bookshelf

DISPATCHES FROM MAINE

Name: DISPATCHES FROM MAINE
Author: John Gould
ISBN: 0-393-03624-3

1942-1992

by John Gould ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1994

bookshelf

Gould (There Goes Maine!, 1990; etc.) collects over 70 witty essays from his weekly columns for the Christian Science Monitor. From the first sentence of his first essay, he puts the taciturn, unflappable soul of Maine in clear focus: ``There is reason to believe that, if the sun came up with a derby hat on some morning, most of my neighbors would not look twice, and would hardly mention it to their wives when they came up from the barns to breakfast.'' Gould retains this bemused, affectionate tone throughout the book, collecting and indulging the quirks and habits of Maine residents. His grandfather, for instance, always planted his flower garden among the vegetables. Why? ``He spent most the summer among his garden sass, and that was where he had to have his flowers if he were to enjoy them.'' Gould is also attuned to the rhythms of place, the larger ways in which people interact with their landscape, the symphony of drips in the sap buckets as March winds flail the tops of maples and ``the chatter of chickadees pecking at the suet you've brought along to nail up over the sugarhouse door. It's a great thing.'' There's a gentle comedy to the way Gould evokes moments of almost noble foolishness, like the time when the bottom dropped out of a pot and overbaked beans swam gamely on the floor in their own juice, leaving his wife ``holding the handle...helpless and forlorn.'' Better'n a steaming bowl of creamed codfish in January. Eyuh.

Pub Date: May 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-393-03624-3

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.