The eclectic nature of the essays in subject matter and tone are all unified by an overwhelming sense of generosity of...
Forty-one essays on writing and reading, culled from the pages of the New York Times. Darnton, the Times’s culture editor, brings forth the cream of the writerly crop with anecdotes, suggestions, musings, and meditations of such illustrious authors as Russell Banks, Saul Bellow, E.L. Doctorow, Louise Erdrich, Jamaica Kincaid, Barbara Kingsolver, David Mamet, Annie Proulx, Jane Smiley, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, and Elie Wiesel. We get insight into these writers' minds and their craft: Proulx advises writers to take advantage of garage sales and to research with card catalogues rather than the Internet; Sue Miller tackles the question of the line between fiction and autobiography. Personal anecdotes abound, from Ed McBain's memories of being paid three cents per word for stories that begin with a dangerous blonde to David Leavitt's confession that he cajoled his mother into buying him Playboy, despite his young years, supposedly for the charms of the hidden bunny on the cover.
The eclectic nature of the essays in subject matter and tone are all unified by an overwhelming sense of generosity of spirit, of writers offering encouragement, reflection, and introspection in order to help untangle the often bewildering complexities of the writing process.Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6741-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
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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