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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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