Book Review -- "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson

This book goes on my favorite reading list. I don't save books, but I don't think I will be able to give this one away.

I have read most of Robinson's books. There is a kind of flatness to them that should be off-putting, but something always pulls me through. The entire Mars trilogy was worth working through just for the last sentence of the last book. It was only two words, repeated three times, but the rightness of that repetition was thrilling. It wouldn't take any thrill to make that trilogy worth reading, but at times I did have a 'so what' feeling. But I kept reading.

"The Years of Rice and Salt" only gave me that so-what feeling in the second-to last section, which seemed to drag a little, and ended so abruptly I had to go back and reread the last paragraph, after I was into the next life, to make sure I hadn't missed something.

But lives are like that, aren't they? Small, inconsequential, sometimes with a so-what quality, and sometimes over without a bang. The last section of the last life acknowledged that smallness, and also how comforting it feels to imagine karmic rebirth and evolution. And that just because a belief is comforting doesn't mean it isn't true. Most satisfying for me was the unexpected discussion of wanting and what it means.

~ Tradescantia andersonia Mixed Colours ~

Hardy Herbaceous Perennial
Flowers: Summer
Height: 18 inches
Position: Sun or Partial Shade
Hardiness Rating: 5 6 7 8 9
Germination: Experience Useful
Aftercare: Easy

Description: Quick forming clumps of fleshy sword-like foliage and a succession of clustered blue, lilac and mauve flowers. Very hardy and trouble-free in the border.

Spring Ephemerals

Columbine and Pulsatilla, two favorites of mine for their delicate and colorful flowers, die back after spring. They should be mixed with perennials in the garden. I could see Amsonia and Tradescantia mixing with them.

~ Pulsatilla vulgaris Red Cloak ~

Hardy Herbaceous Perennial
Flowers: Early Summer
Height: 12 inches
Position: Sun or Partial Shade
Hardiness Rating: 5 6 7 8 9
Germination: Experience Useful
Aftercare: Easy
Description: A striking selection from the Cut Petalled Mixture with large flowers of claret-red amongst soft, finely cut silver-green foliage.

~ Heuchera Americana New Hybrids ~

Flowers: Summer
Height: 24 inches
Position: Sun or Partial Shade
Hardiness Rating: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Germination: Experience Useful
Aftercare: Care Required
Description: Mix of hybrids will reveal plants with green to bronze foliage, plus some which are marbled and veined with smooth or wavy leaves. Flowers of white, cream, pink and red.