A prose meditation on Rolling Stone Keith Richards by a man who entered the Stones' inner sanctum as a journalist in the late '60s and subsequently became the guitarist's friend and confidante. Booth (The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones, 1985) may be too close to his subject to present a totally objective view, but for the most part he manages to keep his story free from puffery. As he (re)traces the Stones' more-than-30-year career, Booth quotes Richards on everything from music and drug addiction to fatherhood and fame. Stones fans will be familiar with much of the historical material here (the big '67 drug bust, crowd ugliness and a killing at Altamont, Keith's narrow escape from a lengthy Canadian prison sentence in the late '70s), but Booth's breezy style and dry wit often put a fresh spin on things, as when he opts not to detail the hedonism of the Stones' 1972 American tour, drolly noting, ``Once you've seen sufficient fettucine on flocked velvet, hot urine pooling on deep carpets, and tidal waves of spewing sex organs, they seem to run together. So to speak.'' But while he is right to avoid a blow-by-blow (so to speak) description of a Stones orgy, Booth gives overly short shrift to the subject of drugs. Granted, he does a good job of chronicling Richards's well-documented romance with heroin, but he fails to adequately answer the question of when and how the guitarist—certainly rock's most notorious junkie—finally overcame his addiction. Since Booth is a self- admitted former heroin user whose own misadventures with the drug roughly parallel those of Richards, such an omission is both puzzling and disappointing. Still, a welcome addition to the growing library of Stones- related tomes. (10 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: March 28, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-11841-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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