Any Day

by Henry Mitchell

Henry Mitchell wrote for the Washington Post from the early 1970s to 1991. He was best known for his gardening columns, some of which have been gathered in two beloved books, The Essential Earthman and One Man's Garden. In addition to his gardening columns, Mr. Mitchell also wrote feature stories and for years had a general interest column that appeared on Fridays under the title Any Day. This book collects the most enduring of those brilliant columns. Henry Mitchell was a bit of a curmudgeon. He had an eye for cant and an even sharper eye for the deeper truths of reality. Never pompous, his columns were frequently hilarious. He could make you cry, he could make you weep and he could catch you up in the midst of a busy, confusing day and make you pause and Hey, look at this! He will make you feel good about being a flawed human, and he will even make you think that mortality isn't so bad.

Readers who have enjoyed The Essential Earthman and One Man's Garden will thrill to discover their favorite author's additional accomplishments as they are represented in this lovely book. The illustrations are by Susan Davis, a gifted Maryland artist whose work accompanied many of Henry's columns during the 1980s and 1990s.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Essays

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

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Reviews

[Edward]

This collection of columns by the former Washington Post columnist is good for picking up periodically. Mitchell writes in a conversational style on a variety of topics, from weighty ("The Normandy Cemetery," "Savagery and Science") to less so ("Surviving English Food," "What Men Want for Christmas," "Why the Bear Slides Down the Hill"). I also liked the illustrations by Susan Davis from the original columns.

[David Ward]

Any Day by Henry Mitchell (Indiana U. Press 1997) (070.44). This is a collection of his non-gardening columns. I love his gardening work but not this. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 2009.