This second Elizabeth novel begins with Elizabeth asking her husband for a solitary summer--no visitors--so she can read and enjoy her garden. The books describes her library and some of the books she reads. There is a discussion about German eating on holidays, which can be connected to Katherine Mansfield's "The Germans at Meat" and which reoccurs in her Travels in Rügen. The novel ends with Elizabeth being required to deal with the quartering of a German army regiment.

Someone suggested this on The Literary Life Facebook page and having loved The Enchanted April and Elizabeth’s German Garden I thought it would be a nice summer read.

The first few pages did not draw me into this novel but by the end I was highlighting and laughing through every paragraph. This novel is a lovely summer diversion. It is as palpably summer as Elizabeth herself must have been. I yearned with Elizabeth to be a goose girl! Her delights in wood, garden, and field are achingly real.

This would make a great reading slump book. It is also a good cheering-up book too. I dare you not to smile while reading.

Elizabeth is 3 for 3 so far.

Beautiful thoughts and descriptions of the author's summer gardens. This book lead me to "An enchanted April," also by this author.

Another lovely book. Von Arnim is a woman after my own heart as I got to spend a month alone once, refusing to answer the phone, go anywhere or see anyone. One of the nicest experiences of my life. Again an intelligent conversation from a woman who reads, writes and thinks clearly, sensibly and amusingly.

Interesting piece by author of The Enchanted April--the musings of a German woman who wants to spend a leisurely summer in her garden with just her books and her family.

This is written as a handful of journal entries over part of a year. It has a lyrical beginning with some poignant descriptions of gardens and reflections on books.

“What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden. And how easy it would have been to come into the world without this, and possessed instead of an all-consuming passion, say, for hats, perpetually raging round my empty soul!”

“Books have their idiosyncrasies as well as people, and will not show me their full beauties unless the place and time in which they are read suits them...

I loved the beginning but about a third of the way through she digresses, with morbid passages about her visits with the local villagers, dying babies, funeral shrouds, and the inconvenience of having to quarter soldiers in her home for a couple of weeks. While interesting from a historical perspective, her writing style alters here. I love metaphors, and the only way I was only able to plod through the final 2/3 of this book was by searching for gardening metaphors-- “It is delightful and instructive to potter among one’s plants, but it is imperative for body and soul that the pottering should cease for a few months, and that we should be made to realize that grim other side of life. A long hard winter lived through from beginning to end without shirking is one of the most salutary experiences in the world.”

Von Arnim’s writing style is noteworthy and a little quirky though her work is somewhat challenging to read (if you like plots, you may get bored). I will probably go on to read Elizabeth and Her German Garden, which is apparently a prequel to this piece.

I read the Kindle version a year or so ago and forgot to put it in my read list. I had highlighted so many thoughts of Elizabeth von Arnim. I loved how she referred to her husband as Man of Wrath. Her ability to see, really see things for their beauty and change was such a delight to read.

Nice follow up to German Gatden. Still love my von Arnim but found her a little out of touch with reality here. Her condescending tone toward the poor was a bit off putting but I'm sure she was just a product of her times and circumstances. I still view her as progressive and forward thinking and hopefully she came to have a deeper understanding of the workings of the lower class as she matured.

She writes in a stream of consciousness manner that is very appealing. Her writing about the gardens is wonderful, compelling, and the language is close to magical. Highly recommended if you like memoir with a heavy overlay of gardening. I would also recommend reading her wikipedia entry, for more insight into her life... just a little bit of reading between the lines! Available for the Kindle free.

"What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden."

And this book combines the best of both . . .

Liked it even more than "Elizabeth and Her German Garden." Just so funny and thoughtful and peaceful.

The perfect balance of introspection, narration and description. If you ever need an escape, read this and watch Elizabeth’s garden bloom before you. It’s short enough to get whisked away for an afternoon.

“I want to be alone for a whole summer, and get to the very dregs of life. I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow. […] I shall be perpetually happy, because there will be no one to worry me. Out there on the plain there is silence, and where there is silence I have discovered there is peace.”

"What a blessing it is to love books. Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden."

My fault, I’ve had enough of her garden. I prefer her novels.