DECATUR - On the list of "I-may-not-get-to-these-authors-but-I'd-like-to" are several items, including three from Lone Pine Publishing.

"Container Gardening for the Midwest" is something I'd really like to talk about, especially since this year I'm trying some container gardening. William Aldrich and Donald Williamson talk not only about plants, everything from African daisies to yucca, but they discuss containers, pests, even vertical and rooftop gardening.

Other Lone Pine selections which would sound like they should contain good information are "Herb Gardening for the Midwest" and "Edible Gardening for the Midwest." The latter would probably be especially beneficial reading, since it seems as though a lot more people are giving vegetable growing a try this year.

And, just in case summer plans include an Illinois road trip, an updated version of Moon Handbooks "Illinois" by Christine des Garennes is out. Des Garennes was the subject of a Bookmark column about three years ago. In this volume, Decatur itself takes about a half dozen pages with "The Grand Prairie" section, featuring the heart of Illinois, covered in nearly 100 pages.

But these books are just among many.

If poetry is your bent, try "Haiku Anthology," published by Bronze Man Books and edited by Randy Brooks, Emily Evans, Rick Bearce and Melanie McLay. According to a news release about the book, the art of haiku has been taught at Millikin for more than a decade. And haiku, by the way, is a form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables and divided into 3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables.

Adam Stanley, a Decatur native and a graduate of MacArthur High School and Millikin University, has written "Modernizing Tradition: Gender and Consumerism in Interwar France and Germany," published by Louisiana State University Press. Stanley is an assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He earned his master's and doctorate degrees at Purdue University.

Acadia Publishing has another "in its images" series, this one is "Images of America Effingham County" by Kate Keller Bourland and Bill Grimes. It's filled with historic photographs including ones from Effingham, Beecher City, Altamont and Teutopolis.

Illinois Wesleyan University's James Plath has put together what he decided would be more than just a collage of photographs of the late Ernest Hemmingway. His Turner Publishing book, "Historic Photos of Hemmingway," was published in March.

"I looked at it as a chance not to write 200 captions for 200 photos, but as a chance to write a mini-biography of Ernest Hemmingway that actually flows from entry to entry," said the professor of English and department chair.

His next project is on late author John Updike.

Also on the horizon are a couple of other bookstores, Haines & Essick in Decatur and Just Books in Assumption.

Next week's column will feature a book by John Schirle of Decatur whose work will tell you the best possible campgrounds in Illinois for tent camping. And the following week, former Decatur resident Anne Matalonis will talk about her children's book on Internet safety.

amannlein@herald-review.com|421-6976