Plant Dreaming Deep

The language Sarton uses to tell her reflections is like her garden - pure, beautiful and fragrantly alive. She lovingly returned me to my own years in New England with all its beauty and its narrowness.

This is the first May Sarton book I ever read.In this journal Sarton describes buying and moving into an 18th century broken-down house on thirty-six acres in a small New Hampshire village.She chronicles for us the many varied emotions and pressures involved with getting the house repaired and renovated to her liking.She describes moving in and then adapting (both as a writer and as a human being) to the solitude of living there alone.She describes her relationships with many of the people (some of whom are unusual characters) that she comes to know living in Nelson.She does very well in communicating all the sensory impressions that she experienced living right in the heart of nature and the outdoors.I read it a chapter a day so that I could allow it to sink in slowly.All chapters seemed well-paced (and not too long nor too short) and I didn't get bored anywhere along the way.As a writer Sarton seems to have a nice gentle natural writing style.I liked this (my first Sarton book) so much that I intend to read much more of her work.I recommend this journal to you.

May Sarton's work always fills me with a sense of wonder and strength. She was a very independent and solitarywoman who paid serious attention to her thoughts and feelings and to the world around her. She was able to teachand interact in the world while still able to maintain an amazing life of solitary exploration and discovery, of revelationand satisfaction. She saw beauty and importance in small and personal things while still being very aware of the "bigpicture". I have read many of her journals, poems and novels and always come away feeling enriched and empowered.

I liked this memoir. It touched upon a variety of topics in her life and in her quest to find a place to call home. It is quiet and reflective with zero attempts at humor. That in itself may not be everyone's cup of tea. It portrays a slower and quieter sort of life that is not as prevalent as when the author pursued it in the 1950s. Overall, I found it quite interesting.

One reviewer wondered who might read May Sarton's works these days. Well, I do. I've just read Plant Dreaming Deep, and have that sad kind of feeling one gets after finishing a much loved book. May Sarton casts a spell. This time is no different than the others. If there could be any criticism, one might say that towards the very end she seemed to lose heart and wanted to hurry the finish a little. However that would not subtract anything from the rest of the book. It was exquisite.

Looking for your "place?" Be inspired by Sarton's journey as she puts her roots into New Hampshire. It was a new beginning for her, opening wide the doors of her writing life. She shares her deepest thoughts, desires, and joys of life in the context of simple daily life. Many journals were to follow this early book so the journey will prove to be a long one for her devotees. I am certainly one of them and would recommend her books without hesitation.

I’ve read this several times over the years, lost my paperback copy, and recently bought it again for kindle. May Sarton is an author who notices, and what she’s noticing here is Nelson, NH in the 1950’/60’s.

I’ve read this book several times and each time relate to it in a different way. Constant, however is May”s gift for transporting me to her life of mindfulness and appreciation for a special time in the life of Nelson.

a wonderful sensitive book written so beautifully my grandmother was from New England and I loved hearing her phrases ahain after all these years the book has a timeless universality of experience to it anyone reading it will fine themselves saying YES many times and will fine themselves compelled to stop and reread a phrase or paragraph for the sheer beauty of its exquisite composition and thought