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THE FACTSHEET FIVE ZINE READER

A useful introduction to, and anthology of, the rude, antic, crowded new world of fanzines (``zines,'' for short), featuring both a terse, informed overview of the field—Friedman, the editor/publisher of Factsheet Five, a zine that reviews other zines, estimates that he has read some 50,000 zines in the past decade. Zines, Friedman explains, are often one-person operations, sporadically issued, devoted to a single topic, and distinguished, at their best, by writing ``more opinionated than newspaper editorials, more personal than magazine articles, more topical than books.'' There's certainly some strong writing on display here (such as a piece by Al Aronowitz from Long Shot on beat poetry and jazz), with an emphasis on the confessional (as in Doug Holland's remarkable ongoing chronicle of his hard, peculiar experiences, published in Pathetic Life). There's also much that's flimsy and obsessive, but that, probably, is part of Friedman's point: Zines aren't so much about creating alternative outlets for fine writing as they are about the simple, essential need to communicate. (75 b&w photos and line drawings)

Pub Date: May 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-609-80001-9

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1997

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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

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NUTCRACKER

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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