Bird lovers may blanch at feather-in-the-mouth hunting tales, but this selection of vignettes is varied, entertaining and...
A sparkling collection of 51 dog stories that have regularly appeared in the eponymous columns of Garden & Gun since its launch in 2007.
DiBenedetto (On the Run: An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast, 2003), the magazine’s editor in chief, explains the rationale behind the selections chosen by the editors. “[Our] Holy Trinity is bourbon, dogs, and barbecue, but dogs truly reign supreme,” he jokes. These are not your stereotypical lap dogs. In “Hurricane Muffin,” Katie Crouch writes, “[e]ven when he was a puppy, Muffin our cairn terrier, was yappy and mean, calculating and chewy.” Nonetheless, he showed his mettle when he herded the family to the only safe spot in their house during a fierce hurricane. Logan Ward describes how his first dog was a toy poodle, “a fur ball the color of a Hershey's Kiss and only slightly bigger,” whom he named Tom—Thomas Thumb Ward. Despite his diminutive size, Tom became an avid bird dog. In “Training Days,” DiBenedetto gives an amusing account of a yellow Labrador who only “retrieved one duck in his gundog career.” His claim to fame was that, after being neutered, he would run away, heading back to the vet's office: “Well, we liked to say he was looking for his balls.” The role of a companion dog is a recurrent theme. In “A Marriage for the Dogs,” Jill McCorkle discusses the problem of modern blended families. “When my husband and I got married,” she writes, “we were as concerned about merging our dogs as we were our children.” On a different note, Jack Hitt uses a personal anecdote to suggest that veterinary medicine can become prohibitively expensive and is not necessarily required. Other contributors include Ace Atkins, Rick Bragg, Roy Blount Jr., Jon Meacham and Julia Reed.
Bird lovers may blanch at feather-in-the-mouth hunting tales, but this selection of vignettes is varied, entertaining and frequently heartwarming.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0062242358
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper Wave
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
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
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
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