A simple, reassuring road map for seniors seeking to put their thoughts on the page.
Anything goes for novice senior authors, according to this encouraging debut primer on the rewards of “elderwriting.”
Barocas, a retired math teacher and current leader of writing workshops for seniors, lays out the basics of creating a “personal legacy document”—a loose-limbed assemblage of valedictory articles. It’s a form that eschews the effort and formal difficulty of longer memoirs in favor of short, easily composed pieces that, according to Barocas, can convey an author’s individuality without overtaxing his or her literary powers. The book covers a large variety of formats, including simple lists of favorite things; collections of jokes, anecdotes and proverbs; character sketches of loved ones; brief accounts of important life events and their meanings; letter-to-the-editor–style polemics on political or social issues; how-to pieces; poems; recipes; and more. She even urges elderwriters to prepare their own obituaries and eulogies. This isn’t a manual of prose style, but Barocas does occasionally provide useful hints on “reducing the monotony of your writing” by varying sentence length, adding rhetorical questions, changing points of view and deploying concrete details. She also includes exercises on brainstorming and memory retrieval to get creative juices flowing and provides tips on using computers to research, print and decorate one’s writings. Most usefully, she includes many engaging examples of her own and others’ personal legacy documents to serve as models. Barocas explains her material in clear, concise and very readable prose that will likely make writerly self-exploration less daunting for her audience. Throughout, she emphasizes familiar, comfortable literary forms that will help elderwriters fluently express themselves.
A simple, reassuring road map for seniors seeking to put their thoughts on the page.Pub Date: May 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1484825648
Page Count: 178
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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