Annie's Garden Journal: Reflections on Roses, Weeds, Men, and Life

This journal of a comically obsessed gardener chronicles not only the plantings, prunings and what ""went bust"" but also the emotional divagations of a hip New Yorker transplanted to California. Gardening metaphors abound here to illuminate the author's relationships with her divorced parents, the challenges of siblings and her mixed emotions about an imminent marriage to her longtime companion. Frustrations lurk, both personal and garden variety, especially in the garden where she works so hard ""and it still looks like hell."" Among gardening tips and rose obsessions are wry observations about sisterhood and the comic aspects of the forthcoming wedding. Spiegelman, an assistant director and a member of the Director's Guild of America, writes knowingly of the travails of responsible adulthood in a way that is appealing to women. (Oct.)