Jenkins’s superb memory and solid writing chops break him out from the pack of true-life adventure scribes.
A wildman follows the call of the wild.
If Anthony Bourdain went Iron John—and cut back significantly on the libations—he’d be Mark Jenkins (The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure, 2002, etc.). An obsessive hiker, biker and traveler, Jenkins is also a husband and father, so he has to balance being at home with wife Sue and daughters Addi and Teal against his addiction to worldwide adventure-seeking. Over the past few years, he has traveled to Alaska, Russia, Greece, Switzerland and points north, south, east and west. Along the way there have been outings both physically and emotionally painful: He almost had his arm ripped off in a cycling accident, and he missed seeing his daughter take her first steps. Yet he persevered, sacrificing the comfort and love of home for the excitement of the unknown. A regular contributor to Outside magazine as well as a veteran travel and fitness writer, Jenkins comes off here as an über-macho dude with an engaging sensitive side—his friends and family are as important as, say, a jaunt to Tibet, if not more so. He’s an adrenaline junkie, far less interesting when he slows down to offer some history of an area he’s visiting. However, these sections are generally separate from the main narrative, so those inclined can skip them and get back to tales of the author tearing leeches from his legs or attacking a mountain in Tasmania.
Jenkins’s superb memory and solid writing chops break him out from the pack of true-life adventure scribes.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59486-707-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Rodale
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
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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