Laid-back and quite competent, if not consistently soul-stirring, certainly well-enough executed to be enjoyed in the shade...
From the South Florida School of American Literature, home to both Ernest Hemingway and Dave Barry, comes hard-working Hall: erstwhile poet, current thriller-writer, and sometime English teacher here undertaking a new form.
For three years, while he kept the action going in his spirited adventures (Blackwater Sound, 2002, etc.), the author also found a friendly format in the short essays he contributed monthly to a Florida newspaper. The collected pieces deal with a variety of subjects, but most are related to the splendor of the Peninsula State, from the myriad shells of Sanibel to the wonderful feeling of sunburn-grade warmth on the epidermis. “We have only two seasons in south Florida, summer and not-quite-summer,” he declares. But the sunshine is not unabated. There are the casinos in the Everglades, the feral Florida drivers, the young muggers, and don’t forget the Disneyfication. “Before we know it,” Hall warns, “we’ll be living in a place concocted by cartoonists.” But despite his holidays in the hills of North Carolina (that’s where native Floridians can be found in summer), the author’s devotion to the birthplace of the early-bird special is unfailing. Along with the fright engendered by hurricanes, his musings venture beyond the shuffleboard courts to describe unpleasant dealings with hustling TV producers and humiliating book tours. As seems de rigueur in an essay collection, Hall pays homage to the pleasures of books and reading, as well as offering appreciations of the Hardy Boys and Papa Hemingway. He provides a choice glimpse of James Dickey in action, and a heartfelt eulogy for his late father signals the author’s fundamental decency. But does he really go fishing for dolphin?
Laid-back and quite competent, if not consistently soul-stirring, certainly well-enough executed to be enjoyed in the shade with the sound of the surf not far away.Pub Date: June 24, 2002
ISBN: 0-312-28859-X
Page Count: 256
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2002
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
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