Half guidebook and half chapbook, Lydon's (Boogie Lighting, 1973) middling, middlebrow sequence of essays explores his lifelong love of ``real'' writing. Simply composed and reasoned, the former Newsweek reporter and rock critic's study builds on some rules of philology and rhetoric, as well as eclectic examples ranging from the Bible to Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolstoy, and Raymond Chandler. With these breezy rules and off-the-cuff samplings, Lydon avoids dryness and pedantry but can only skim the more philosophic ground. His zeal for the subject and assorted authors substitute for argument and examination, leaving many intricate, tantalizing questions about language and literature to go begging. Writing and Life conveys some of Lydon's enthusiasm for the written word, but too much of his analysis and reading list is leftover from freshman composition courses.
Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1995
ISBN: 0-87451-730-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
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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