A well-organized, charming guide to Madrid.
Two American girls pen a travelogue about Madrid, Spain.
The debut author, 10-year-old Isabella, joins her 13-year-old sister, Tatiana (Athens: Top 50 Places, 2012), to offer an insider’s guide to Madrid. When Mandis’ parents decided to move the family from New York City to Madrid for five months, the young authors began to research the history, culture, architecture and language of their adopted home. This resulting travelogue reflects the girls’ firsthand experiences living in the city. Included are maps of Madrid, with detailed legends of touring areas such as Retiro Park, Old City Center and Palacio. A short history of Madrid and a list of the top 50 places to visit follow. The guide organizes points of interest by touring areas and includes castles, government buildings, hotels, churches, museums, fountains, parks and sports arenas. Some of the most fascinating entries cover landmarks like the Royal Palace of Madrid; the Royal Theatre and restored Opera House; the Buen Retiro Park; the National Library; and the Golden Triangle of Art––or the Art Walk. Located along the Paseo del Prado, the Art Walk comprises three art museums and houses the works of Spanish masters El Greco, Picasso and Dali. Necessary travel information is organized clearly in sections labeled, “What You Need to Know,” “Practical Information” and “Find It.” To avoid a dry, textbooklike feel, the authors include color photos and anecdotes throughout, with a few whimsical entries like: “Five Things About Columbus You Probably Do Not Know.” A detailed look at the history and cultural significance of bull fighting is illuminating. Like true Madrileños (natives of Madrid), the girls share recommendations for special restaurants, “must-see” exhibits and scenic vantage points. The guide’s best feature is the section “Madrid in One Day”––an invaluable resource for travelers on a limited schedule or budget. Overall, despite some lapses in voice—“Terrace Le Cabrera…bar is super cool”—the writing is adept and the guide, informative and practical.
A well-organized, charming guide to Madrid.Pub Date: April 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1491240724
Page Count: 298
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
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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