Another engaging thematic ramble from the author of How to Prepare for Your High School Reunion (1988), Ivy Days (1984), and Blooming (1981). Toth made her first trip to England in 1960. Armed with street map and umbrella, the college senior attended classes, mastered the London Underground, and nearly overdosed on theater before hitchhiking through the countryside with a friend. Here, her gently shaded reminiscences of this and subsequent trips have the simple declarative style and self-revealing moments of her other books and especially fit her subject. From Pixey Green to Hickley Broad, Sheepy Magna to Great Wapses, Toth focuses on the singular features and quirky details that not only make each visit supremely satisfying but also keep her returning for more. She shares the excitement of a badger-sighting arranged by a protective country- house host; a search for the smallest church in England (she and husband James prefer unspoiled, out-of-the-way places); a morning at local sheepdog trials; rhapsodies on clotted cream and English breakfasts; and, in recent years, the start of a collection of walking sticks for the footpaths that provide her most exhilarating excursions. Thirty years and many trips later, Toth still seeks England as a refuge despite the inevitably troubling signs of the times, and her idiosyncratic observations are a cheery contrast to more traditional tour books (or what she calls ``bleak chic''). Anglophiles will cherish this kindred spirit like a delicately flowered teacup, and will envy her unique finds.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-345-37725-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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