A book about living a better life that frequently enough hits the nail on the head.
Words are wed to photographs by this mother/son team, inviting readers to celebrate life through reflection and inspiration.
Kyra, a clinical counselor, and Derksen, a professional photographer, welcome readers home to themselves, or likewise welcome them to return to their senses, by “learning through the wisdom of your inner nature and the Natural World to set yourself free from the inhibiting burden of defenses.” Kyra’s advice and experiences are complemented by Derksen’s highly chromatic, eyeball-achingly sharp photographs, which paint the grand natural backdrop, serving both to ground the reader and to suggest the transformative power of nature. More simply, they’re also beautiful and convey a heightening of the spirit in the manner of a good gospel song. The text aims at this elevated plateau as well. Kyra asks readers to chew on elemental topics like humor, relaxation, adulthood, wonder, mystery and faith. She tackles one per page in gently coaxing language, serving forth what she has learned about the topics and her associations with each. The author encourages readers to delve deeply into the feelings sparked by the ideas, and to finally ruminate on a concise statement about each. Some of these statements have a slippery remoteness: “Everyone has a need to be met, a task to be achieved, a laugh to be held, and a tear to be blessed.” Others are too fruity by half (“Living exquisitely is respecting and flowing with the ordinary in a gracious style”). Or plain strange: “There is a time to laugh–and it is always right now.” If “everything has a time and a place,” what about giving over, in full, to grief? Still, and more often, Kyra touches a resonant chord with these fundamentals. The author explains how poetry, voice, intuition, dreams and formal occasions can become glad tidings, ushering us toward integrity, dignity and compassion, once we let our guard down.
A book about living a better life that frequently enough hits the nail on the head.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-9809013-0-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
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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