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YOU TELL YOUR DOG FIRST

Name: YOU TELL YOUR DOG FIRST
Author: Alison Pace
ISBN: 978-0-425-25587-2

by Alison Pace ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 6, 2012

A charming memoir about the special joys of having a pet and the ups and downs of single living.

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A popular writer whose fiction often features dogs (A Pug's Tale, 2011, etc.) lets fans in on the events in her life that served as inspiration.

Pace’s 2008 novel City Dog starred her beloved Carlie, a West Highland white terrier who is also pictured on the cover of this memoir. When she was 29, a confirmed New Yorker with two published novels under her belt, the author decided that, while she would like to find the man of her dreams, what she wanted most was a dog to share her life. Coming from a suburban home in Long Island filled with canines, this was not too surprising. Her family was so seriously into dogs, she writes, that when they gathered for holidays, the stories they would share were all about their pets; she still dates major events by which dogs they had at any given time. A feature writer with an advance on a third novel, she was working from home and able to care for a dog even in a city apartment. The first hurdle was finding a rental apartment that accepted pets, near enough to Central Park for dog-walking. That done, Pace settled on a 13-month-old Westie trained to be a show dog but disqualified by bow legs. Carlie quickly became the center of her besotted new owner's life. The author shares her experiences accustoming a nervous pet to city living, taking her along to social events and vetting prospective suitors based on how they hit it off with Carlie. Stranger-than-fiction moments include the discovery that another neighborhood Westie and Carlie were half siblings and the author’s encounter in the park with a fellow Westie owner who became her therapist.

A charming memoir about the special joys of having a pet and the ups and downs of single living.

Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-425-25587-2

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Berkley

Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A PUG'S TALE
by Alison Pace

- BOOK REVIEW
THROUGH THICK AND THIN
by Alison Pace

- BOOK REVIEW
PUG HILL
by Alison Pace

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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.