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UPSTAIRS AT THE STRAND

Name: UPSTAIRS AT THE STRAND
Author: Jessica Strand
ISBN: 978-0-393-35208-5

WRITERS IN CONVERSATION AT THE LEGENDARY BOOKSTORE

edited by Jessica Strand & Andrea Aguilar ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2016

An array of authors edifies their fans at the home of the flourishing last survivor of Gotham’s grand old Book Row.

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New York’s grand repository of millions of used and rare books has been the venue for readings by dozens of notable writers over the years, and many have stayed for the conversations recorded here.

Upstairs in the Rare Book Room of the celebrated Strand bookstore, Paul Auster and Edward Albee talk of the salutary influence of Samuel Beckett, Leigh Newman remembers life in Alaska, and Tina Chang says that her 3-year-old son “likes to write poems.” Renata Adler notes the drawbacks of composing on a computer, Blake Bailey contemplates the art of biography, and Robert Pinsky considers required reading. Charles Simic is recorded paying tribute to the venerable shop in which he spoke, and this text is, in a way, a celebratory literary salute to the Strand’s vitality. Favorite authors—very few found on bestseller lists—are a common refrain, and the contributors cite a wide variety of work from a diverse selection of essayists, poets, dramatists, memoirists, novelists, and graphic novelists. The colloquies lean a bit toward the arcane, in the best Paris Review–esque tradition. The artists speak of their first novels as learning experiences, of how much work and time writing can take, and of the construction and final trimming of poetry. They touch on psychotherapy, imagination, and inspiration as well as techniques, work habits, gender, and race. Friends talk with friends, and questions from the audience are entertained. Other contributors include George Saunders, Hilton Als, Junot Diaz, Rivka Galchen, Hari Kunzru, Rachel Kushner, Téa Obreht, Alison Bechdel, Katie Roiphe, D.T. Max, Tracy K. Smith, Mark Strand, Charles Wright, A.M. Holmes, David Shields, and Wendy Lesser. As it must be, the conversations do not avoid solipsism. They are, after all, writers talking shop.

An array of authors edifies their fans at the home of the flourishing last survivor of Gotham’s grand old Book Row.

Pub Date: March 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-393-35208-5

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016

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.