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SUBMARINER

Name: SUBMARINER
Author: John O. Coote
ISBN: 0-393-03074-1

by John O. Coote ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 3, 1992

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A gifted storyteller's altogether agreeable recollections of his years in the Royal Navy. The Australian-born son of a Cable & Wireless executive, Coote (ed., The Norton Book of the Sea—not reviewed) grew up in Adelaide, Batavia, Shanghai, Singapore, and other Pacific Basin venues to which his father was assigned at irregular intervals. Sent to England as a teenager, he was at Cambridge when WW II began, and volunteered for submarine duty. Coote devotes nearly half of his anecdotal narrative to his wartime experiences in the underseas service, which consisted of risky Mediterranean patrols, mainly offshore the French Riviera. As a junior officer aboard HMS Untiring (which took a heavy toll on enemy shipping), he endured the tedium and savored the triumphs that are the lot of those who survive combat. After the war, having decided to make a career of the military, Coote spent 15 years in a variety of more or less congenial billets, including a posting as liaison to the US Navy in 1955, when the difficult Hyman Rickover was converting American subs to nuclear power. In the meantime, he became a world-class racer of oceangoing yachts and climbed the promotional ladder, earning his captaincy in 1960. Soon, however, cutbacks in the defense budget had diminished Coote's chances for further advancement, and he retired to take a job with Beaverbrook Newspapers. At this point, the author ends an engaging saga that's chock-full of derring-do, acerbic commentary, and graceful tributes to a host of friends. Unfortunately for American readers, though, the text also bristles with Anglicisms and a rather full ration of Royal Navy jargon (``bunts,'' ``cuddy,'' ``Queen's Telegram,'' ``rhumb line,'' ``trews,'' etc.). This cavil apart, a genuinely appealing memoir that will leave many eager for an account of the author's days as a member of the fourth estate.

Pub Date: Feb. 3, 1992

ISBN: 0-393-03074-1

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1991

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.