The You Grow Girl Library

176 Comments
Garden Book Shelves

Winter is the season for reading. When spring comes I’ll put every spare moment into the garden, often staying out after dark. As the days grow longer and the feeling of new life permeates the air, I experience a renewed energy and I am less apt to sit still for any length of time. But in the winter I am slow and lazy, and sometimes all I want to do is huddle underneath a blanket and escape the cold.

I love books. I have written here in the past about what books meant to me growing up and how as an adult I have accumulated a formidable, and to some, rather alarming library of my own.

With that thought in mind I have spent a few weeks this winter putting together a library highlighting some of my favourite books on the subjects of Gardening, Cooking, Preserving, Stitching, Writing, and more. To begin, I’ve posted about 80 books and will be slowly adding more as time goes on. These are all books that I own or read, and personally enjoy and recommend enthusiastically. Click through here to the You Grow Girl Library.

Easy Growing by Gayla Trail

Giveaway

UPDATE: CLOSED. Winners are Anne and Kathleen.

Since we’re on the topic of books, it stands to reason that this week’s giveaway should be just that… a book.

2nd Week (Feb 9-16): 2 randomly chosen winners will receive 1 signed copy of my book, Easy Growing: Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces.

To Enter: List a few of your desert island books. They can be from any topic or genre, not just gardening. And of course, you can always just type in “count me in,” and that will count as an entry, too.

Sorry, this week’s giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the Continental US only. Winners will be drawn randomly after entries close at midnight on Monday, February 16, 2015, and informed by email.

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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176 thoughts on “The You Grow Girl Library”

  2. Desert Island books: Grow Great Grub (for real….otherwise Imma starve!), Walden, Treasure Island, Oh, The Thinks You Can Think. And definitely some foraging guide.

  3. Garden-related: “Your Backyard Herb Garden” is one of my favorites. It’s laid out well, easy to read, and has some fun ideas for what to do with the herbs once you’ve grown them (aside from eating/drying/freezing).

    I’ve got too many other desert-island books to list, but “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is always a solid option. :)

  5. 1. The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George.

    2. The Long Walk by Stephen King (Richard Bachman).

    3. Any kind of Gardening magazine, I read them all!

  6. At first I thought you meant a book that takes place on a deserted island, and I was gonna take it way back to high school reading and say “Lord of the Flies”.
    Then I realized you could potentially mean books that I’d want with me on a deserted island.
    1) A Thousand Splendid Suns
    2) 100 Years of Solitude
    3) anything by Malcolm Gladwell
    4) both Freakonomics books

  8. The Lord of the rings trilogy, Any book with constellations (on a desert island what else will there be to do but look at stars) . Foraging (smart choice), and maybe some Shel Silverstein just for fun.

  9. My ever favorites: Thoreau’s Walden and Aldo Leopold’s sand county almanac. then i’d probably bring something useful like an edible plant guidebook!

  11. I can’t choose my favorite books, so just “count me in,” please! I’m excited about growing my personal library, plus I have to keep a shelf or two free for all the library books I always have checked out! =P

  12. My fav go to books on a desert island world be: Front Yard Gardens, Art Quilting Studio and Where Women Create.

  13. 1.The stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

    2. A foraging and survival book

    3. Arabian nights

    4. A knitting book….there could be ways this could work

  15. Ohh, I would take absolutely anything and/or everything by James Rollins. And maybe a Nora Roberts book or two. #guiltypleasure ;)

  16. I would definitely want books, hopefully a survival guide, and a good collection of novels. But, since I can’t narrow it down, please count me in. Thanks!

  18. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman, and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
    I think I like deep truths revealed through the eyes of children.
    Also every gardening and wilderness guide I’ve ever read would be pretty handy in that situation.

  20. This is like choosing my favorite child…but here goes:
    1. The Hobbit
    2. The Lord of the rings trilogy
    3. Harry Potter series
    4. Anything by Stuart Maclean
    5. And of course anything by Gayla Trail ????

  22. There’s really too many to list, but here’s a few i loved.
    Be Here Now- Ram Dass
    Sandman graphic novels and pretty much anything Neil Gaiman does.
    The Legacy of Luna- Julia Butterfly Hill
    A Lotus Grows in the Mud- Goldie Hawn
    Wesley the Owl- Stacy O’Brian

  23. Edible Wild Plants or a field guide for the regions bounty.
    a blank journal to fill up on own.
    Tank Girl Comics, a whole buncha them.
    Napolean’s Buttons for science
    my Nana’s ’30’s copy of the Joy of Cooking complete with little notes in beautiful handwriting.

  25. Their Eyes Were Watching God/Zora Neale Hurston
    Stones from the River/Ursula Hegi
    Where the Wild Things Are /Maurice Sendak
    The Velveteen Rabbit/Margery Williams
    A Wrinkle in Time/Madeleine L’Engle
    Franny & Zooey/J.D. Salinger
    Beloved/Toni Morrison
    Woman on the Edge of Time/Marge Piercy
    The Hotel New Hampshire/Jon Irving
    Eva Luna/Isabel Allende
    For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf/Ntozake Shange
    Galapagos/Kurt Vonnegut
    The Namesake/Jhumpa Lahiri
    The Yiddish Policeman’s Union/Michael Chabon

  26. I am afraid I would want a library with me on the desert island! In fact, what better thing to have with you than all of the books you want to read and just haven’t got to yet? As for favourites, I would definitely want the Harry Potter Series, Rosemary Gladstar’s “Herbal Recipes” the complete works of Charles Dickens, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, and the Bible. I doubt my Canadian climate gardening books would be much help on a desert island (four season gardening would take on a completely different meaning!) no matter how much I love them!

  30. My Bible, Grow Great Grub, of course!, Freedom of the Hills, 1000 Gifts, and well, can my journal count as bound paper – and rereadable – thus a book! Count me in!

  34. Packing for the desert island … My fabourite ever garden book “The Secret Garden”, some cozy mysteries like China Bayles and Aunt Dimity, and garden books by you and Frankie Flowers.
    I’d love a signed copy of your book, then I wouldn’t be borrowing it all the tome from the library :)

  35. I love to be curled up in front of the fire place with wool socks, a cup of tea, and a good book. Hibernation time! Books I would need on a desert island? The Outlander (can’t believe it’s not mentioned yet!), Year of the Flood (best scene when she knocks over a bee hive!), foraging books, and the classic red Betty Crocker Cookbook (since I would be lost cooking without it).

  37. Ok…Desert Island books …hmmmm
    1. The color purple
    2. 2000 leagues under the sea
    3. The witching hour
    4. The birth house.
    5. Nature’s garden. Wild edible plants.
    6. 1519 all natural, all amazing gardening secrets
    7. And, of course ( I have to,I love it so) You grow Girl

  38. Grow Great Grub, The Bible, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness… I love books, but the rest are so hard to choose from — it all depends on what my mood is, and what I am passionate about at that moment…

  40. I have to admit I’m not a book re-reader (which is embarrassing considering how many books I own) so I’m afraid I’d be happiest with a pile of books I’ve never read before if I were to be stranded on an island.

  44. All of Flavia de Luce, anything by Laurie King and Louise Penney, Lauren Groff, Diane Ackerman, and, well, I don’t know if there’s a desert island big enough to hold all the books I’d want to have and to read.

  46. I would need to take The Go-Between by LP Hartley, Swann by Carol Shields, An Interrupted Life by Etty Hillesum, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Watership Down, and a few cookbooks like the kitchen diaries and Flatbreads and Flavors.

  49. “The Cook and the Gardener” by Amanda Hess
    “Lunch in Paris” by Elizabeth Bard
    “Eating on the Wild Side” by Jo Robinson
    “Blood, Bones, and Butter” by Gabrielle Hamilton
    “Full Moon Feast” by Jessica Prentice
    “Cooked” by Michael Pollan
    “My Life in France” by Julia Child

  50. Molokai
    Love In the Time of Cholera
    Little Bee

    I try to read these every year and would definitely want them on a deserted island.

  56. Count me in!
    Desert island books:
    Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening ~ Rodale
    Little House on the Prairie series ~ Cause you can never have enough of Little house!
    <3

  59. Prodigal Summer-Barbara Kingsolver
    The Moon by Whale Light- Diane Ackerman
    Collaboration with Nature- Andy Goldsworthy
    Skinny Legs and All- Tom Robbins

  60. Count Me In!
    Here are a few of my go-to books:
    A Town Like Alice
    A Dogs Purpose
    and also love The Orphan Train

    Thanks – love your newsletter!

  63. Count me in please! My favourite books are always changing. Right now I am reading Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian and it is intriguing. My next favourite will likely be Miriam Toews’ All My Puny Sorrows as soon as I get it read! At this time of the year I also love seed catalogues! :)

  65. Ooh, the most alluring and dreaded question, so the books that stack by my bed, repeatedly:
    Creative Vegetable Gardening: Joy Larkcom
    American Primitive: Mary Oliver
    The complete Claudine: Colette
    Year Round Gardening (Houston book): Bob Randall
    Nemo in Slumberland – collected
    Tender: Nigel Slater
    Edible Landscaping:Rosaline Creasy
    My Berlin Kitchen: Luisa Weiss
    Under the Tuscan Sun: Frances Mayes
    All, fiction and non-fiction – Laurie Colwin
    Bad Boats – Laura Jensen
    Lust – Susan Minot
    Journal of a Solitude: May Sarton
    Baron in the Trees: Italo Calvino
    All Discword books – that counts as one right?
    I could go on forever…

  67. This question has challenged me time and time again.

    1. Anne of Green Gables – I could read this over and over again. Anne with an e, with her carrot hair and propensity for trouble is a kindred spirit.

    2. Olive Kitteridge – this is a newcomer to my list but it has taught me to see people through a lens of compassion.

    3. Reading Lolita in Tehran – This one changed my life. I became an English major after reading this and learning that literature is much more than fiction – it is reality and truth and magic and mystery and everything in between. And as long as I can read, the world remains a magical giving tree at my fingertips.

  69. Hearty books by Octavia Butler, Margaret Laurence; books of inspiration such as quilting arts by Kaffe Fassett; and, some field guides would come in handy on a deserted island…perhaps Medicinal Plants and Herbs.

  70. Desert Island books?!? I don’t know but definitely something gardening related. Perhaps your book would be the perfect one for me Easy Growing!

  71. A book on foraging on desert islands!
    The complete works of:
    Tolkien
    L. M. Montgomery
    Laura Ingalls Wilder

  74. I think I’d especially like to have some sort of foraging book specific to the climate / ecosystem of my particular desert island. :) After that, I’d pick the Bible, Tolkien, a collection of Wendell Berry poems, Anne of Green Gables, and a Spanish textbook so I can polish my grammar at last…

  75. 1. My herbal remedies books
    2. Les Miserables (because I would have the time to reread its amazingness)
    3. Little House on the Prairie
    4. The Hobbit

  76. Weirdly enough one of the first books that came to mind was “Jurassic Park”. Cause, you know, when you’re alone on a desert island, you want something that will make you feel 3x as jumpy as you might have been without it, right?

    That being said, I’d probably want all of Kris Radish’s novels; the sense of friendship that comes through her characters is incredible, and I’d be much more likely to actually sit and appreciate the beauty and solitude of the island after reading, say, Dancing Naked At The Edge of Dawn.

    Barring THAT, I’d want some really excellent PIRATE novels! Or a mixture of fiction and nonfiction books regarding various island histories (including pirates, yaharr!) and explorations of naturalists and scientists.

    Oh, and a guide to the native flora and fauna would be nice ???? Useful and interesting!

  78. Some favorites:
    The Language of Flowers, by V. Diffenbaugh
    Small Wonder, by Barbara Kingsolver
    Ghosts in the Garden, by Beth Kephart
    Bird by Bird, Anne Lamont

  79. ~ The Joy Of Gardening
    ~ The Dictionary (it has all the words, of every story ever written)
    ~ The ‘You Grow Girl’ library (if I am lucky enough to win)

  81. 1. Tigana by GG Kay
    2. Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
    3. A book on the edible plants of the region my island is in (despite my love of fantasy & sci-fi I’m actually quite practical)

  82. I’d take anything Terry Pratchett has written, some Agatha Christie, preferably with Poirot or Miss Marple, and the lot of Tolkien’s work, as I’d finally have time and no distractions to get through the more esoteric stuff. Also hopefully some field guides and survival manuals for desert islands. Love a good field guide.

  87. ~the fifth sacred thing by starhawk
    ~anything by Sherman Alexie, Lousie Erdrich, or Miriam Toews
    ~the red tent
    ~all of Nancy Turner’s books
    ~Copper Woman

  88. It’s the middle of the night, so all I can come up with is The Secret Garden & the Harry Potter series. Of course, being on a deserted island, I’d need a survival guide or two. Thanks for the giveaway!

  90. I love reading most anything, but especially biographies and “How To” books.
    I wouldn’t mind being stranded with Jane Austen or any of the “You Grow Girl” books. After all, it would be important to grow my own food if I were stranded, lol.

  91. Garden Books:
    1. Anything by Felder Rushing- Slow Gardening, Bottle Trees
    2. Tracy DiSabato-Aust- Well Tended Perennial Garden
    3. Stephanie Ondra and Nancy Cohen- Foliage, Garden Design
    4. Allen Armitage- Garden Perennials
    5. Michael Dirr- Hardy Trees and Shrubs

    Favorite Fiction Writers: Barbara Kingsolver, Ivan Doig.
    Currently I am enjoying Wild by Cheryl Strayed

  95. Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch
    Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove
    Fannie Flagg’s Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
    Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See
    Stephen King’s 11/22/63
    L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables
    Tracy Chevalier’s The Lady and the Unicorn
    The entire collection by Jan Karon

  100. Count me in please. Books have always been a love and a comfort. A few of them are, the other Boelyn girl, The devils highway, Earthly Pleasures, The omnivores dilemma. Organic gardening magazine. Just too any too count!

  101. Blank Notebooks and Pens plus Dictionary
    A Year of Miracles by Marianne Williamson
    Prodigal Summer; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – all books by Barbara Kingsolver
    Agatha Christie murder mysteries (Poirot and Miss Marple)
    Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
    The Golden Present
    Plant and Tree ID book

  102. “The Prophet” Kahlil Gibran
    “The Secret Garden” Frances Hodgson Burnett
    “Botanica, North America” Marjorie Harris
    “John Brooks’ Garden Design Book”
    “The Living Landscape” Rick Darke & Doug Tallamy

  105. Anna Karenina, the Game of Thrones set as I’m not finished them yet….and something I’ve never read before…

  107. My books would be Smithsonian Handbooks: Herbs, the Fever series byour Karen Moning, the Bible, Harry Potter series, Pride and Prejudice, Grow Great Grub, the Little House series, Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, any if my sewing books…. honestly there are too many books to think of!

  108. I can’t live without:

    1. The Bible
    2. Crockett’s Victory Garden (a Christmas gift from my brother in 1977)
    3. To Kill A Mockingbird
    4. Anything by John Sandford

  111. Island Justice Elizabeth Winthrop;The Mermaid Garden,Santa Montefiore,Garden spells,Sarah allen.To name but a few:)

  114. earth abides
    a pattern language handbook
    any jane austen
    a botanical guide to that island
    a good old encyclopedia brittanica

  115. 1) Gone With The Wind
    2) The entire works of Charles Dickens cause
    3) How Things Work ( cause I will have to create my world anew)

  116. Loved reading everyone’s selections! I made a reading list from them! And aren’t we glad books are still available in paper… maybe sand would get in the electronics!
    So, for me, the Bible for sure, and a journal to write in.
    The Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon is my main study right now, and I hope to put his suggestions into action come spring.
    Teaming with Microbes opened my eyes to working with the soil microbes.
    Grow Cook Eat by Galloway to help with cooking what I grow.
    Jennifer Cruise books for fiction and fun.
    Thanks for counting me in!

  117. gee whiz, I might need some Dorthy Parker and James Thurber, who never fail to crack me up. perhaps harold mc gee food science, edward gorey , while not practical always delights me, my garden books would be more practical, but then art books would be nice….

  119. Count me in! I always have such trouble with this question. Too hard to narrow down! I think though I would pick one fiction book I can read over and over again, a book of poetry, and a survival guide :)

  120. Hum… Difficult choice but I’ll go with:

    1. Outlander series

    2. Harry potter series

    3. La trilogie du bonheur

    4. All my books on gardening.

  121. About this Life – Barry Lopez
    Desert Solitaire – Edward Abbey (makes sense!) :)
    The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
    The Annie Dillard Reader (cheating, I know…it’s five books in one)

    Thanks and happy anniversary, Gayla!

  122. Hard question! A survival guide-not an interesting answer, but just true. Cloud Atlas, pretty much anything by Neil Gaiman.

  123. If I had to choose one it would be Tistou les pouces verts (Tistou of Green Thumbs) by Maurice Druon. It inspired me as a child with the ways we can make the improve world by growing plants and flowers. The central character is a child who can sprout flowers and plants just by touching a desired spot. He transforms a prison by making it a beautiful place for rehabilitation rather than punishment, ends a war, and generally improves life for everyone around him. Sometimes I want to reread it and see if I will find it as powerful as I did when I was 10.

    Other contenders: Siddhartha; Life of Pi; Unbearable Lightness of Being; If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler; In Praise of Slow; A Brief History of Time; Tales Of A Shaman’s Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches For New Medicines In The Rain Forest; Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love; Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader; Love Poems by Neruda; Book of Longing by Leoard Cohen; a few reference books on foraging + growing would also be wise.

  124. 1 and 2….Carrots Love Tomatoes-and – Roses Love Garlic by Louise Riotte
    3…Portrait in Sepia-Isabel Allende
    4…Restoring American Gardens-Denise Adams
    5..Backyard Parables-Margaret Roach
    I used to read novels continually, ending one and starting another. Romances, historical, fantasy, westerns…but now my reading is almost entirely reference-like. I just want to keep learning more and more-my library primarily consists of garden related and cookbooks-and a few shelves full of antique books that my mom bought in the 60’s at an auction

  125. Definitely some sort of survival guide or edible and medicinal plants guide; Stephen King’s “The Stand” (nice and long), Clive Barker’s “Weaveworld”, and The Poisonwood Bible…

  129. Probably books that would help me survive on a desert island. But if this is one of those desert islands where all I have to do is relax, some of my favorites to re-read are:
    “The Good Life” – Helen and Scott Nearing
    “To Say Nothing of the Dog” – Connie Willis
    “Zod Wallop”-William Browning Spencer

  130. The only two off the top of my head: Amy’s Eyes and Atlas Shrugged. The only books I can remember ever having the patience or desire to reread.

  131. Hmmm….To Kill a Mockingbird, a book about year-round gardening in tropical climes and some other helpful books that haven’t been written yet but are on my list to write as soon as I get more coffee.

  135. Kushiel’s Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey! The first trilogy is the best. And any book by James Rollins.

  136. I read any and all books about plants, gardening, DIY. The stack is too large to list. Thanks for the giveaway!!

  139. Any guidebook about that island (I always like to read up on where I’m going), Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees (actually anything by BS), Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams, Drinking the Summer Garden by Gayla Trail, Medicine for the Backcountry by Tilton and Hubbell, and any old spring Martha Stewart magazine issue where Margaret Roach did her wonderful garden issues.

  142. Desert island reads:
    Anything by Anne Lamott
    A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson (funny AND informative)
    Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

  145. Just a few:
    Homage to Catalonia
    Alice in Wonderland
    The Boreal Herbal (hopefully a northern desert island)
    Mushroom Demystified
    Franny and Zooey

  146. My desert island books:
    1) Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
    2) Middlesex – Jeffery Eugenides
    3) The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz
    4) Persuasion – Jane Austen
    5) The Silent Dutchess -Dacia Maraini

  147. The Gardeners Bible, I am starting it this weekend to help me learn more about gardening to feed my special needs daughters more fresh food.

  148. Currently I am in love with the writting team of Sharron Lee and Steve Miller. They write a great series of science fiction/Space opera novels set in the Liaden universe. Of course on a desert island I will also want a great sjrvival guide.
    Looking forward to spring and being back out in the garden.

  149. Desert books, not sure but here are some imaginary books I’ve yet to find. the biggest book of best loved poems I could find. One about stars: the science of stars & the constellations across cultures. And one blank book to write in, with pencils+sharpeners included.

    A book that surely exists? A Winter’s Tale

  151. The Bible, Robinson Crusoe :), The Little Princess, Woman in White, Backyard Harvest although I think I’d want a year round tropical garden book too.

  152. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
    Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
    The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

  153. *stares at books spilling off shelves and all over the floor* Les Miserables, Harry Potter, Dark Lord of Derkholm, Year of the Griffin, Outlaws of Sherwood, Garden Spells, DK’s Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Gone with the Wind, Court Duel, Dealing with Dragons, Zorro, Cold Harbor, Flight of the Eagles, Hornet Flight, Stardust, Phantom of the Opera….

  154. *eyes books that are everywhere* Les Miserables, Harry Potter, Zorro, Dark Lord of Derkholm, Year of the Dragon, Cold Harbor, Hornet Flight, Phantom of the Opera, Garden Spells, Stardust, Gone with the Wind, Outlaws of Sherwood, DK’s Encylopedia of Herbal Medicine

  157. OOOh only a few books, so hard to chose. I’d want a good mix of deep and light, useful and frivolous.

    Crime and Punishment
    The Wind in the Willows
    The Hand Sculpted House by Ianto Evans
    Ana Historic by Daphne Martlett
    Tropical Food Gardens by Norrington and Campbell
    Calvin and Hobbes

  159. Most people only know the author, Colette, by the slightly racy stories she wrote and published at her husband’s behest. If I had her book, My Mother’s House, while stranded on a desert island, I would feel at home.

  160. Alexander McCall Smith’s #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. And, Amy Stewart’s book about her garden in Santa Cruz CA, From the Ground Up.

  161. My desert island books (so hard to choose just a few!):
    – The Smell of Good Mud by Lauren Zuniga
    – The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou
    – Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (or any one of his books really)

  162. Desert Island books:
    The Kite Runner
    The Unbearable Lightness of Being
    Anything by Barbara Kingsolver or Pema Chodron

    Another favorite that would drive me nuts on a desert island: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

  164. Dessert island books:

    The Art of Living According to Joe Beef
    Second Nature by Michael Pollan
    Audubon Field Guides

  166. The most gigantic anthology of poetry I could find and
    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

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