A charming, thoughtful book for lovers of Paris, the French language or good writing.
A collection of personal essays on the author’s (Singing the City: The Bonds of Home in an Industrial Landscape, 1998, etc.) love affair with the French language.
Graham’s lifelong affection for the French language led to her owning an apartment in Paris. While the French language transported her to the city, Paris transports her into the language. Being in a French city is for Graham simply a way to fulfill her dream of speaking the language around the clock. In these essays, the details of her life as a part-time Parisian lend immediacy to her descriptions, as readers follow her through the apartment-purchase process, adventures with the local utilities, explorations into her neighborhood and her gradual acclimatization to the routines of French life. Simple, direct language and charming illustrations draw readers in. The author’s experiences in the city–whether as a property owner, shopper or wife of a patient in a foreign hospital–are all fertile ground for further fluency. She observes and absorbs the words that surround her and each essay reveals a different perspective on her life within the language. Graham savors new expressions, learns to change the shape of her mouth to pronounce vowels and consonants and revels in the nuances of word placement and the softness, magic and music of the language. Her thoughts on French take the author from translating baseball terms, to a discussion of the effects of language on behavior, to a comparison of Pittsburgh and Paris. She even tries composing poetry, following the rules of French neoclassicism. Her life is not without tragic, heart-wrenching events, yet she continues to find joy in the refuge and haven of the French language.
A charming, thoughtful book for lovers of Paris, the French language or good writing.Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59571-370-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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