Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden

What a wonderful experience to spend time with this intelligent, funny, morally secure woman. She's an elegant writer with a wealth of gardening knowledge. Her views on organic gardening, composting, etc. are now widely recognized as correct. Her taste, which she does not hesitate to reveal, is impeccable. One of the best gardening books I've ever read. I hope the years since this book was published have been very kind to Ms. Perenyi and her Stonington, Conn. garden.

Although I have not gardened in years and have no plans to start now, I have been enchanted by "Green Thoughts." Ms. Perenyi's writing is crisp, intelligent, and witty. Anyone who can take such non-riveting subjects as worms, mulch, and compost (to name a few) and turn them into elegant, fascinating essays deserves some sort of prize. If E.B. White had written a gardening book, it would probably resemble this one. A real treat.

I must have blinked when this book went out of print; I've had a stockpile of copies for years to give to deserving friends. Now my children are old enough to have gardens and I NEED Eleanor Perenyi. BRING HER BACK! PLEASE, PLEASE! This is the best book for gardeners ever written.

Bless, oh, bless Modern Library for bringing this book back into print. When I wrote the review below, it was still unavailable, so I'm delighted by its return. This time, I will be buying several copies to give as presents. One could hardly do better. Original review: Eleanor Perenyi is one of those people who can make anything interesting. Knowledgeable, opinionated, at times cranky, her writing is at once delightful and profound. With wit and whimsy, the books skips from the trials and tribulations of trying to find good help to the horticultural explorations of the Spanish conquistadors. The book is a real treat for anyone who loves gardens and words. In fact, I think I'll read it again. 05/29/2009 It is with deep sadness that I report the recent death of Eleanor Perenyi. In Green Thoughts, she has left us a gift we should treasure for all time.

If you love amateur gardening and you love food, you have to love this book. Perenyi is informed, witty and timeless and she writes like a dream. She is way up there with one of my other all-time favorites, MFK Fisher. I've given this book as a gift at least a dozen times and now that I want to again, I find that it's out of print. What a travesty. Bring it back!