Books Every Joy-Seeking Woman Needs to Read
What do happy people do? Read! But what do
really, really happy people do—read the kind of books that open their
minds—and lives.
By Leigh Newman
3 of 15
Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart
By Carol Wall
304 pages;
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam
With
her children grown and out of the house, Carol Wall is obsessed—perhaps
overly so—with ripping out her azaleas. That is, until she meets a
certain Giles Owita, a Kenyan gardener, supermarket bagger, general-life
philosopher and perhaps one of the most refined and gracious characters to ever
hit the page (except that he’s real). Take, for example, his view on Wall’s
terrifically protective dog. “Your little beagle peered out at me with happy
barks of warning from his window by the door,” he writes in a note. “You are
fortunate to have his services.” Soon, Owita is teaching Wall not only how to
take care of her yard, but how to listen, most especially to her aging parents.
A warning for the shy: The basic goodness
of Owita’s attitude may cause you to beam spontaneously as you read,
leading to odd looks from strangers at the coffee shop.
— Leigh Newman
Published 05/02/2014