A great idea for a journal issue, but forgettable in this format.
Margaret Atwood, Russell Banks, Ondaatje, and many, many others remember favorite books the rest of us have supposedly forgotten. When editors of the Canadian literary journal Brick sat down on a rainy afternoon and thought of asking their long-time contributors to tell them “the story of a book loved and lost, books that had been overlooked or under-read, that had been stolen and never retrieved, or that were long out of print,” one imagines them envisioning an outcome similar to what happened on another rainy evening long ago when Byron and the Shelleys challenged each other to a ghost story. What results this time is no Frankenstein. The 70-odd short reminiscences of mostly obscure works, while at times touching, are largely self-serving and do not resonate from one vignette to the next. The pieces are too short to yield useful theoretical musings on the memories of reading—which is especially unfortunate since such a forum would be the perfect opportunity to study some well-known writers as readers. While the concept is enticing, its execution leaves something to be desired.
A great idea for a journal issue, but forgettable in this format.Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-72086-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Anchor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
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
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