The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything, Ruth Goodman (Liveright, 2021). Last spring, my oldest daughter and I set out to tame our blackberry thicket. Dozens of bushes, each with a decade’s worth of dead canes, had come with our house, and we were determined to make them accessible to hungry children. (Do you have any idea how much berries cost at the grocery store, even in the height of summer? Do you have an idea how many hours of peaceful book-reading you can stitch together out of the time your kids are hunting for fruit in their own yard? It’s a win-win.) But after we’d cut down all the dead canes, I explained that we also needed to shorten the living ones, especially the second-year canes that would be bearing fruit later in the summer. At this point, scratched and sweaty from our work, she balked: was Mom trying to deprive the children of their rightful blackberries? But I explained that on blackberries, like most woody plants, the terminal bud suppresses growth from all lower buds; removing it makes them
I just wanted to poke my head in and say that it's a joy to read these reviews every week. When the emails show up, I tend to clear the deck and enjoy reading.
Thanks! I might even start expanding my reading genre in the near future. I'm learning about books in areas that I never knew existed.
I just wanted to poke my head in and say that it's a joy to read these reviews every week. When the emails show up, I tend to clear the deck and enjoy reading.
Thanks! I might even start expanding my reading genre in the near future. I'm learning about books in areas that I never knew existed.