August greetings! Yes, we’re reading Jane Austen around here.
(And sometimes getting to the coast, as her characters did; e.g., in nautically themed Persuasion).
How stunning to realize that it was protagonist Elizabeth Bennet who compared rocks and mountains to men in Pride and Prejudice. Her sister Mary, given the line in Joe Wright’s 2005 film adaptation, neither said it in Austen’s world nor was headed to the cool mountains, as Lizzie was.
Who cares? I do, when creative license affects both characterization and vegetables—which is how we regard cucumbers, though they be technically fruit.1
But not even the very literal Mary compared mountains and cucumbers. Apparently that’s on me.
Literally, we and cukes are alike: largely water. Their very cells are filled with it—more so than ours, though we’re also quite watery, especially compared to rocks, which hold fluid mostly in their cracks and pores.2
Neither Mary nor Lizzie were speaking of water, I dare say (an expression I would not dare say had I not continued straight to Mansfield Park, thereby remaining steeped in late 18th-century parlance).
Such is immersion in literature—all absorbing, but also healing, as summer reading is said to be, given that books can increase our capacity for empathy and attention.3
Would that the golfer-in-chief would read even a little.4 Or eat cucumbers, which also heal! They’re professed to prevent ills ranging from irregularity to cancer. So by all means, we who care must grow ’em and eat ’em.
This summer Paul and I consumed our first-grown cuke when she was just a baby (our act fringing on cannibalism). Here she is (was). Small, but with well-irrigated flesh that was heaven on earth.
Now the cucumber plant is putting more energy into the other budding fruits, as it could not do while pouring all into this little one. So like writing memoir, when we finally let go of a chapter we’ve been micromanaging and move onto the rest.
With all my wishes that you find time and space for continued engaging with literature, a summer pleasure just as sure as the scarfing of fruit is during the few weeks when the sun, soil, water, and farmers conspire to create them.
Read on!
Simon, Dominique, 2024. “Cucumber nutrition facts and benefits,” NC Cooperative Extension website.
U.S. Geological Survey, undated. “How ground water occurs,” USGS website. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
Aalai, Azadeh, 2024. “Why you should start a summer reading list,” Psychology Today blog.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I post here on matters of water and writing, my areas of expertise, but I do not for a moment forget the environmental and humanitarian crimes committed daily by our very corrupt administration. Resist. Act. Respond.
WHAT’S NEW
Would love to see you at my 2025 readings, teachings, and other events.
Next up is on Wednesday, September 10, 6 to 7 p.m.
Writing at the Root, Readers’ Books, Sonoma, CA
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I saved this one to re-read, Becca, because I so enjoyed the Austen references, the wry humor, and the reminder that we and cucumbers are both watery beings. Thanks for the chuckles and the reminder. Also the reminder to act in this time of crisis. Enjoy summer and cucumbers, Austen and all, despite the times. Hugs, Susan