Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs - by Heather Lende (Paperback)

About the Book

A near-fatal bicycle accident has given Lende ("If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name") a few more reasons to consider matters both spiritual and temporal. Her idea of spirituality is rooted in community, and here she explores faith and forgiveness, loss and devotion, and distinctly Alaskan adventures.

Book Synopsis

"Here is the real thing -- good old-fashioned American values coming from small-town Alaska." --The Boston Globe

The Alaskan landscape--so vast, dramatic, and unbelievable--may be the reason the people in Haines, Alaska (population 2,400), so often discuss the meaning of life. Heather Lende thinks it helps make life mean more. Since her bestselling first book, If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name, a near-fatal bicycle accident has given Lende a few more reasons to consider matters both spiritual and temporal. Her idea of spirituality is rooted in community, and here she explores faith and forgiveness, loss and devotion--as well as raising totem poles, canning salmon, and other distinctly Alaskan adventures. Lende's irrepressible spirit, her wry humor, and her commitment to living a life on the edge of the world resonate on every page. Like her own mother's last wish--take good care of the garden and dogs--Lende's writing, so honest and unadorned, deepens our understanding of what links all humanity.

Heather Lende's new book, Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics is available now.

Review Quotes

"Here is the real thing - good old-fashioned American values coming from small-town Alaska. In a cozy chatty voice, Heather Lende tells stories of life in Haines, Alaska . . . Accepting life and rejoicing in the world are her preferred modes of thinking and feeling. She quotes with approval from Emerson, 'the proper response to the world is applause.' " --Boston Globe
--Boston Globe

"Lende has a knack for subtly illuminating the remarkable in the commonplace, the transcendence in tragedy . . . Her voice, which alternates between folksy and formal, playful and prayerful, entertaining and elegiac, is reminiscent of Garrison Keillor, Krista Tippett, Tom Bodett, Kathleen Norris and Anne Lamott." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Lende writes emotionally, but never sentimentally, giving us the best Alaska memoir of late, maybe the best ever." --Booklist, starred review
--Booklist

"The book is full of vivid characters (a librarian who collects overdue books in person) and strange, sad deaths. Lende is not one for looking back. She has a simple, chatty style most readers will find oddly comforting. Life does, in fact, go on." --Los Angeles Times
--Los Angeles Times

"Here is the real thing -- good old-fashioned American values coming from small-town Alaska." --The Boston Globe

"Lende writes emotionally but never sentimentally, giving us the best Alaska memoir of late, maybe the best ever." --Booklist (starred review)

"The book is full of vivid characters . . . [Lende] has a simple, chatty style most readers will find oddly comforting. Life does, in fact, go on." --Los Angeles Times