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SEVENTY-SEVEN COLUMNS

Name: SEVENTY-SEVEN COLUMNS
Author: Mike Lubow
ISBN: 978-1-982057-76-3

A COLLECTION OF MUSINGS FROM THE PAGES OF NORTH SHORE WEEKEND AND THE DAILY NORTH SHORE

by Mike Lubow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2017

Sometimes amusing, sometimes uneven, this book should appeal to Chicago readers.

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These collected short pieces comment on Chicago’s North Shore, modern life, and other matters.

From 2015 through 2016, Lubow (Time Pieces: An Informal Memoir, 2016, etc.), a former ad agency creative director, wrote a column, “North Shorts,” for North Shore Weekend, a weekly paper covering Chicago’s northern suburbs. (It also ran on the Daily North Shore website.) Each piece is deliberately short to match today’s brief attention spans, providing “some observation or snippet of light news.” Lubow often begins by noting some particularity of North Shore life, which he expands to more general observations. For example, in “Back to the future,” the author evokes “a time when people on the North Shore saw movies at The Edens.” That theater closed in 1994 to make way for cineplexes, which are now being replaced by posh theaters with pre-assigned seats that offer more luxury but less freedom. Musing that “you can’t go back to the future,” Lubow remembers seeing the movie Back to the Future—at The Edens. This note of lightly ironic nostalgia characterizes many of the pieces. On occasion, the author makes intriguing associations, as with a Bruce Springsteen quote that launches a discussion of creativity and audience (“The connection”). But the short format precludes much thoughtfulness, and too often Lubow cuts off, sentimentalizes, or makes glib what might deserve a deeper exploration. For example, in “Siren song,” he writes about the arrival of urban coyotes and other wild animals, which he takes as a sign that the “wild west isn’t always west, but it’s always wild.” But these animals’ appearance in urban areas isn’t a sign that their populations are rebounding, wild and free; it’s an indication of habitat loss. Some columns offer conclusions so mild that they hardly seem worth noting: it’s good to reread favorite books; old memories can be incomplete; people have different opinions. While Chicagoland readers can enjoy Lubow’s hat tips to local sights and characters, the book offers fewer charms for outsiders, especially because the columns can still be read for free on the Daily North Shore website (jwcdaily.com).

Sometimes amusing, sometimes uneven, this book should appeal to Chicago readers.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-982057-76-3

Page Count: 158

Publisher: Birdwatcher Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME PIECES 2
by Mike Lubow

- BOOK REVIEW
Time Pieces
by Mike Lubow

- BOOK REVIEW
Wild Notes
by Mike Lubow

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.