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OF CATS AND KINGS

Name: OF CATS AND KINGS
Author: Clare de Vries
ISBN: 1-58234-207-5

by Clare de Vries ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 8, 2002

Irritatingly sprightly and trying way too hard to be witty, insightful, and original.

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Bereft of the Burmese who accompanied her across the US in I & Claudius (1999), British freelancer de Vries travels to Myanmar in search of a replacement—and chronicles the results in this energetic but unevenly engaging memoir.

Claudius and the author had been together for 20 years; she felt more comfortable with him than with most of her boyfriends. So when the cat dies and her love life stalls, it seems a good time to leave London and head for Burma, now Myanmar, to look for the perfect feline. De Vries is determined not to support the brutal and corrupt military regime by staying in government-run hotels, but she finds this more difficult than expected. She also finds, while conducting her desultory search, that her guides and the other locals are eager to talk politics, though she is careful to be circumspect about such encounters. De Vries visits numerous Buddhist temples in Rangoon and the nation’s most sacred site at Shwedagon, where a towering gilded stupa is set with diamonds. Told she will find cats in Bagan, she sees only monkeys. Dispirited by encounters with annoying fellow tourists, depressed by a visit to the Jumping Cat monastery (they leap when whacked by a monk), and worn down by the political situation, she returns home. There she meets a man who also likes cats, but she’s still committed to her quest and heads to Thailand, which offers only a reprise of unsuccessful visits to catteries, feline lore, and sightseeing. Implausibly advised in dreams by Claudius, de Vries now understands that her desperate hunt for the perfect cat was doomed. She returns sans Burmese, but ready to learn more about the fellow she calls Cat Cam Man.

Irritatingly sprightly and trying way too hard to be witty, insightful, and original.

Pub Date: July 8, 2002

ISBN: 1-58234-207-5

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2002

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.