A deliciously grand romp for any oenophile.
Geography, history and viticulture lessons abound in this buoyant tale of brotherhood and Bordeaux.
With New World vigor, debut author Cloud invites the reader into the intimate spaces of wine importing with one of the oldest schools in the book—the vignerons of France. Late in the fall of 1997, the inexperienced Cloud was entrusted with the task of generating a portfolio for a brand-new-wine importing company. With little more than a bad French accent, Cloud invited his brother along to act as translator, adventurer-in-arms and sometimes savior on his maiden voyage to Burgundy. What ensues is both heartfelt and passionate—“Wine is always life.” Readers join the adventure in the brothers' shiny new Renault, barreling across the ancient French countryside that reveals “a rural way of life that had seemingly changed little since the days of Joan of Arc.” With haunting clarity, readers are invited to taste the “pungent grapefruit” of Sauvignon Blanc in Sancerre and the “delicious silkiness...[that] lingered indelibly” from the Volnay Fremiets of Jean-Pierre Charlot. The book is rich in detail, knowledge and even a bit of wisdom, which, upon conclusion, leaves the reader with the same resignation they might have at the finish of an amazing 1982 Bordeaux—craving another taste, but thrilled at the fortune of experiencing such a wonderful ride.
A deliciously grand romp for any oenophile.Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7627-6455-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Lyons Press
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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