A self-described “former fat guy” pilots Generation Facebook through the rough sea of love and sex.
Blogger Greenspan mines his own dating pratfalls and triumphs to produce an array of lists to help the uninitiated, or the inept, snare that special someone. The guide takes the shape of the author’s popular website 11points.com, covering essential territory such as how to know if he/she is really into you and the best and worst places to meet someone (the Internet is good, jury duty is bad). The author tackles sensitive subject matter with pragmatic indelicacy, providing useful chestnuts on how to keep a booty call from getting “messy,” and reveals secrets for taking “amazing” nude photographs. Hint: Don't eat on shoot day, and get “very” aggressive on your blemishes, he writes. “The most important reason to fix all this stuff is because you must be confident for the photos. If you're embarrassed or (overly) self conscious and holding back, it'll show.” The author's everyman quality is his best asset, connecting to the reader through a watered-down cocktail of confession, sarcasm and pop-culture references. After all, recognizing the animated series Voltron and Screech from Saved by the Bell is critical to the author’s mission. Hilarity is missing, but sincerity abounds.
Pub Date: April 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-61608-212-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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