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ALPHABETTER JUICE

Name: ALPHABETTER JUICE
Author: Roy Blount Jr.
ISBN: 978-0-374-10370-5

OR, THE JOY OF TEXT

by Roy Blount Jr. ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2011

Read in small doses, a humorous and insightful panoply of word play, political humor and linguistic inquiry.

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In a follow-up to Alphabet Juice (2008), the author expands his personalized dictionary.

Blount (Hail, Hail, Euphoria!: Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made, 2010, etc.) is a classic American humorist in the company of H.L. Mencken, Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Andy Rooney and Garrison Keillor. He is also a regular panelist on NPR’s comic quiz show, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and consultant to the American Heritage Dictionary. These biographical elements begin to provide a glimpse of the kind of writing readers will encounter in this text: comic, intelligent, political, insightful and often absurd explorations of words as various as “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “decapitate.” As with previous investigations of language, Blount shows he is a master at blending folksy humor with word play and etymological analysis. His reflections and analyses are witty, funny and unaffected, and his political humor can be sharp. Imagine a collaboration between Normal Rockwell, Groucho Marx and Daniel Webster, and you begin to have a picture of Blount here. If this comparison of sensibilities screams old fashioned, it’s true, but only partly, as many of Blount’s entries deal with current technologies and trends. In one instance, under the entry for “first sentence,” he mocks the opening of Karl Rove’s memoir with characteristically clever sarcasm. However, “folksy” is definitely apropos in describing Blount’s comedy, or maybe even the more recent “old school”—the humor recalls a time when comedy was less crass and offensive, say in Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. A word like “fuck,” for instance, is sanitized and imbedded in an entry for “gollywaddles.”

Read in small doses, a humorous and insightful panoply of word play, political humor and linguistic inquiry.

Pub Date: May 17, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-374-10370-5

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011

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.