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It is a very long book to tell about a very short incident.
It’s also confusing because Kate Quinn’s book The Serpent and the Pearl, from 2014, is also about a young Italian noblewoman with floor length golden hair whose life is in danger, and a side character named Leonello.

As I hear the end I am getting more and more discouraged at how unattainable the soil inputs are to a home gardener who doesn’t have access to high powered microscopes, kilns for making biochar, or 40kg of fresh cow manure.

Frustrating how poorly the index and glossary are. Constant use of abbreviations that are never explained.

“…great men cultivate love, and only little men, cherish a spirit of hatred. Assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.”
Booker T Washington

The essay A Visit to Death Lake Florida is about a lieutenant stationed at Fort Barrancas during malaria season who takes a day trip in search of fresh fish. An “old” man takes him to Death Lake which was apparently really a sinkhole opening to one of the underground caverns often found in the limestone aquifer. I can’t, however, find any Death Lake on any map.

I’m not sure what to think about this book so far. It’s another 13 yr old boy suddenly thrust into another unbelievable situation, but the exciting adventurous adult in this one pulls out a deck of Tarot cards like it was a commonplace item, and the evil nemesis is quite demonic and has put a curse on the boy already. Hoping it gets less creepy soon.

I was enjoying the descriptive essay An Easter Outing in Florida, all about an aging Major and his orange grove plantation near Ocala in 1901, when the story took a wrong turn. The Major and his guest began discussing how the freedmen who worked his farm were inferior and unable to be educated. Apparently unaware that 400 miles north Tuskegee Institute had been successfully educating for 20 years.

I am skipping completely the essay on Turtling in Florida!

Reading this concurrently (and slowly) with Booker T Washington’s Up From Slavery and realizing the stories of Old Florida were written at the same time period but so distant from each other not only in physical miles but in attitude and situation. TofOF is essays by extremely wealthy white northern men spending leisure time in exotic locales. UfromS is thankful for each penny and kind word.

This one is going to take some time. Very small print and dense, detailed writing. Already I am having to look up words.

This is a really good book. I love the old fashioned language and also Washington’s straightforward perspective.

This book is so poorly edited it is hard to comprehend some sections that seem more like rough drafts than finished cohesive material.

This 2005 book says the era of Western Christendom’s preeminence is passing away. He quotes predictions that by 2025 Europe will be in third place behind Africa and Asia. In 2000 there were 360 million Christians in Africa. I just looked up numbers and as of 2024 there were 734 mill in Africa with 2.6% growth rate. Asia is 415 mill with 2.1% growth rate. Europe is 537 mill and falling

The author has committed the cardinal sin of endangering the family pet as part of showing how terrible the killer is.

There is a golden retriever named Barney in chapter two.

“ you must understand something, George. The world’s leaders create catastrophes and resolve them – all at their own whimsy – every single day. It is how the world runs.”

Very odd
113 pages into a book of 226 and Miss Marple hasn’t yet been introduced

So. Many. Typos.

There are gems on almost every page.
Today he quotes from Shakespeare-
All sworn and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
The mere despair of surgery, her cures,
…and ‘tis spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction.
Macbeth, IV, iii
Here Malcolm is telling MacDuff how he witnessed The Royal Touch of healing from King Edward the Confessor

Apparently try Bernard of Clairvaux had an Uncle Gaudry who highly disapproved of Bernard’s refusal to ignore the cries of the sick begging for personal prayers. That is, until Uncle Gaudry himself grew ill

The history of Marozia in 904 AD was new to me. What a crazy time period!

More fun in WWII England with the ladies of Fenley Village. This one includes old recipes from the days of ration books and victory gardens.

Had been thinking this story mirrored the way journalism schools must teach their new reporters, and then the plot took a new twist and suddenly it’s about a pandemic of fear. Prescient book written all the way back in 2008!

It’s reminding me a lot of Roald Dahl but also Jules Feiffer/Phantom Tollbooth

Time for a little positive fluff