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GOING BACK TO BISBEE

Name: GOING BACK TO BISBEE
Author: Richard Shelton
ISBN: 0-8165-1302-3

by Richard Shelton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1992

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Poet-professor Shelton (English/Univ. of Arizona) offers his first full-length prose work—and it's cause for celebration. Enlivening his picaresque narrative with vivacity, humor, and an eye for significant detail, he proves to be a splendid traveling companion. Shelton frames his narrative with an 80-mile drive from his Tucson home to the Arizona mining town of Bisbee, where he began his marriage, his family, his career, and his enduring love affair with the southwestern desert. Along the way, he recalls the violent history of this long-isolated border area and reminisces about his life as a army draftee during the 50's and colorful friends and acquaintances—like the pair of bashful students whom he taught and later found working as prostitutes in a small Mexican town, and the crusty fellow teacher whose foul vocabulary blistered her colleagues' eardrums. Shelton is equally adept at evoking the landscape along his route—thunderheads like ``great white cathedrals,'' stands of scarlet-blossomed ocotillo, moldering ghost towns, and cottonwood-shaded streams. He confesses his affection for tarantulas and his puzzlement about just who is responsible for the vaguely ludicrous names given to bird species. There's a hilarious description of hundreds of jackrabbits devouring a prison lawn, and an admiring tribute to 80-year-old Ida Power, who, jaunty beret on head and feet firmly on the ground, led a drive to turn Bisbee from a dying company town into a vigorous arts center. As the odometer creeps forward, it becomes clear that Shelton's trip to Bisbee has assumed metaphorical meaning—that he is trying to return to the past and his youth. He handles this second level lightly, never lapsing into pretentiousness or excessive symbolism. Shelton's literary touch is sure, and he seemingly achieves his effects—nostalgic, witty, inspirational—with little effort. A delightful American companion piece to Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-8165-1302-3

Page Count: 329

Publisher: Univ. of Arizona

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
NOBODY RICH OR FAMOUS
by Richard Shelton

- BOOK REVIEW
CROSSING THE YARD
by Richard Shelton

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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.