Customer Reviews

Out in the Garden: Growing a Beautiful Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The librarian at Skene Library in Fleishmanns, NY foisted this book upon me as I had missed Dean Riddle's personal appearance and reading. I politely took it home. I started to skim read and three hours later had finished the book and made a list of pages to return to for information. This book is a jewel of a read and a must for any Catskill gardener. I have had a "failed garden" for ten years in the Felishmanns area. I used to be a good gardener. Not in the Catskills! Mr Riddle provides a virtual how to manual for my next year's garden. But beyond the practical, it is a delightful, fast paced, funny read.

Out of all the gardening books I've purchased for our public library in the last four years, I would recommend Dean Riddle's book first and foremost to our readers as a balm to the soul, an inspiration to gardeners everywhere, and a plain old good read. The focus of the book is informative yet personal: it is the story of one man's coming of age in the garden, his connection with the strange and often-ignored vibrancy of the horticultural world, and his joyous appreciation of people, plants, dirt, sticks, old glassware, fried eggs, and just about everything else.

For four months a year I read virtually nothing but gardening books of all types as our orders come in to the library. Very few of the writers are able to touch and inform readers at the same time, and it is this gift that Dean Riddle brings to his writing. The book is organized in such a way that Riddle is able to incorporate stories into his highly readable and clear descriptions of his own garden plans. Within the space of a few paragraphs, the reader finds himself in Dean's world. The fully-colored images and sensations of Dean's garden stay brilliantly painted in one's mind long after the book is closed.

I am really enjoying this book. I am not done yet, but I have already started looking at my garden differenly. I am thinking about getting some more garden books to help me improve my garden. This book is whimsical and delightful. The author writes with a wonderful style. I hope that he is allowed to stay at his rented bungalow forever. My only complaint is the books that Amazon suggests you should get if you enjoyed this book. They all seem to be about being Gay. This book is so much more than a book about a man coming out of the closet. I think anyone would like this book straight or gay. Have to go and stroll in my garden. Enjoy the book!

I first picked up this book on a whim in Dean's friend's shop in Phoenicia and assumed it would be just another gardening how-to book. Boy was I ever wrong! I have never had a gardening book inspire me in such a way! I wanted to go out straight away and work in the garden and smell the rich earth and let the sun warm my back. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of reading this book during the long Catskill winter! Now, I read Dean's book each and every spring to give me the inspiration to spend hours digging and planting, and I frequently browse for articles and/or other books written by Dean, or similar in style. (I haven't found any that compare!) Not only do I wish Dean was my neighbor, but I wish he would write another book! This book is one of the few that I am actually wistful when I finish the last page....I want it to go on and on.

I also had the great fortune of touring Dean's garden during a garden tour 2 years ago...what a treat that was! I went home and wanted to rip everything out and start over, or at least have Dean come and advise me. His garden is every bit as beautiful and inspiring as his book.
A "must read" for EVERY gardener!

To say this is a gardening book is to approach it with a focus much too narrow. To say it is a gay memoir, or an AIDS loss memoir, is to have missed the passion and dedication of one incredible man in search of his own joy.

I agree with Jean from Kentucky... there is nothing I would enjoy more than a cup of coffee with Dean at daybreak, walking through his little green dewey acre, talking about the plants, the design, the view, the stories, the hopes, the fears and dreams that we sometimes hide and sometimes share.

Also of note are the fantastic, Warhol-esque illustrations.

In a world far too hectic in the quest for more, he has said, "I have enough." And with this, he has set his soul free to live every day of his life.

Hey Dean, nice refrigerator!

This charming book with lovely illustartions made me laugh and cry and want to plant Mexican Sunflowers! And most of all wish Dean Riddle were my friend and neighbor...I feel like he is both after reading this book. Full of wonderful gardening information (I kept wanting to make notes and write down names of flowers to plant though I couldn't quit reading long enough)but even better it is filled with wisdom and love of not only gardening but life.

This is one of the most comforting books I have ever read! Mr. Riddle gives the non-gardener a chance to experience gardening with such a passion you will honestly feel like a gardening expert! The book filled me with such a child-like wonder, that I could actually smell the flowers through the pages! I must get OUT and plant!

I loved this book. I feel like I have just had a delightful, long visit with a dear friend in his amazing garden. This story was wonderfully told. Dean Riddle's style of writing is honest and refreshing. The book itself is truly charming, and it is full of wisdom. I kept wanting to highlight passages - but I never mark my books. Reading was pure pleasure from beginning to end. I have started over again, this time with my seed catalogs by my side so I can mark some plants I have never considered before to put in my own garden. I can hardly wait to see if my garden will measure up to Dean's.( And, Jeffrey-the-Illustrator: your drawings are appreciated also. Just perfect for the mood of this sweet book.)

This charming book with lovely illustrations made me laugh and cry and want to plant Mexican Sunflowers! And most of all wish Dean Riddle were my friend and neighbor...I feel like he is both after reading this book. Full of wonderful gardening information (I kept wanting to make notes and write down names of flowers to plant though I couldn't quit reading long enough)but even better it is filled with wisdom and love of not only gardening but life.

That is probably too mean a title for a very, very personal book, yet it seems appropriate. Mr. Riddle is a sincerely down-to-earth person, it seems, and when he says something is "purdy" I suppose he means it. His A-shucks persona gets in the way of some very good advice, however.

But this is not to say that Mr. Riddle is a poor writer -- far from it, or that he does not know his subject -- he is a classically trained horticulturist and writes a well-received garden column for Elle Décor magazine. He knows what he is doing.

There is not much in this book to learn, or that you cannot learn elsewhere -- but as the travel industry says, half the fun is the journey. The process Mr. Riddle uses to refine his design ideas is the real essence of the gardening parts of the book. His humanity and the depth of his friendships provides the soul of the memoir part of the book.

My advice if you buy this book is to read through it twice to pick up the bits you miss when you are rolling your eyes at his hokey expressions-- it is worth it.