Hothouse Flower Review and Giveaway
A couple months ago I was contacted by Trish from TLC Book Tours to see if I would review Hothouse Flower: and the Nine Plants of Desire. I’m not much a modern novel reader, but figured since was a novel featuring plants, I would give it a shot.
I received my copy many weeks ago when I was super busy getting ready for vacation. I finally cracked it open last Wednesday when we arrived home. I have to admit when I read the back cover I was a bit nervous:
Lila Nova is a thirty-two-year-old advertising copywriter who lives alone in a plain white box of an apartment. Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, Lila has a simple mantra: no pets, no plants, no people, no problems. But when Lila meets David Exley, a ruggedly handsome plant seller, her lonely life blossoms into something far more colorful. From the cold, harsh streets of Manhattan to the verdant jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, Hothouse Flower is the story of a woman who must travel beyond the boundaries of sense and comfort to find what she truly wants.
I was happy that it wasn’t the romance novel I had feared, at least not much of one. There were a few romantic sections, but it definitely isn’t the main point of the book, thank goodness! It was a quick read, I finished it within 24 hours of starting. It only took me a couple sittings to get through the entire book, which I always enjoy. I hate books that are tedious to read and difficult to make yourself sit down to finish them. This book held my attention enough to make me want to sit down and read through it.
This book is a fluffy quick read, not an in depth book that includes lots of detail and history. You’ll find gaps in the story, perhaps questions about the mythology, storyline, the main character’s decisions and so many other things. But this book isn’t meant to be a John Steinbeck novel, it’s meant to be a quick summer read so you have to take that into consideration. If you go into it expecting something deep and meaningful you’ll be disappointed. I reminded me a lot of a Barbara Kingsolver novel, only shorter, less descriptive and a little less environmentally preachy. If you like her novels you’ll most likely enjoy this one.
The plant references were particularly interesting and I found myself wanting to look up all the plants mentioned in the book. Margot definitely has a wonderful imagination since she came up with an entire mythology about the nine plants of desire and the lore that surrounds them. The 9 Plants of Desire give the person who has all 9 of them power, insight and understanding. While reading through the book I found myself wanting to read more in depth about all of these 9 plants: gloxinia, mexican cycade, cacao, moonflower, sinsemilla, lily of the valley, mandrake, chicory and datura. There were also many other plants talked about in the book: bird of paradise, fire fern, orchids, a special nameless extinct plant, Chinese windmill palm, croton, Mexican fan palm, floribunda rose, and others.
I won’t go into much detail about the book, I don’t want to give anything away (I always hate that). Now that I’m finished with this book I’ll be giving away my copy of this book as well as a copy from the publisher. All you have to do is comment below and you’ll be entered into a drawing for the book.
Any great quick read novel recommendations? Do you know of any great books that feature botanical themes?
**WINNERS**
Kaytee from Gardening to Preserve
Peggy
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The Good Life Center
After reading Maine Farm: A Year of Country Life I really wanted to visit the Nearing Farm. I have yet to read Scott Nearing’s book The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living, it’s been on my “to read” list for quite a while. I have read a lot about them and have been longing to see their walled garden and their little greenhouse. Since we were headed up to Maine we decided to visit The Good Life Center, which was the Nearing Home.
I checked their website and they were going to be closing at the end of September, but I figured we could stop by and look around anyways. There wasn’t anyone there to show us around and the gardens were harvested and pretty empty, but it was still wonderful to see. I’d always read about their stone house, the stone walls around their garden and the solar greenhouse that they built. It was so wonderful to see these things in person, the gardens especially. I won’t bore you with too many words, the home and garden speak for themselves.
One of the wonderful things about the Nearing home is that they built all the buildings themselves from stone. The house is stone, part of the greenhouse is stone, the workshop is stone, the wall around the garden is stone, and even the outhouse is made of stone, it truly is remarkable.
I loved seeing the little things like the compost piles, wooden shoes and the little cat statues throughout the garden – which were a nod to Stanley & Lynn who purchased Forrest Farm from the Nearings and loved cats.
The Nearings really are an inspiration for many of us simple life lovers. I really appreciate people like them, I may not agree with all their ideals or beliefs, and I will most likely never live off the grid without electric, but I really appreciate people than can and do live this kind of lifestyle!
Have you ever read about the Nearings? Who is an inspiration to you?
I’ll be adding more photos of the Nearing Place and the rest of our trip to my Flickr account, so check there often to see them.
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Quote of the Day: Bonnie Friedman
“An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth.”
~ Bonnie Friedman
This is one of the reasons we enjoy camping so much, it really lends itself to being unhurried. No distractions, just you and nature.
What helps you sit back and relax?
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Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta
When Mr Chiots and I were driving from Acadia National Park down to Freeport we passed through the small town of Damariscotta, Maine. As we were passing through, they were moving giant pumpkins around on forklifts. We were marveling at the size of all the pumpkins and then it hit me that this might just be the town we saw on TV once that raced gigantic pumpkins in the bay.
When we got to our campground later that night, we googled it and sure enough, the town of Damariscotta has a yearly Pumpkin Festival that includes a Pumpkin Regatta. We changed our vacation plans to head up and witness the giant pumpkin races. I mean how often are you only 45 minutes away from such a wonderful festival?
We arrived in Damariscotta early on Sunday morning. The streets were packed, there were decorated pumpkins all over the town and all the businesses were featuring pumpkin flavored treats.
After walking around the town looking at all the pumpkins we made our way down to the bay to get good seats for the regatta. We were so glad we got their early when we saw how many people showed up for this event.
The boats were great, all creatively decorated (is it called a boat when it’s really a pumpkin?). There were two classes, the human propelled and the super modified with small outboard motors. Amazingly only one guy went over, we were expecting to see more. By far, the best part of the regatta was the announcer, it was perhaps one of the funniest hours I’ve experienced in a LONG time. Mr Chiots got a lot of video and if he puts it up on-line I’ll make sure I let you know!
Of course we couldn’t leave without stopping at the gelato place for Mr Chiots to get a pumpkin gelato affogato. We had to eat something pumpkin flavored at this festival! (affogato is freshly brewed espresso poured over gelato)
We had a great time at the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest. If you’re ever in Maine around Columbus Day weekend I’d highly recommend going and make sure you don’t miss the regatta. They also have fun events like: pumpkin chucking, pumpkin dropping, a parade, seed saving and other wonderful things all week long.
Have you ever attended a crazy festival? What’s your favorite festival with local flair?
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The Flavors of Fall
One of the things Mr Chiots and I love about where we live is that we have a wonderful little local cider mill. They sell unpasteurized cider that they press in a little mill behind their home. They have the best cider in the area (and we’ve tried them all). They put up a few signs on the road and you buy it with the honor system, one of the beautiful things about life in rural Ohio!
The best part of this cider is that it’s unpasteurized so it gets “zingy” as I say. It starts to ferment from the natural yeast after about a week. I prefer it when it’s slightly fermented because it’s less sweet. I don’t particularly like it cold, but I love it mulled. During cider season we enjoy mulled cider almost every evening while we read or watch TV.
We don’t just drink this cider, we buy extra for many other things. I usually make a few batches of mulled cider jelly for gifts. We also boil a gallon or two down into cider syrup, which is fantastic on french toast, pancakes or drizzled over ice cream. I also buy 5-10 gallons for making apple cider vinegar which I use for canning and cooking throughout the year. This cider makes great cider vinegar all by itself since it’s unpasteurized. I’ll post specifics on this when I make by 2010 batch in the next month or two.
Are you a cider lover? Do you have a special place to buy it? Have you ever had unpasteurized cider?
