LOOKING FOR ALASKA

Name: LOOKING FOR ALASKA
Author: Peter Jenkins
ISBN: 0-312-26178-0

by Peter Jenkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2001

A bracing, happy view of Alaska and Alaskans prior to a couple little changes like new oil drilling and Star Wars outposts....

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Veteran travel-writer Jenkins (Along the Edge of America, 1995, etc.) looks for Alaska and finds an idealized America: sparsely populated with hardy individualists in majestic scenery.

For more than a year, the author and family members lived in the northernmost state during all seasons, balmy or frigid, through sunshine or blizzard. Based in Seward, eager as an Iditarod dog, he journeyed through tundra, bush, and mountain, north and south of the Arctic Circle from Cordova to Tok, Kotzebue to Unalakleet. The vistas he saw are picturesque and, reminiscent of TV’s Northern Exposure, the people distinctive. If Jenkins ever met any men or women he didn’t like, they weren’t in Alaska (except, perhaps, for a passing census worker). He found flannel-shirted Alaskans, whether immigrant or native—wanderers, teachers, hunters, fishermen, pilots, civil servants, Haida or Tlinglit—to be stalwart, generous, and noble. A typical nice guy, for example, was “sort of godlike.” And that’s just the people. Domestic animals and the author took a liking to each other, too. The whales, moose, and brown bears offered no opinion, though from his side Jenkins expresses a healthy respect for the magnificence of wildlife. On an Alaskan high, he is unmatched by Jack London or Robert W. Service, and the result is as persuasive as an avalanche. The writing, including some nice contributions by a 20-year-old daughter, is effective in spite of some incorrect personal pronouns and a disconcerting habit of omitting the requisite preposition after “couple”—it’s “a couple snow machines” or “a couple dogs” throughout). The tome, big like the state, will be a revelation to many, including the author’s neighbors back in Tennessee.

A bracing, happy view of Alaska and Alaskans prior to a couple little changes like new oil drilling and Star Wars outposts. A very appealing tour for stay-at-home outdoorspeople. (16-page color insert, not seen)

Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2001

ISBN: 0-312-26178-0

Page Count: 448

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001

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.