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
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
