by Mary Lee Settle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2004
Travel-writing in the tradition of Jan Morris and Paul Theroux, recounting sojourns that are never entirely comfortable,...
A graceful memoir of solo travel in post-Franco Spain, bookending the author’s equally graceful Turkish Reflections (1991).
“To be alone by choice is one of the great luxuries of the world,” writes National Book Award–winning author Settle. “I went to Spain alone. I wanted to discover it, not have it pointed out to me by friends, guidebooks, experts, or that most powerful of modern Big Brothers, controlled tourism.” Armed with copies of Cervantes and Garcia Lorca, as well as memories of the Spanish Civil War (as a teenager, she writes, she “fell in love with the Spain of that war”), she wanders the lonely mountain country of Extremadura and Andalusia, drops in on tertulias (“a daily meeting of minds, whether horse race or politics, fishing or philosophy or the teléfono árabe, the spreading of rumor”) that come straight from the pages of Pérez-Reverte, and seeks the ever-elusive essential quality of Spanishness, which she finally decides has something to do with defiance—not rebellion or resistance, necessarily, but the habit of fearlessly facing tyrants, “whether the tyrants be kings or windmills.” The notion of a stately Southern gentlewoman getting on in years and traveling alone promises moments fraught with peril, but Settle finds herself welcome just about everywhere, more so than on earlier journeys. (A quarter of a century ago, she recalls, a restaurateur put an American flag on her table lest, dining alone, she be confused for a hooker). For the most part, she finds in Spain a young, vibrant country that has thrown off the burdens of the fascist era and that has yet to be Disneyfied (though Palos’s replica of Columbus’s three ships comes close)—a place, in other words, that seems very attractive indeed, and that benefits by having so sympathetic and understanding a guide.
Travel-writing in the tradition of Jan Morris and Paul Theroux, recounting sojourns that are never entirely comfortable, never really dangerous, but full of surprises and pleasures.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-393-02027-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2003
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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