THE SAGA OF SAN FRANCISCO’S WILD WESTERN ADDITION AND ME

Name: THE SAGA OF SAN FRANCISCO’S WILD WESTERN ADDITION AND ME
Author: Robert Leland Speer
ISBN: 978-0615863795

by Robert Leland Speer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 2013

Enough material for multiple, engrossing memoirs—a Midwestern childhood, San Francisco gay culture, the history of a...

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A wide-ranging debut memoir about a gay man in San Francisco.

Speer has lived in San Francisco for almost 50 years, beginning as a struggling writer and eventually becoming a successful real estate broker. His love for his neighborhood, the Western Addition, flows through his memoir. There’s little Speer doesn’t know about the neighborhood, his neighbors, the machinations of city government, the political fights and so on. Speer, a gay man from Kansas City, came of age in the West Coast city famous for its tolerance, and readers will be immersed in that culture, too. The website for Speer’s real estate company proclaims “an emphasis on architecturally and historically significant buildings,” and that passion shows up here in spades: wonderful descriptions of houses and neighborhoods by a fierce preservationist who clearly knows and loves what he’s writing about. Speer comes across as involved, tolerant and generous in his feelings, but the memoir can sometimes feel overstuffed with heartfelt rememberings. In a biographical chapter, Speer quickly sketches the backgrounds of his spouse, John Wong, and their friend Ming Gee, but his own story begins with the Speer family’s first arrival on American shores, and then goes on for more than 30 pages. Chapters dedicated to the Western Addition will fascinate readers interested in urban studies, as will the latter half of the book, which catalogs features of the neighborhood and its organizations. But readers might get lost in the cast of characters amid all the thumbnail sketches of Speer’s friends and their dinner parties.

Enough material for multiple, engrossing memoirs—a Midwestern childhood, San Francisco gay culture, the history of a neighborhood—that don’t receive enough focus here.

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013

ISBN: 978-0615863795

Page Count: 338

Publisher: Speer Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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

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THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
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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.