Another subtitle might have been Healthful Snacks, for these bite-size pieces are both enjoyable to ingest and good for you.
A master of the essay form returns with a collection of brief pieces spanning nearly 20 years, 1996 to 2015.
Most of the offerings are indeed quite short, a few pages at most. Former American Scholar editor Epstein (A Literary Education and Other Essays, 2014, etc.) sticks to straight chronology with only a few deviations for, one infers, circumstance’s sake. A few themes emerge. One is language: there are locutions he hates (“multitask,” “focus,” “branding”), and he believes in the significance of the sentence for writers. Another is technology: Epstein is the proud owner of a flip phone, which he rarely uses, and in several essays, he snarls about the ubiquity and abuse of the smartphone. Books (of course): he writes about his smallish library (for a bibliophile) and admits he’s pruned his collection a couple of times. He also writes about books he loves (In Search of Lost Time) and admits to some famous ones he hasn’t read (The Brothers Karamazov and the Bible, though he began reading it all in 2012). Politics: his conservative views emerge most often in context, but he does have one amusing essay imagining that two children of Alexander Portnoy are Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner. Writers he likes: Henry James and Proust pop up frequently, as does—a bit of a surprise—John O’Hara. Epstein tells us about his routines as a writer, his pride in being an author, and his anxiety about who should receive one of his author’s copies (he has two essays about this). Annoyances: he cancelled his New York Times subscription after 50 years, and he hates the custom of restaurant servers declaring their names. Personal improvement: he announces that he’s trying to quit swearing and to drop the word “yeah” from his conversation. He rarely mentions his family.
Another subtitle might have been Healthful Snacks, for these bite-size pieces are both enjoyable to ingest and good for you.Pub Date: April 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-60419-100-4
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Axios Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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