BACK<<<to the CLASSICS discussion

🌷Spring - the time when plants start to grow again, we start to spend more time outdoors & enjoy some sunshine. So, will you be reading your books outdoors?

As always, short stories are accepted - but only classics, please.
The challenge is to read a book that is set in countryside or a garden

Examples:

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Elizabeth and Her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim
Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf
A Month in the Country, J.L. Carr

🌷Template:

April: countryside & gardens

Book(s) read: 0/1

1:

(Add as many more numbers as you want!)

Tr1sha’s April challenge:

April: countryside & gardens

Book(s) read: 1/1

Country Christie, Agatha Christie, 4/22/26, 4*
Collection of short stories, mainly in Devon & Cornwall countryside.

🌷Kathy's April Challenge : countryside & gardens

Book(s) read: 1/1

🌷1. The Rose-Garden Husband by Margaret Widdemer (1915)

A lovely choice, Kathy. It’s fun to see such a pretty cover on your book.

🌷April Classics: countryside & gardens

Book(s) read: 2/2✅
🌸1.Cold Comfort Farm: A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast DramatisationbyStella Gibbons
⭐✔4/4/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★
And/Or
🌸2.The Secret GardenbyFrances Hodgson Burnett(1911)
⭐✔18/4/26★ ★ ★ ★ ★


I'm still planning to read this book-it's now saved for "Chain Reaction" challenge!
🌸3.The Romance of the ForestbyAnn Radcliffe(1791)

April Challenge 🌷🌼💐🪻☘️

1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter✅


2. The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter✅


3. The Garden of Survival by Algernon Blackwood✅

Good choices, Vicky.

Tr1sha wrote: "Good choices, Vicky."

Thanks,Tr1sha !This is my first dip into an Ann Radcliffe novel!

"The Hardy Garden"
By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Now let forever the phlox and the rose be tended
Here where the rain has darkened and the sun has dried
So many times the terrace, yet is love unended,
Love has not died.

Let here no seed of a season, that the winter
But once assails, take root and for a time endure;
But only such as harbour at the frozen centre
The germ secure.

Set here the phlox and the iris, and establish
Pink and valerian, and the great and lesser bells;
But suffer not the sisters of the year, to publish
The frost prevails.

How far from home in a world of mortal burdens
Is Love, that may not die, and is forever young!
Set roses here: surround her only with such maidens
As speak her tongue.


Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1914; photograph by Arnold Genthe

April 2026: Countryside & Gardens

Book(s) read: 0/2

1. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) - J.M. Barrie

2. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1964) - Hannah Green

April: Countryside & Gardens

Book(s) read: 0/1

1: will The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien count? It's in the countryside, I don't know whether there are any gardens but there were gardens in the previous books.
(First published 1954)

Jazzy wrote: ""The Hardy Garden"
By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Now let forever the phlox and the rose be tended
Here where the rain has darkened and the sun has dried
So many times the terrace, yet is love unended..."



Beautiful pictures, Jazzy! 💜

Nike wrote: "April: Countryside & Gardens

Book(s) read: 0/1

1: will The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien count? It's in the countryside, I don't know whether there are any gardens bu..."

Yes, I think the books all had lots of descriptions of the countryside. Enjoy reading it, Nike.

Tr1sha wrote: "Nike wrote: "April: Countryside & Gardens

Book(s) read: 0/1

1: will The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien count? It's in the countryside, I don't know whether there are a..."

Thanks! 🙂

April
The Mission – Garden of Delight
“We’re playing with fire, dancing in the flames
And we’re covered in burns that may never heal.
And angels may come, and angels may go
But it’s heaven on earth when you
Take my hand and lead me
To the garden of delight…”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Géza Csáth – The Magician’s Garden and Other Stories 1908
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov – In the Forests 1874

A great assortment of books, including some I will have to add to my TBR list! Well done everyone.

April: countryside & gardens

Book(s) read: 2/1

1: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R.A. Dick
2. The Moorland Cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell

African Myths of Origin by Anonymous

Nidhi wrote: "April: countryside & gardens

Book(s) read: 2/1

1: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R.A. Dick
2. The Moorland Cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell"

I hope you enjoyed these, Nidhi.