I read Scent of Water thanks to you. It was more moving and spiritually encouraging than I expected fiction to be. I teared up multiple times. The language is so beautiful. It absolutely won me over and I quickly put more Goudge on hold at the library. I don't understand how I had never read her before! Getting mail is the best and I savor it too. 💚
I suspect Goudge isn’t better known or more widely read precisely because she is so overly Christian. But her books never feel preachy or sentimental or judgmental. They’re just deeply rooted in a spiritual reality. Like you said, spiritually encouraging.
I’m halfway through The Rosemary Tree and it’s really lovely as well.
Just started The Bird in the Tree. Only a few pages in, but I love her descriptions so much. She reminds me of L.M. Montgomery with her descriptions of the natural world.
I just finished This is Happiness by Niall Williams also! I enjoyed Time of the Child so much that I had to get one of the other Faha books, and now History of the Rain is on hold for me at the library.
I also read The Scent of Water a second time recently. Just last year I discovered that the title of that book comes from Scripture - "Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant." - Job 14:9 I took down a lot of lines from this book - and I'm considering writing about it; it's so rich and deep and full of meaning. (It also has personal significance to me because my dear friend Amy had that line from Job read at her funeral and a beautiful copy of The Scent of Water on a stool - with her glasses resting on top - next to her casket at her funeral.
In my copy the passage from Job is used as an epigraph along with a quote from Kipling’s Just So Stories:
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
—The Book of Job
Still ran Kangaroo—Old Man Kangaroo. He . . . ran through the long grass; he ran through the short grass; he ran through the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer; he ran till his hind legs ached. He had to!
In the copy that I read, those words from the Book of Job are quoted to Mary by Paul (minus the Rudyard Kipling passage). After Paul quotes Job to Mary, she asks Paul what the scent of water is. He responds: "Renewal. The goodness of God coming down like dew." I can't get over how beautiful this book is. I need to buy a copy!
Here's another passage I copied down: "...but the somber backcloth increased joy to the point where wonder and thankfulness merged into a clarity of sight that transfigured every greeting of her day." - Elizabeth Goudge
At one point I copied the three short prayers onto post it notes and hung them on my bedroom wall. Two of them fell off, but "Thee I adore" is still there.
I think The Scent of Water might be my favourite book by Elizabeth Goudge. I have read it many times - most recently in 2024, according to Storygraph. I didn't get through many books in March either. I enjoyed the world building of the Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace), but found them harder to read than they needed to be because she flips between perspectives too frequently. I also read The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - always a fan of fantasy involving libraries or archives! - but was a bit disappointed in it. Too much obvious moralising about the need to protect libraries. Not that I disagree with the sentiment, I would just have preferred a novel to be more subtle. Now I am into a re-read of The Lord of the Rings!
I bought Scent of Water a while back when it was on sale for Kindle based on a recommendation from a friend from my recent MA program. Your synopsis and explanation of what it's about have made me more eager to read it!
Scent of Water is just a gorgeous book, Melanie. One of my favorites, for sure. … I’ve always got heaps a books going, myriad genres, concurrently. I post a BookNotes gathering, roughly weekly, over at the blog ( patmosscriptorium.blogspot.com/ ) … I am like you: I love other peoples' book lists! Thank you for sharing.
Erlend remembered what he had been dreaming. He was walking along a shore somewhere; it was low tide, and he was leaping from stone to stone. In the distance the sea was glistening and pale, lapping at the seaweed; it was like a silent, cloudy summer evening, with no sun. At the mouth of the silvery fjord he saw the ship anchored, black and sleek, rocking gently on the waves. There was an ungodly, delicious smell of sea and kelp. His heart grew sick with longing. - Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter
Oh my goodness! I am so very grateful for your generous and attentive reading of No One Ever Says and luminaries, and for sharing your impressions here. The thought of you and your daughter reading poems to one another is a true heart-lift.
I loved The Scent of Water. Read it a couple of years ago - probably because you reviewed it!
My reading has been scattershot - but I DID finish The Brothers Karamazov. I am glad I read it, but it is not a book that I will probably ever read again. But then, this is the way I feel about most of the Russians. I am glad to have read them, but I don't want to hang out with them.
I really liked Interpreter of Maladies. There are stories there that remain in my memory even years later. I thought it was an eye opening look at the immigrant experience. And I do not normally care for short stories.
This is my year of the LONG BOOK, it seems. First I finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then went on to The Brothers Karamazov, now I am on to Lorna Doone. The only reason I am reading that is that my mother had a copy of it from when she was a girl and I wanted something with a tie to Mom this spring. After that I have finally given in to my son's pleading and will attack Moby Dick, though I always SWORE that I would not ever read it. We'll see. If there is time left in the year, I want to read Lonesome Dove. The miniseries was a great favorite of my Dad's and we have some wonderful memories of watching it all together. If not this year, then next!
I read Scent of Water thanks to you. It was more moving and spiritually encouraging than I expected fiction to be. I teared up multiple times. The language is so beautiful. It absolutely won me over and I quickly put more Goudge on hold at the library. I don't understand how I had never read her before! Getting mail is the best and I savor it too. 💚
I suspect Goudge isn’t better known or more widely read precisely because she is so overly Christian. But her books never feel preachy or sentimental or judgmental. They’re just deeply rooted in a spiritual reality. Like you said, spiritually encouraging.
I’m halfway through The Rosemary Tree and it’s really lovely as well.
Just started The Bird in the Tree. Only a few pages in, but I love her descriptions so much. She reminds me of L.M. Montgomery with her descriptions of the natural world.
I never read Gouge. She’s so far down on my list though because of so much required reading ATM. Sigh.
Lovely list o’books!
I totally get that. So many books. So little time.
I just finished This is Happiness by Niall Williams also! I enjoyed Time of the Child so much that I had to get one of the other Faha books, and now History of the Rain is on hold for me at the library.
I also read The Scent of Water a second time recently. Just last year I discovered that the title of that book comes from Scripture - "Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant." - Job 14:9 I took down a lot of lines from this book - and I'm considering writing about it; it's so rich and deep and full of meaning. (It also has personal significance to me because my dear friend Amy had that line from Job read at her funeral and a beautiful copy of The Scent of Water on a stool - with her glasses resting on top - next to her casket at her funeral.
In my copy the passage from Job is used as an epigraph along with a quote from Kipling’s Just So Stories:
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
—The Book of Job
Still ran Kangaroo—Old Man Kangaroo. He . . . ran through the long grass; he ran through the short grass; he ran through the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer; he ran till his hind legs ached. He had to!
—Kipling, Just So Stories
In the copy that I read, those words from the Book of Job are quoted to Mary by Paul (minus the Rudyard Kipling passage). After Paul quotes Job to Mary, she asks Paul what the scent of water is. He responds: "Renewal. The goodness of God coming down like dew." I can't get over how beautiful this book is. I need to buy a copy!
Here's another passage I copied down: "...but the somber backcloth increased joy to the point where wonder and thankfulness merged into a clarity of sight that transfigured every greeting of her day." - Elizabeth Goudge
I remember reading "The Scent of Water" and it's prayers. I'll look for it on my bookshelves and read it again, thank you for the reminder.
At one point I copied the three short prayers onto post it notes and hung them on my bedroom wall. Two of them fell off, but "Thee I adore" is still there.
I think The Scent of Water might be my favourite book by Elizabeth Goudge. I have read it many times - most recently in 2024, according to Storygraph. I didn't get through many books in March either. I enjoyed the world building of the Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine (A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace), but found them harder to read than they needed to be because she flips between perspectives too frequently. I also read The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - always a fan of fantasy involving libraries or archives! - but was a bit disappointed in it. Too much obvious moralising about the need to protect libraries. Not that I disagree with the sentiment, I would just have preferred a novel to be more subtle. Now I am into a re-read of The Lord of the Rings!
I bought Scent of Water a while back when it was on sale for Kindle based on a recommendation from a friend from my recent MA program. Your synopsis and explanation of what it's about have made me more eager to read it!
Scent of Water is just a gorgeous book, Melanie. One of my favorites, for sure. … I’ve always got heaps a books going, myriad genres, concurrently. I post a BookNotes gathering, roughly weekly, over at the blog ( patmosscriptorium.blogspot.com/ ) … I am like you: I love other peoples' book lists! Thank you for sharing.
Erlend remembered what he had been dreaming. He was walking along a shore somewhere; it was low tide, and he was leaping from stone to stone. In the distance the sea was glistening and pale, lapping at the seaweed; it was like a silent, cloudy summer evening, with no sun. At the mouth of the silvery fjord he saw the ship anchored, black and sleek, rocking gently on the waves. There was an ungodly, delicious smell of sea and kelp. His heart grew sick with longing. - Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter
Oh my goodness! I am so very grateful for your generous and attentive reading of No One Ever Says and luminaries, and for sharing your impressions here. The thought of you and your daughter reading poems to one another is a true heart-lift.
I loved The Scent of Water. Read it a couple of years ago - probably because you reviewed it!
My reading has been scattershot - but I DID finish The Brothers Karamazov. I am glad I read it, but it is not a book that I will probably ever read again. But then, this is the way I feel about most of the Russians. I am glad to have read them, but I don't want to hang out with them.
I really liked Interpreter of Maladies. There are stories there that remain in my memory even years later. I thought it was an eye opening look at the immigrant experience. And I do not normally care for short stories.
This is my year of the LONG BOOK, it seems. First I finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then went on to The Brothers Karamazov, now I am on to Lorna Doone. The only reason I am reading that is that my mother had a copy of it from when she was a girl and I wanted something with a tie to Mom this spring. After that I have finally given in to my son's pleading and will attack Moby Dick, though I always SWORE that I would not ever read it. We'll see. If there is time left in the year, I want to read Lonesome Dove. The miniseries was a great favorite of my Dad's and we have some wonderful memories of watching it all together. If not this year, then next!
I just put a hold on "The Scent of Water"--thank you.