In this small book, Lindemeyer, editor in chief of Victoria magazine and the author of its “Jenny Walton” columns, celebrates all that has been “good, kind, graceful, generous, and beautiful” in her life, in hopes that her readers will find “pride in a woman’s journey.” Lindemeyer’s early life was not without its sorrows. Her mother died when the author was very young, and she was raised by her grandmother. Indeed, this book is as much about Lindemeyer’s grandmother’s life as her own. The spacious and populated midwestern home she recalls so meticulously in these pages was filled with pleasing sounds and aromas, with homely, charming conversations, and with real affection. It was here that the wisdom that best characterizes Victoria magazine took root. Indeed, Lindemeyer traces back to her grandmother essential life lessons concerning hard work, togetherness, morality, and the nature of real accomplishment. If home is the “citadel of family pride,” then making it beautiful is a matter of importance. For every sorrow, Lindemeyer finds solace in her homey possessions, the motifs “on my linens—birds, butterflies, flowers,” remembering “with pleasure calm, cool yesterdays in this special home.” She finds enormous meaning in the “things” of life, but has her eye all along on the power of love, developed here in anecdotes about her friends and family members. Lindemeyer explains that her magazine is dedicated to that part of women’s lives that has been “ignored as their energies . . . drove them into perfecting the roles they had chosen.” Hers is a book about contentment, continuity, and accomplishment, wrapped in homespun. As a memoir, however, it fails to explain the magnitude of the author’s own professional accomplishment. Perhaps this volume allows us to believe that such accomplishments are not always the result of the killer instinct, but of a sound and steady belief in the goodness of honest simplicity. (Author tour)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-517-70662-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1998
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
