I Love Lucy was a little before my time but who doesn't laugh at Lucy and Ethel when—for one fateful day—they worked at a chocolate factory or when Lucy stomped grapes? Today I feel like Lucy when reprimanded by Ricky.

"You got some 'splainin' to do."

The stack of books on my bedside table has never been higher. Here's my defense.

#1. It's summer. With visions of weekend afternoons and several leisurely days at a cabin on a northern Minnesota lake, I needed some stock.

#2. A new goal of mine is to discover the best murder mystery series that is garden-related. I have my favorite regulars: Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, Amanda Cross' Kate Fansler and even-though-there-were-only-three, Virginia Rich's Eugenia Potter. No, this search is about murder mysteries involving gardeners, florists, botanists or otherwise plant-loving, amateur sleuths.

#3. Minneapolis is home to a spectacular bookstore, Once Upon A Crime, devoted exclusively to murder mysteries. With help from my sister Barbara, who is a murder mystery aficiando, and the bookstore's co-owner, Pat, I took home a respectable group.

I'll share garden murder mystery reviews anon. In the meantime...

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The Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a work of fiction by this author who also wrote, along with her husband and one of her daughters, a journal of a year eating only local food, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. (Several years later, Friday night at our house is still Pizza Night.) David Koets, who shares similar tastes in books for he is also a fan of Jim Harrison, loaned me his copy. I love the book. There are four compelling heroines—three of whom have fascinating pursuits, personalities and character development. The fourth is a female coyote. They seem at first disparate but Kingsolver slowly and masterfully weaves their stories together.

Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs, by Heather Lende, grabbed my attention while reading The New York Times Book Review. What a great title! Lende lives in Alaska where she is a columnist for two newspapers. She also contributes to other publications and NPR.

My Garden, by Kevin Henkes, is a children's book with big, colorful, stylized artwork. (Am I regressing? First Dr. Seuss; now this?) The young heroine helps in her mother's garden but envisions her own.
"In my garden, the rabbits wouldn't eat the lettuce because the rabbits would be chocolate and I would eat them."
"If I planted jelly beans, I'd grow a great big jelly bean bush."
"The tomatoes would be as big as beach balls, and the carrots would be invisible because I don't like carrots."

A Real American Breakfast, by Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison. Everyone knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day but how many of us pay much attention to it? Buy this book and you'll run out of mornings to try all these dishes. There are 275 recipes—not only breakfast regulars but also creative and unusual ideas. Many regional specialties are included. All seem quite doable. Just this morning, I made Quick Maple Toast from page 124. I substituted a savory bread, Oregon Herb from Great Harvest, and sprinkled fresh raspberries before serving. Delicious. My only complaint: not enough photographs.