BOLOGNA ENDS

Name: BOLOGNA ENDS
Author: Edwin F. Casey
ISBN: 978-0980141214

by Edwin F. Casey with Liz Mathewson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 2011

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Regular-guy memoirist Casey (Tales from the Granite Orchard, 2011) presents readers with the stories of his life and times.

In a series of only vaguely chronological and largely self-contained chapters, Casey offers readers his versions of the funny stories and personal folklore that accumulate over the years in most families. Here are his most cherished memories of growing up in typical American suburbia; here is a doomed attempt to learn the fine art of public speaking; here are his strongest impressions of his distant, problematic father; here are his most embarrassing anecdotes about his children and funny stories revolving around his first wife (comments about his second, current wife are rarer and almost entirely reverential). He recounts being made manager of a New York funeral parlor, sweet-to-recall high school days in the 1950s, a persistent penchant for golf in inclement weather and a tense-but-amusing encounter with a tiger shark off Hilton Head. All of these stories have obviously been told many times—they likely came to Casey’s co-writer Mathewson with much of their polish and all of their punch lines already in place. Some skirt sadness, but the vast majority aren’t even bittersweet—this is a warm, happy book (the cover features a simple infusion of sunlight) presided over by Casey’s upbeat, sarcastic, utterly likable persona. “Sometimes I get a little help in the gentle art of creative failure,” Casey writes at one point, but although that tone of approachable self-mockery is present throughout, almost none of this material fails. Children are born, grow up and make their father proud (each one of them gets a separate dedication), and Casey wisecracks and horses around throughout it all, with only occasional stabs at weightier matters (almost always evoked by his parents). A funny, page-turning collection of family highlights, recounted by a genial showman.

Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2011

ISBN: 978-0980141214

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Haddon Road

Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2011

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.