Garden of Reading

With selections grown from the fertile imaginations of the twentieth century’s most remarkable authors, editor and writer Michele Slung has assembled an enchanting and evocative anthology—the word itself comes from the Greek terms for "flower" and "to gather"—of short stories about gardens and all that grow in them.

The gardeners here are young and old, male and female, and the gardens themselves are a delightful mix of the formal and the wild. The twenty-four stories in The Garden of Reading comprise a diverse and unexpected collection but one that stays true to its central and harmonious theme. Included are Colette’s sensuous "Grape Harvest," David Guterson’s poignant "The Flower Garden," Stephen King’s sinister "The Lawnmower Man," J. G. Ballard’s lovely and otherworldy "The Garden of Time," the ominous "Green Thoughts" by John Collier, Rosamunde Pilcher’s touching and simply titled "The Tree," and the splendid "The Fig Tree," by V. S. Pritchett—as well as classics from such masters as Saki, Robert Graves, and Eudora Welty, and contemporary writing from the likes of Sandra Cisneros and Garrison Keillor.

If you’ve ever nurtured a flower, a tomato plant, or a gleam of imagination, there’s something in The Garden of Reading that is sure to delight.