ALL I KNOW ABOUT ANIMAL BEHAVIOR I LEARNED IN LOEHMANN'S DRESSING ROOM

Name: ALL I KNOW ABOUT ANIMAL BEHAVIOR I LEARNED IN LOEHMANN'S DRESSING ROOM
Author: Erma Bombeck
ISBN: 0-06-017788-8

by Erma Bombeck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1995

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Here's Erma, to human beings what Jane Goodall is to chimpanzeesan ardent student and a whole lot funnier. In fact, as Bombeck (A Marriage Made in Heaven . . . Or Too Tired for an Affair, 1993, etc.) puts it, ``The breakthrough hit me like a bolt. Jane and I were studying the same species.'' A pungent fact heading each chapter on the curious way in which animals eat, mate, play, travel, or cope with boredom launches Bombeck on her favorite subject, the even more curious behavior of men, women, and children. African elephants may be able to breed until they're 90 years old, but baby boomers are pushing to catch up, with a 59-year-old woman giving birth to twins. Not a good idea to go much further, Bombeck muses: ``It's too risky for a woman to put a baby down and not remember where she left it.'' Lost dolphins lead her to men who can't ask for directions, injured deer to alternative medicine, the speed of cheetahs to the IRS, Gus the bored bear to the bizarre guests on talk shows, a bird who walks on water to the men's movement, and dinosaurs to Milwaukee's Mall of America. Some of the connections are a stretch, like ``putting a pair of size A panty-hose . . . over [a] size C torso''; and some of the acerbic anecdotes will be repetitious to Bombeck fans. However, even refurbished material gleams in the light of her good-humored affection for her fellow humans and her gift for summing up their foibles in pithy one- liners. Not the best of Bombeck, but as always, a welcome poke at the misguided dieters, shoppers, spouses, TV hosts, and others in the animal kingdom who prize propriety over a belly laugh. ($400,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild selection; first serial to Good Housekeeping)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-06-017788-8

Page Count: 224

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
FOREVER, ERMA
by Erma Bombeck

- BOOK REVIEW
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN...OR TOO TIRED FOR AN AFFAIR
by Erma Bombeck

- BOOK REVIEW
WHEN YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR PASSPORT PHOTO, IT'S TIME TO GO HOME
by Erma Bombeck

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.