210 pages"May 2nd - Last night after dinner, when we were in the garden, I said, "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. Nobody shall be invited to stay with me, and if any one calls they will be told that I am out, or away, or sick. I shall spend the months in the garden, and on the plain, and in the forests. I shall watch the things that happen in my garden, and see where I have made mistakes. On wet days I will go into the thickest parts of the forests, where the pine needles are everlastingly dry, and when the sun shines I'll lie on the heath and see how the broom flares against the clouds. I shall be perpetually happy, because there will be no one to worry me."
I absolutely loved this book. I can't think of another book that I have enjoyed more than this one. I found myself highlighting left and right- at least 1/4 of the book has been clipped on my Kindle!
It is about a woman (Elizabeth von Arnim) who spends an entire summer doing all the things she loves: spending many hours alone in her garden, reading, writing, playing with her children. It is not an entirely solitary summer because she has a family and servants, and at one point they must play host to a troop of soldiers. More accurately, she does not spend any time socializing or looking to other people for entertainment.
I highly recommend this book.
It is perfect reading for an afternoon by the pool or an evening in the shade of a favorite tree.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
"What a blessing 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."
"I long ago have discovered that the less a person knows, the more certain he is that he is right, and that no weapons yet invented are of any use in a struggle with stupidity."
"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."
(on taking a walk at 3 a.m.)
"I stood for a few minutes motionless on the steps, almost frightened by the awful purity of nature when all the sin and ugliness is shut up and asleep, and there is nothing but the beauty left."
"but here was the world wide awake and yet only for me, all the fresh pure air only for me, all the fragrances breathed only by me, not a living soul hearing the nightingale but me, the sun in a few moments coming up to warm only me, and nowhere a single hard word being spoken, or a single selfish act being done, nowhere anything that could tarnish the blessed purity of the world as God has give it us."
"Experience has taught me that whenever anything is on the tip of my tongue, the best thing to do is to keep it there."
"I have, it is true, a great many friends-- people with whom it is pleasant to spend an afternoon if such afternoons are not repeated too often, and if you are careful not to stir more than the surface of things."
"How can you help being happy if you are healthy and in the place you want to be?"
"I could almost fancy sometimes that as I come down the steps, gentle hands of blessing have been laid on my head. I suppose I feel so because of the hush that descends on my soul when I get out of the close, restless house into that silent purity."
"I jolted over the roots into the gathering shadows more and more pervaded by that feeling that so refreshes me, the feeling of being absolutely alone."
"And was there ever such a hopeful beginning to a day, and so full of promise for the subsequent right passing of its hours, as breakfast in the garden, alone with your teapot and your book!"
There's more, but I must stop myself now!
Here are some links about Elizabeth's life and the home described in this book.
Historic Gardens Foundation
Former location of Nassenheide, site of Elizabeth von Arnim's German Garden, described in her book of 1898. Historic site.
on Wikipedia
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