 20th, 2015

Molly’s Game was a thrilling recollection of one woman’s rise to the top of the largest poker game in the world. Molly Bloom exposes the glamour, glitz, and greed of the gambling scene from LA to NYC. With unforgettable characters and an unbelievably true story, Molly’s Game had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. A stunning, five-star memoir.


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Bailey's Cafe (Vintage Contemporaries) By Gloria Naylor Cover Image
$15.00
ISBN: 9780679748212
Availability: Special Order
Published: Vintage - August 31st, 1993

Another brilliant book by one of the most underrated & masterful writers of our time.
As I read Bailey’s Cafe, I had no idea where all of these strange, tragic, and dark stories were headed; but rest assured, this novel is complete.
Gloria Naylor found a spell-binding way to interlace the disparate characters that crossed paths at the unlikely legend: Bailey’s Cafe.


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The Botanical Bible: Plants, Flowers, Art, Recipes & Other Home Uses By Sonya Patel Ellis Cover Image
$40.00
ISBN: 9781419732232
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Harry N. Abrams - September 25th, 2018

The Botanical Bible is perhaps the most beautiful book on my bookshelf. It is an elegant reference complete with scientific information, history, remedies, recipes, and art. This book truly reveals the magic of the botanical world. If you enjoy nature, design, and science. Take a peek inside!


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In the Distance with You: A Novel By Carla Guelfenbein, John Cullen (Translated by) Cover Image
By Carla Guelfenbein, John Cullen (Translated by)
$17.95
ISBN: 9781590518700
Availability: Special Order
Published: Other Press - June 5th, 2018

This is a truly compelling novel in which Carla Guelfenbein expertly weaves together the life of a famous writer with a chilling mystery.


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Mama Day (Vintage Contemporaries) By Gloria Naylor Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9780679721819
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Published: Vintage - April 23rd, 1989

Gloria Naylor is a wizard at composing a nearly perfect novel. Reading Mama Day felt like planting a seed and watching it grow into a striking, exotic flower.


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How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization By Mary Beard Cover Image
$24.95
ISBN: 9781631494406
Availability: Backordered
Published: Liveright - September 4th, 2018

I know a staff pick when I read it… This book was GREAT! For those who’d like to take a trip through the history of civilization, through the world’s visual relics and artifacts, this book is for you! Great Read for Art Admirers.


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The House of Broken Angels By Luis Alberto Urrea Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316154895
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Back Bay Books - March 5th, 2019

I read this book when I was covered neck to knee in hives and a rash that persisted for nine weeks. I had begun reading the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn and quickly realized that, although I wanted to be immersed in a complex plot, I needed something a bit more meditative at that time.
 
I picked up the advanced reader's copy of Luis Alberto Urrea's House of Broken Angels and his storytelling and characters immediately resonated with me. This is a dazzling family saga that unfolds in the midst of a funeral, a birthday, and the ruminative last days of Big Angel's (the patriarch's) life.


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The Book of Emma Reyes: A Memoir By Emma Reyes, Daniel Alarcón (Translated by), Daniel Alarcón (Introduction by) Cover Image
By Emma Reyes, Daniel Alarcón (Translated by), Daniel Alarcón (Introduction by)
$16.00
ISBN: 9780143108696
Availability: Special Order
Published: Penguin Classics - August 7th, 2018

The Book of Emma Reyes is told through the imaginative gaze of a child. Through her memories, Reyes tells the story of growing up as an abandoned orphan, and in a Colombian convent, in a series of letters to historian German Arciniegas. In her later life, she became a painter and fixture in the art world of the mid-20th century. She befriended the likes of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and other worldly artists and intellectuals. While her adulthood was notable, her book focuses on her life before fame, glamour, and art. I really enjoyed this perspective of memory work and the unique details of her memoir.


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We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True By Gabrielle Union Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780062693990
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Dey Street Books - January 15th, 2019

This memoir is both funny and intense. In tackling social and personal issues, Gabrielle Union is blunt and biting. I was impressed with her ability to shed light on darkness.


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Feel Free: Essays By Zadie Smith Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780143110255
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Penguin Books - February 5th, 2019

Feel Free is the best book I’ve read this year. Topics range from television and films such as Get Out, Anomolisa, and Key and Peele, to social media, dance, writing, and books. Zadie Smith’s way with words had me interested in any and everything. It was a pleasure to be enveloped in such an exquisitely entertaining mind. Smith is a true book lover and had me giddy with literary love from beginning to end.


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Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel By Jesmyn Ward Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781501126079
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Scribner - May 8th, 2018

This story sank deep into my bones as it unfolded. I was haunted by the ghostly spirit of the Deep South that shaped a family bound by blood, history, and loss. Jesmyn Ward smoothly conveys the harrowing details of each character’s experience with an imaginative clarity. I loved this book.


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Ema the Captive By César Aira, Chris Andrews (Translated by) Cover Image
By César Aira, Chris Andrews (Translated by)
$14.95
ISBN: 9780811219105
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: New Directions - December 6th, 2016

Alcohol, painted skies, and wild weather set the stage for a bizarre and exquisite journey set in historic South America. The title and synopsis are deceiving. Ema the Captive is a dedicated and deliberate story of ceremony and freedom. Every time I read Aira, I am sure to find myself living in a painting.


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The Vegetarian: A Novel By Han Kang Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781101906118
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Hogarth - August 23rd, 2016

Haunting. Han Kang conquers a plot so eerily close to home -- and yet so foreign, it feels unexpected. As a visual person, the imagery in this novel nearly brought me to tears.

This book is at once beautiful and difficult ... to swallow.


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Swing Time: A Novel By Zadie Smith Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780143111641
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Penguin Books - September 5th, 2017

The thing I love most about Zadie Smith is the way her brain works. However, reading her novels, I had always felt her writing was perhaps too dense. Then I read Swing Time.

The complex themes interweave with an intriguing plot about a woman always on the verge of finding herself in the worlds of media, travel, and dance. The story unfolds with motion and left me with a feeling of completion throughout.


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Scary Old Sex By Arlene Heyman Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781632862341
Availability: Special Order
Published: Bloomsbury USA - February 7th, 2017

I really liked this unique collection of short stories. Heyman explores humanity through art, science, love, loss, aging, and relationships. The topics are very well-researched and the dynamic characters have soul. Each story is smart, raunchy, and meaningful. Unlike anything I’ve ever read.


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See You in the Morning By Mairead Case Cover Image
$13.95
ISBN: 9780983186359
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Featherproof Books - October 13th, 2015

A poignant portrayal of a teenage girl in a small American Midwestern town. The unnamed narrator works at “Chapters” bookstore, goes to the diner with friends, and makes sense of strange nights, awkward relationships, and growing up. Mairead Case’s writing dazzles from beginning to end.


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A Thousand Acres: A Novel By Jane Smiley Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781400033836
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Anchor - December 2nd, 2003

The story unfolds on a family farm in Iowa. Land and memory shape a timeless tale that had me entranced. I was left saying: “Jane Smiley. I can’t believe she went there.”


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Flight By Sherman Alexie Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780802170378
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Grove Press, Black Cat - April 17th, 2007

Flight is a trip. A journey through history, the human condition, mind, and consciousness. The mind-bending story is tragic and beautiful. Alexie is blunt in capturing the complexity of the characters and themes throughout this colorful novel.


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The Sellout: A Novel By Paul Beatty Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781250083258
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Picador - March 1st, 2016

Reading The Sellout was like experiencing the making of public art.
Dark.
Humorous.
Imaginative.
I deeply enjoyed Beatty’s refreshing perspective on history in this boldly-realized novel.


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Song of Solomon (Vintage International) By Toni Morrison Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781400033423
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Published: Vintage - June 8th, 2004

Song of Solomon is timeless in its meditations on race and violence, relationships, love, and struggle. Deeply moving and culturally relevant, Morrison’s story is embedded with a historical narrative that still lives on. This book is fearless in its purity, exposing darkness and corruption with vivid imagery and emotional depth. Song of Solomon is an essential and significant piece of literature. Read this.


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Salvage the Bones: A Novel By Jesmyn Ward Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781608196265
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Bloomsbury USA - April 24th, 2012

Jesmyn Ward immortalizes the deep South amid the tension of Hurricane Katrina. Told from the gaze of a blossoming young woman, Esch narrates a story of motherhood, betrayal, poverty, and survival.

Gritty. Beautiful.


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The Hummingbird's Daughter By Luis Alberto Urrea Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316154529
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Back Bay Books - April 3rd, 2006

A mesmerizing work of historical fiction, family lineage and brilliant story-telling. Luis Alberto Urrea's tale is full of life, color and soul.


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Geek Love: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries) By Katherine Dunn Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780375713347
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Vintage - June 11th, 2002

An albino hunchback dwarf, a seductress with a tail, siamese twins, and a boy with fins all intertwine in this novel of freaks, family, obscenity, the beautiful, the ugly, rivalry, and LOVE.

Dunn's tale is dark and raw, pure and empathetic in its grotesque examination of strange love.


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Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness By Edward Abbey Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780345326492
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Published: Ballantine Books - January 12th, 1985

This account of Edward Abbey's season in the desert of southern Utah is exquisite. Vivid imagery and memory come together through the poetic gaze of a lone ranger in the wilderness to make for a rugged and contemplative journey.

Abbey's writing mirrors the desert landscape: unforgiving and elegant at once.


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Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex By Mary Roach Cover Image
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ISBN: 9780393334791
Availability: Out of Print
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - April 6th, 2009

Witty, educational, funny, and intriguing. Roach elaborates on scientific curiosities with style and humor.

Also recommended: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.


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This Is How You Lose Her By Junot Díaz Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781594631771
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Riverhead Books - September 3rd, 2013

A tightly knitted collection of stories that explore love. Dialogue intertwines with plot and character development to display the complex ways in which we communicate. Junot Diaz is raw, unapologetic, ugly, honest and beautiful in each work.


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Cunt (20th Anniversary Edition): A Declaration of Independence (Live Girls) By Inga Muscio Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781580056649
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: Seal Press - March 13th, 2018

Inga Muscio is clever and entertaining in her elaboration on the cunt. It is an empowering and intriguing examination of the female body through a personal and cultural lens. Her manifesto is revolutionary in its bold and provocative declarations. This is the text that made me a self-defined feminist.


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The Thing Around Your Neck By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780307455918
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Published: Vintage - June 1st, 2010

An intimate examination of relationships & culture in this beautifully crafted work of short stories that focus on the dichotomy between Africa and America.


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An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter By César Aira, Chris Andrews (Translated by), Roberto Bolaño (Preface by) Cover Image
By César Aira, Chris Andrews (Translated by), Roberto Bolaño (Preface by)
$12.95
ISBN: 9780811216302
Availability: Call or email to ask for estimate.
Published: New Directions - May 25th, 2006

An astounding novel from Argentina that is a meditation on the beautiful and grotesque in nature, the art of landscape painting, and one experience in a man's life that became a lightning rod for inspiration.


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My Garden (Book) By Jamaica Kincaid Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780374527761
Availability: Backordered
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux - May 15th, 2001

I would very much dislike to spoil what is between these two covers. You do not have to be a garden pro, or even interested in gardening, to find this book compelling. "My Garden (book)" thoughtfully examines historic, artistic, and spiritual narratives of the cultivated landscape. This garden story is deceptively grand.