DEAR NAVEL DIARY, ARE YOU LISTENING?

Name: DEAR NAVEL DIARY, ARE YOU LISTENING?
Author: Diann Logan
ISBN: 978-0-9977353-9-0

by Diann Logan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 31, 2018

A thoroughly enjoyable, quick read that will be best appreciated by the senior set.

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Logan (The Navel Diaries, 2015) returns with a new collection of pithy and often humorous essays about the large and small shocks of aging.

The author’s latest offering highlights her determination to increase her physical and mental flexibility and to make changes necessary to live a purposeful life. The first chapter, “Wake Me Up before It’s Over,” lays the foundation for a volume that considers many annoying issues that aging throws at her, her reactions to them, and society’s assumptions about seniors. As is her style, Logan begins each essay with a seemingly random observation or experience. She opens with her outrage at what she describes as “a horrifying job performance review” by one of her students: “She’s an adorable little old lady.” A few chapters later, she discovers that her body has betrayed her: “I found a whisker on my neck.” After railing a bit at what she sees as an unacceptable affront to her femininity, she segues into a discussion of what else might be physically going on with her, out of sight of her magnifying mirror; what chemical messages are hormonal changes sending to her internal organs? “I’d better spend less energy plucking and more energy keeping all those vital internals in the loop,” she writes. These initial observations are breezy and wry, but they’re just the first steps down engaging paths through more serious issues, such as the need to stop oneself from being too rigid, the importance of regular physical checkups, gender and age discrimination, and other topics. Baby boomers, in particular, will find plenty of familiar cultural references from their youth that will make them smile throughout this collection. They’ll also relate to such declarations as “Let me behold me, in all my glory, as perfect today as I was on the day I was born.”

A thoroughly enjoyable, quick read that will be best appreciated by the senior set.

Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-9977353-9-0

Page Count: 208

Publisher: TerraCotta Publishing

Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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.