While everyone else with an iPod is busily assembling all the best tunes, much of my time at the computer in the summer is spent loading books on CD into my playlist. Then I can endure hours in the sun and dirt, “reading” these books as I plant and weed. I try to vary the fare, alternating worthy titles from my Must Read list with fun books that I probably wouldn’t bother with during the winter. I never walk out the back door into the garden without my headphones and iPod, and I have it positioned in my pocket so that I can pause and restart without having to touch it with my dirty hands. I’ve gotten so I don’t like to be in the same part of the yard where Ralph or a neighbor might be mowing because it really interrupts my flow. So far this summer I’ve enjoyed Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler, Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr, Dead Ringer by Lisa Scottoline, and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke while transplanting hundreds of seedlings and laying out the cutting garden. I had been wanting to read this last book for a while, but at 800 pages (yes, 800!) I was resisting lugging it home from the library and figured I’d never finish it without incurring a hefty overdue fine. This way I could listen to all 26 CDs on my own schedule, although actually the time flew by. By the way, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is about a cleverly imagined magical world and will become a fabulous movie some day. Already loaded on the iPod for my future listening pleasure are A Venetian Affair by Andrea Di Robilant, The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory, Cinnamon Kiss, an Easy Rawlins mystery by Walter Moseley, and The Mayor of Casterbridge and Return of the Native, both by Thomas Hardy. How many people get to do their two favorite activities at the same time?

Composite, with a little help from Maxfield Parrish’s image originally used for a seed advertisement.