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McCARTHY’S BAR

Name: McCARTHY’S BAR
Author: Pete McCarthy
ISBN: 0-312-27210-3

A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY IN IRELAND

by Pete McCarthy ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2001

Unfailingly sharp, good-humored, and offbeat: sure to please Celtophiles of every greenish hue.

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An affectionate portrayal of the eccentricities and charms of western Ireland by a quintessentially self-deprecating British traveler.

Following in the footsteps of Eric Newby and Redmond O’Hanlon, BBC writer McCarthy takes us along on his rather pointless but colorful wanderings in western Ireland. Raised in northern England, as a child the author often spent long holidays with his mother’s family in Eire—well before the country became the trendy, buffed-up place that it is today. Like Frank McCourt (whose Angela’s Ashes put considerable fat into the fire of the current craze for the Emerald Isle), McCarthy occasionally waxes sentimental about the old days when things were gray and parochial. Early on he wonders, “Is it possible to have some kind of genetic memory of a place where you’ve never lived, but your ancestors have? Or am I just a sentimental fool, my judgement fuddled by nostalgia, Guinness, and the romance of the diaspora?” Mercifully for us, McCarthy (although he rightfully bemoans the theme-park atmosphere that accompanies economic prosperity and development) is no self-righteous moralizer ruing the fact that his ancestral countrymen now have a bit of money in their pockets. Neither is he a know-it-all bore. Well aware that a good companion is the first necessity of a good trip, the author scrupulously avoids pedantry and never misses a chance to ridicule his own ineptitude. (Chancing upon a 19th-century sheep shed that has recently been remodeled into a bed and breakfast, he gleefully relates the landlady’s remark after shaking his hand: “Sure, ye can see ye’ve never done a hard day’s work in your life.”)

Unfailingly sharp, good-humored, and offbeat: sure to please Celtophiles of every greenish hue.

Pub Date: March 19, 2001

ISBN: 0-312-27210-3

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.