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TIME ON ICE

Name: TIME ON ICE
Author: Deborah Shapiro
ISBN: 0-07-006399-0

A WINTER VOYAGE TO ANTARCTICA

by Deborah Shapiro & Rolf Bjelke ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1997

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Wintering in Antarctica is a lark compared with getting there and back in a small sailboat, as Shapiro and Bjelke (freebooters out of Sweden) tell it. Having paid a summertime visit to the southernmost of continents—reveling in the wildness of it all, the waters swept with lilac-hued icebergs—Shapiro and Bjelke wanted more, a whole circuit of the seasons in Antarctica, aboard their 40-foot sailing vessel. They chart a circuitous course from Sweden, a shakedown voyage that takes them north to the Faroes, west to Canada, and down to Gloucester, testing the mettle of their craft and themselves. Time and again, shoddy workmanship and faulty hardware almost nix their plans, but the duo struggles on, aided by fair skies, a favoring wind, and extraordinary luck in happening across folks who tend to their engine problems and electrical malfunctions. They pound across the Atlantic again, challenging their boat to make sure it can withstand a polar winter, then head south to lock themselves into the ice. They tell their story in alternating voices, a chapter at a throw, Bjelke concentrating on the nautical details while Shapiro takes the breezier tack, pleasuring in the colors and contours of place, delighting in the wealth of wildlife and the ``200 nuances of morning light.'' Once anchored, they take long skiing trips, visit penguin rookeries and Wendell seal pupping grounds, bemoan the degradation of this heretofore virgin environment by tour groups, then question the impact even their light-stepping presence has on so fragile a landscape. When their tour is over, it's back to slamming seas and tortuous four-hour shifts—asleep one second, unwrapping the halyard and coupling it to the pulpit the next. A bumpy ride, but given the itinerary, was any less expected? (b&w and color photos, not seen)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-07-006399-0

Page Count: 288

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1997

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SUMMER DEMANDS
by Deborah Shapiro

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SUN IN YOUR EYES
by Deborah Shapiro

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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.