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NOTES FROM THE SHORE

Name: NOTES FROM THE SHORE
Author: Jennifer G. Ackerman
ISBN: 0-670-84924-3

by Jennifer G. Ackerman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1995

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A lyrical meditation on the scientific and philosophical meaning to be found in one short stretch of Delaware coastline. This may be Ackerman's first book, but she is no novice to the art of nature writing. ``The way in to a new landscape is to pull at a single thread,'' she begins, and with quiet, acute observation and an admirable economy of style, she pulls her reader after her. The threads form a single fabric, interweaving the life of the town of Lewes with the past and future of the beaches and marshes that surround it. The impact of the man-made harbor is felt by the tiniest micro-organisms swarming in the sand. The mud flats exposed at low tide teem with life that Ackerman makes us see: razor clams and ribbon worms, mud snails and sanderlings, diatoms and rotifers. The rhythms here are ancient and mysterious, explained with reverence and some awe. The migrating red knot pauses here on its way to Arctic breeding grounds just in time to gorge on the millions of horseshoe crab eggs that have been laid under the wet sand at the spring tide. But not all of the fabric is original; this ecosystem, like most in our ever-shrinking world, has become a patchwork of native species and aggressive immigrants from the old world to the new. Nature is not the equilibrium we would like it to be—change is the only constant, and ``the wonder is that there is order or structure at all, likenesses or rules, universals on a giant scale.'' Ackerman is entranced by ``the thunder-suck of waves'' near her seaside home, and her careful, ingenuous exploration of biology and history makes the most landlocked reader appreciate it too. Poetic, precise, intelligent, thoughtful. A lovely book.

Pub Date: May 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-670-84924-3

Page Count: 190

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995

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.